Page 268 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023 DISCOVERING TURKEY

Fat chance I’d abstain.
B is Bedette Hardwick. She grew up in Id-
abel, where her Grandma Ella cooked at a cou-
ple of neighborhood cafes. Bedette tagged
along and helped out sometimes. She learned;
she dreamed. In 2012, Bedette opened The
Red B on Idabel’s main drag. Today hungry
fans pack the place. Granny Ella would be
proud - very proud. Bedette says it’s her
grandmother who deserves the credit. (And
yes, the house specialty, served with fried
okra, collard greens and Texas toast, is worth
every life-threatening calorie. My only regret:
Even the small $10.99 version of the dish left
no room for dessert.)
After a meal at B’s, Beavers Bend State Park
is the ideal stop - a stunning location for
working off calories. In the hill country near
the southeastern tip of Oklahoma, it’s a lush The Red B Restaurant
forested preserve with dozens of mapped,
groomed trails. The Mountain Fork River runs
through the park and Broken Bow Lake, cre-
ated when the river was dammed for flood
control, opened in 1970. The lake stretches 22
miles into scenic Quachita Mountain country.
The park itself is named for John T. Beavers,
a Choctaw citizen who once owned part of the
land. It became one of Oklahoma’s first state
parks in 1937 – and today covers 3,482 acres
with a newly renovated 40-room lodge on the
Broken Bow Lake shore and more than 400
campsites.
I spent two nights at the lodge – and craved
more time: Time to meander solo among the
leafy hickories and towering pines, to fish
trout streams at daybreak, to play as Choctaws
might have in another era.
My brief stay gave me limited time to ex-
plore Hochatown, the touristy enclave that of-
fers everything from family fare such as
panning for fossils or getting lost in a 29,000-
sq-ft maze – to wine and craft beer tasting,
fine dining and live music for grownups.
One afternoon, I joined a party crowd,
equipped with slushie-style frozen cocktails,
for a boat tour of Broken Bow Lake. It was
breezy fun – and I learned that today’s Hocha-
town had a predecessor: We floated over it. A
Endangered Ark Elephant Sanctuary
268 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2023