So late in the week a friend and I decided we needed to get out of the big city for the weekend! We talked about going camping, but it was going to be too cold...so we decided to do some exploring in Oklahoma. We wanted to do some hiking in the Wichita Mountains, and visit Oklahoma City too...here's what we did!
Our destination:
We headed up I-35 and made our first stop at Turner Falls, a camping/hiking area just north of Ardomore and in the heart of the Arbuckle Mountains. I went camping at Turner Falls w/ some guys several years ago, it was a really cool area and I'd like to go back and camp again. We just made a quick stop - here is the actual Turner Falls:
We ate lunch at a diner in Paul's Valley called Punkins - it was pretty good...your typical side of the interestate diner...food was OK, experience was cool though. Here's a picture I took in the hallway - this was a painting on the wall, and I thought it was cool:
After lunch, we drove into Oklahoma City (OKC). Well actually first we drove through Norman because my friend wanted to see the OU campus. I had been there a few years ago as I went up and helped a friend move off campus and back to Tyler. OKC, in what we saw, was actually very nice. Downtown was very clean and well kept; there is a newer area that has been built up, revitalizing old warehouses into an entertainment district called Bricktown. As we were downtown, we stopped at the Oklahoma City Memorial. This was a very nice memorial, one of the best I've ever seen, and truly breathtaking. The block where the federal building once stood was actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The steps that surrounded the structure at one time are still present, as well as several walls. Here are a few pictures
Some images from the bombing:
Wall from the federal building still standing
There are rows and rows of chairs that represent the lives lost in the explosion. There are the exact number, and some chairs are small to represent the children lost.
This isn't a great shot, but the tree is called the Survivor Tree; it was in the parking lot of the federal building and survived the explosion. Several other trees caught on fire, but this one survived.
The gate outside the dedication stays full as individuals have the opportunity to provide personal memorials.
Across the street and with it's back turned, this is called And Jesus Wept
After seeing the memorial, we walked around Bricktown. It was a pretty cool area, I think it would be a lot of fun at night. They have a canal that divides the area, several restaurants, bars, and shops on either side. It's very similar to the riverwalk in San Antonio, but not at all as cool! However to the residents of OKC, I'm sure it's pretty awesome. I didn't get any pictures of the canal, but here are a couple while in Bricktown.
Buildings of downtown behind the transformed, brick warehouses
The wall outside of the ballpark - I just thought it was cool
So originally we were going to see several things in OKC, but other than several random museums, we felt that OU and downtown were enough! We decided to head west on Route 66 and see what we could see, then turn south towards the Wichita Mountains, where we planned on hiking all day Sunday. This would work out better anyway as we could wake up Sunday w/out having to drive from OKC and now get more hiking in.
A few cool things on Route 66 - we stopped at a Cherokee Trading Post - aka, the gas station gift shop. There were lots of cool Native American gifts inside...but I don't know how authentic they actually were.
We saw probably 100 or more wind turbines - I've seen these in the Texas pandhanlde on the way to Colorado, but never up close. So we thought it would be worth it to get a better view! And these wind turbines are HUGE - it's hard to tell in the pictures, but they are a very big sight to see.
A few of them...out of a hundred!
I was standing right below it!
We stopped in Clinton, OK and ate dinner at a pretty good place called Montana Mike's.
http://www.stockadecompanies.com/OurRestaurants/MMHome/default.aspx
It was getting dark by now so we decided to head south to Lawton. I had a friend who was in Lawton attending a wedding and decided to meet us after we got to town and go hiking w/ us the next day. My buddy and I were planning on staying as cheap as possible...we found a very affordable, luxery hotel in a great part of town...if it was 1960. However today...the place was total crap. BUT it was very cheap and had 2 beds and bathroom. The beds weren't quite as...clean as we would have hoped...and a shower head on the shower, instead of just a pipe, would have been nice...but it worked. Our friend ended up staying w/ us in the "Horror Hotel"...and we all survived until morning. We got up early so that we could get a full day of hiking in at the Wichita Mountains; here is a sunrise in Lawton, OK.
After a stop for some snacks, we started our adventure at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/oklahoma/wichitamountains/index.html
It was AMEWSOME. As soon as we got into the park, a group of longhorns came strolling in front of us (here's just a couple)
We saw some prairie dogs:
And some elk:
And some bison:
I think because we got there so early we were able to see all the great wildlife! The rest of the day we didn't see near as many. Longhorns and deer were still out and about, but that was pretty much it. It felt like being on a safari or something with the animals so close. However it wouldn't be fun if we just stayed in the car the whole time!
We drove around the park, including going to the top of Mt. Scott.
More wind turbines in the distance
After Mt. Scott, we drove through Holy City, where they present the Passion play every year. It's basically the same thing they do in Eureka Springs in the Ozarks...I was a little disappointed to hear they do it too! I think they think they are the only ones doing this. They even have a Christ of the Wichitas, but the Chris of the Ozarks is much bigger.
Then we started hiking on the 6 mile Bison Trail! It was a GREAT trail...took several hours and wore us all out! Here is what we saw along the way:
This looks awesome, I would love to do it - but I want to wear a helmet! These people are nuts for not having one!
These long horns walked out in front of us on the trail, we had to wait a little wihle for them to pass; there were 6 of them.
Those are just a few pictures. It was a great weekend, very busy, and I'm completely exhausted now! I'm already looking at my calendar though and trying to figure out when I can go back; and this time camp out. It was too cold this weekend to camp. One picture I don't have is the amazing sky there. We stopped on the road near Indianhoma before getting to Lawton to look up at the night sky; with out the stained lights from the big city, it was a blanket of black sky and full of stars and constellations. It was a awesome!
If you want to see more pictures, you can see them on my web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/themav211
One last picture from the weekend, kind of all things put together:
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