Annual Girlfriends’ Trip Idea

An annual getaway trip with our best girlfriends is always a good idea. I will share how my “true blue” high school friends and I getaway each year to Broken Bow (Hochatown), Oklahoma.

In June of this year, my longtime high school girlfriends and I made our annual trek to our favorite best kept secret spot for a relaxing girls’ long weekend trip in Hochatown, Oklahoma. We coined our getaways, the True Blue Girls’ Trips after our alma mater, Conway High School color.

Never heard of Hochatown?

I hadn’t either until one of my friends who lives in Austin, Texas, suggested that is where we should all meet up for a visit since two of us are in Arkansas and two live in Texas. She had been told by a work colleague that Broken Bow, Oklahoma was where their family would go on weekends to escape the city life of Dallas at the time.

Broken Bow and Hochatown are in the southeastern most corner of Oklahoma, just west of DeQueen, Arkansas.

So we put our Googling to the test, booked our first cabin there in 2016 – site unseen – and we had the best weekend ever.

As women in our middle age, we weren’t looking for a place with wild nightlife and parties. Instead, we wanted a laid back vibe with spots for good food and a place to kick back on the porch and catch up with each other and not be bothered.

We found that place in Hochatown, which is the area just north of the city of Broken Bow. We have continued to return most years since 2016 and a couple of the girls have gone back and taken their entire families to explore more of Beaver Bend State Park including Beaver Bend Lake and Mountain Fork River, which are located in the area.

Hochatown has something for the Girlfriends looking for outdoor adventure

canoeing
boating
zipline
river rafting
hiking
golfing

True Girls’ Trip Experiences

We even discovered several spas around Hochatown and enjoyed a wonderful head to toe experience the first year at a local spa, called Body Harmony Spa, complete with hair treatments.

One of the most well known places in Hochatown is called Girls Gone Wine.

We finally checked out this boutique winery a couple of years ago and discovered a great place to shop for gifts. They also have a wine tasting bar with frozen wine choices, and they have many other amenities to cater to girlfriends on a wine drinking adventure!

For those who want to explore a more ‘spirited’ side, there are other places that cater to whiskey tasting, moonshine, live music, and Bigfoot legends. Yes, there have been several Bigfoot sightings in the county and the community has embraced it.

Our first year in Hochatown, we met a man named Charles, who not only claims to have encountered Bigfoot, he also peddles fruit jars of moonshine out of a cooler and is quite a character. We have typically seen him at least once on each of our return trips.

We were a little shocked in June at how the area had grown with many new restaurants, shops, and cabins. Some of the locals said the pandemic had brought more visitors because of the abundance of outdoor activities available when people were looking for a place to get away.

The area is flourishing with tourism and economic development opportunities and according to one of the Oklahoma legislators we met on this trip, they are looking to be the next Branson.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Charles this time, but we discovered new live music and food, and we had an amazing cabin with beautiful views, a hot tub, steam room, billiards, and plenty of space for us to catch up and reminisce while being close to our favorite spots.

There is an abundance of luxury cabins around Hochatown in every size to accommodate small or large groups on a variety of budgets. Most come with great outdoor spaces including hot tubs, firepits, and plenty of porch seating. There are many delicious restaurant options and plenty of activities. We never seem to fit in everything we want to do when we go.

The True Blue Girls’ Trip is one of my highlights each year.

It is easy to let time slip by and not get a date set and reservations made. Sometimes it is difficult to coordinate our schedules, but one of us always pushes the others to get it done and I am always so grateful when we get there and fall back into our long overdue conversations and laughter.

Whether you visit Hochatown or another destination, just make the plans a priority. Make the reservations and take the trip!

Annual Girlfriends’ Trip Idea