A Little Italy In Oklahoma

Growing up, my family used to visit relatives in Texas. On our way home, my parents would take us to Pete’s Place Restaurant in Krebs, Oklahoma. Krebs is an Italian community. Pietro, his Italian name, worked in the coal mine as a child when he moved to Oklahoma from Italy. Later he changed his name to Pete. There was a horrendous cave-in at the mine that crushed his leg. Because he couldn’t return to the mines, Pete made Choc Beer with the wheat from the Oklahoma Plains. The immigrant miners would come to drink his beer, and from that point Pete started making his visitors Italian food. In 1925, he opened his restaurant and called it Pete’s Place. The original Pete’s Place building was more like a house. We would sit and eat family style. I loved the spaghetti, garlic bread, really vinegary salad dressing, peppers and homemade cheese.

With both of our daughters and all the grandkids, we piled into two cars and set off to newer Pete’s Place in Krebs, Ok. We had a large private room. Except for my husband and brother, we all ate the Italian dinner consisting of spaghetti, meatballs, ravioli, salad, homemade cheese, peppers and garlic bread. We all enjoyed our meals and ate way too much food! They sent us out with tons of leftovers!

Then my brother suggested that we go to Lovera’s that is an Italian grocery store. We bought homemade spaghetti sauce, Italian chocolate and stuffed olives. If we weren’t so full, I am sure we would have stocked up with other scrumptious items.

Next on our list was a drive to the Porter Peach Festival. We had already driven 1 hour and 45 minutes to Krebs, why not an hour to an event that we have never attended. We have always heard of the Peach Festival, so we were super excited to go! Everyone of us had visions of peaches everywhere! When we got there, it was completely different than we expected. There were booths with crafts and locals promoting their businesses, but where were the PEACHES! There were turkey legs and funnel cakes, but no PEACHES. One thing we were all craving was peach ice cream after our lunch in Krebs. The closest thing that we had to that was store bought vanilla ice cream with canned peaches on top. You could imagine what a disappointment that was! After strolling around for a bit, we decided to call it a day and head home.

 Okay as they say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Our new spin on it. When you don’t get peach ice cream, you go the store and buy Porter peaches, an ice cream maker and do it yourself! And that is what this determined family did! My hubby was bent on doing it the old fashion way with the ice and rock salt. Thank goodness, he didn’t get the old crank ones. Yummy ice cream, but killer on your arms! I got an awesome peach recipe, and we did it ourselves! The grandkids were beyond excited. It was like a science experiment, explaining why rock salt lowers the freezing temperature. Okay, not going to bore you. But the kids loved it and they got to help with our endeavor! We got all of our ingredients in and we had a thirty minute wait. During the wait, the kids swam in the pool! And there it was after thirty minutes, PEACH ICE CREAM! It was soooooo yummy!

So worth it, even with a brain-Freeze for Tatum!

The Porter, Oklahoma trip was not a bomb. It was a springboard! A lesson in trying new things and when you don’t get the results you want, go at it at a different angle! For the grandkids, it is what ice cream can we make next time? For us, what adventure are we on to next?

Peach Ice Cream Recipe
2 1/2 pounds of fresh peaches- peel, take pits out and chop 1/2 C sugar
1/4 salt
1 pint half and half cream
1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C whole milk
Directions
Puree peaches with sugar and half and half.
Pour in the peaches, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk and vanilla into ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers directions.

Breckenridge Family Vacation

After 12 hours of driving (with kids), we were beyond excited to arrive to Colorado! No matter how many times we have traveled there, the views are always just as breathtaking! Just the sight of the mountains instantly brought smiles to our faces!  Driving through the mountains is an experience in and of itself.  The old mining towns are so cute and quaint and the history behind them is evident.  Once we arrived in Breckenridge, one of our favorite vacation spots, the fun began! We started off the trip with the most beautiful bike ride down Vail Pass! The bike ride started in Vail, went through Copper Mountain, and ended up all the way in Frisco! What a perfect day! We stopped several times on the way down to pose for pictures and took some time to soak up the most exquisite views! Although the ride nearly lasted for three hours, we didn’t want the day to end!  We decided to eat outdoors at Foote’s Rest Sweet Shoppe after the ride! With live music and delicious food, it was a hard place to beat! I am sure we will be going back there on our next trip!

  

One of our favorite things to do in Colorado is hike! The next day we did just that! Breckenridge has several awesome hiking trails, but we always love the McCullough Gulch Trail! We managed to make the hike with 5 kids, ages ranging from 1 year to 10 years old!  The kids did amazing! We were super impressed considering 3 of them made it to the very top!  And to make the trip even more exciting, Lauren’s family got to take a picture with the most adorable baby swaddle announcing their pregnancy!!! Yep, that’s right, the Hudson & Heart family is still growing!

Finally, it was the Fourth of July!  This will have been our 5^th year to celebrate the Fourth of July in Colorado as a family! Breckenridge sure knows how to make the celebration fun! The day started off on Main Street where they have bike races that are followed by a huge town parade! With music, an air show, skits, floats, water fights and candy. It is always such a wonderful time for the entire family! Once the parade was done everyone raced over to the River Walk Center to attend the concert put on by Funkiphino! What a talented band!! The kids had such a fun time dancing and a few of them even got up on stage!  The day ended with the most beautiful fireworks that lit up the whole town of Breckenridge! What a perfect end to a perfect day!

On our last day in Breckenridge, we decided to have a day for the kids! We took a gondola ride to Peak 8 to the Summer Fun Park! The kids enjoyed playing mini golf, rides down the Gold Runner Coaster, finding their way through a maze and jumping on the power trampolines!  What a neat place to visit! There are seriously so many activities for the kids to do. It would be so easy to spend an entire day there, but we ended up leaving for lunch! If you haven’t been to the Breckenridge Tap House to eat you are missing out for sure! Their tacos are the best and they have margaritas called the Farmers Market that are to die for! After lunch, we headed down main street to shop for a bit! Main street is seriously the cutest and they have so many adorable stores!  We ended the day with dinner at Michael’s Italian Restaurant with family from Chicago! It was so wonderful getting to spend time with them!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end! We headed back to Oklahoma, but we made sure to stop in Manitou Springs for a delicious Greek lunch and spent some time at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs where we got to see a momma bear and her cubs! I couldn’t have imagined a better way to end the trip!