Return to the Wichitas

this is a story in pictures. The Wichita's where the buffalo roam free, and yes, we got this close; from the car.

John, Misty and Robert checking out one of the many small lakes hidden in the middle of this wildlife preserve area.

Guess what they are looking at? believe it or not, it is lady bug mating season, and they were doing their thing on the rocks! 

John and Robert at the top of Mt. Scott, one of our favorite places.

From the education I got at the visitor center, I declare this to be a longhorn STEER. so here's something you probably don't know; steers, cows and bulls grow their horns differently, with the steers having the widest span. if you want to know more, go check out the visitor center at the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma.

one of several dam areas within the reserve. water levels seemed to be in pretty good condition in spite of recent drought.

My dear friend Misty Burdette just taking a break and enjoying the beauty at the top of the mountain. Misty is an avid nature photographer; bet she took 100 pictures today.

Robert commented on the serenity near the small lakes in the reserve. below is what he was seeing!

Ponies were our mode of travel today, well Mustangs anyway. There were supposed to be three, but our friends Jim and Darla had to cancel out. Theirs is red and a convertible!

view of the lake from the top of the mountain. We drove on around that lake and over to Medicine Park after a stop for our favorite burgers and cobbler at the Meers store. Check past posts for more on that place!

saw this coming around the corner and had hopes Jim and Darla had decided to show up after all, but it was the wrong color! visited briefly with them and they were enjoying the beauty of the Wichita's as much as we were. 

Meers OK home of the Meersburger

Meers is just north of the Wichita Mountains right at a bend in the road. This tourist attraction has been in business with the current owners since the 80's and has been a continuous business since the 40's or 50's depending. They are famous for a unique dining experience. The line waiting outside to get in the door is almost always there. We arrived around 1:30 p.m. and we were outside about 20 minutes. One interesting side note is that beside the building in a shaded area there are a number of small wire kennels. They ask folks to NOT leave pets in a hot car, and they go the extra mile to help those folks who travel with pets to see to their safety.

Then you get inside and see how long the line is there as well! This is our first time and while we waited we got the good news that the food would be well worth the wait from a young Wichita Falls Texas couple behind us who visit as often as they can.

Robert and Misty waiting for food as we all took the time to read the informative menu with some interesting bits of information. For instance, the Meersburgers are prepared with their own beef, fresh from longhorn steers. No frozen patties here! They come with mustard, pickles, red onion, lettuce and tomato. You can order it your way, but be warned, the cooks consider mayonnaise is for SISSIES, ketchup belongs on fries, not hamburger and several other interesting comments. They have their own brand of beer, Meers Beer, brewed by the folks that brew Choc in Krebs Oklahoma and it comes in a 22 ounce bottle. 

I can verify that the homemade ice cream and cherry cobbler on the menu are out of this world. Misty and Robert tried the peach and declared it outstanding.

the decor in the building keeps your mind busy and even though the wait for the food is about as long as the wait to get in, you don't notice it so much with all the interesting things to see!

drinks like this iced tea are served in Mason jars, and they keep them full for you. 

and then came the food! The Meersburger is served in a metal pie tin, cut in fourths to make it easier to eat (we shared this burger) and you can see the Fries and onion rings (they are beer batter dipped) were plentiful as well. 

It's standing room only in this great little restaurant. Oh, and did I mention that Meers has been recognized in places like the New York Times and the Food Channel and is widely known as one of the top 10 places in the whole United States of America to get a great  hamburger! and, when we left, our tummy full, the line was still long outside the building. 

Mountians Oklahoma Style

March madness is upon us! A weekend getaway seemed the thing to do. So we took our new Challenger on a trip to the mountains. Oklahoma Mountains, that is!

The view from the road up was pretty amazing!

The road up Mt. Scott is a fun ride. It circles around with breathtaking views of the landscape below. There are lots of places to pull out of the lane of traffic and take pictures. We also noted a lot of hikers and climbers in the rocks and one group even had their dog with them on the climb.

The road seemed popular to motorcyclists too, and even one brave soul on a bicycle (no motor).

Back on ground level we saw a lot of longhorn cattle and some Buffalo grazing in open range. We stopped for longhorn crossing more than once!
The Wichita Mountain Park has a nice visitor center for a refreshing stop. We also noted a location for prairie dog watching that seemed to be popular with the young park visitors.

Earlier in the day we stopped at Quartz Mountain park, also a pretty place. This was the view from a walking bridge that lead from the lodge to an arts and cultural center.

We really enjoyed this area of Oklahoma, as always there is something to see and do in our great state. So next time you get a yearning for mountains, go Oklahoma Style!

Fort Sill, Lawton, OK

Our Business Women's group was given a tour of the Fort Sill Base. Our tour guide was wonderful. She was in a medical company and had been to Iran. We started our tour with the educational center. They really want our troops to have their education, they will even help them to plan a small business for when they leave. Leaving there we went to the parade grounds where the Field Artillery Half Section, gave a demonstration. They even fired the cannon for us. They did a wonderful job. We then went to the mess hall for lunch with some of the women officers. They were very good about answering our questions. After lunch we toured the barracks, where we saw the art work that they had on the walls and floors. They have some very talented people there. We then went to visit the dogs. They train the dogs in taking down a fleeing person, bomb detection, and drug detection. These people do a lot for us that we don't know about. Thank you goes out to our troops.