Wichita Mountains

Probably stemming both from my past experiences working in retail, and from my dislike of large crowds of people, Black Friday is one of those days that I don't want anything to do with. The fact that it has been pushed into Thanksgiving night disgusts me; pretty soon all the stupid sales will probably start Thanksgiving morning. It's sad that it's come as far as it has. Anyways, enough of my rant. The point is we wanted to get out of town on Black Friday, as far away from people as we could (easier said than done in Oklahoma - but we managed to get somewhat isolated this time around). We decided on the Wichita Mountains, which lie in southwest Oklahoma near Lawton (about 1 1/2 hours SW of Oklahoma City). Unlike the Ouachita Mountains in SE Oklahoma, the landscape in the Wichitas is much more open and reminded me more of the West. At times I felt like I was in New Mexico. I loved our short time there and would love to return, but who knows if or when that will happen. We stayed Friday night in the small town of Medicine Park, which is a great base for exploring the Wichita Mountains and the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (we spent nearly all our time inside the refuge boundaries). Before settling in to our room in Medicine Park (unfortunately it was a little too cold to camp with a 7 month old) we drove to the top of Mt. Scott and visited the Holy City of the Wichitas.

The Holy City of the Wichitas is built to resemble Jerusalem during the time of Christ. Many of the buildings were built by the WPA during the Depression. It's certainly one of the more interesting places I've ever visited. More information can be found here: http://theholycitylawton.com/home

Saturday we headed out to hike the 2 mile Longhorn trail, which is part of a larger trail system. There are over 15 miles of designated hiking trails within the refuge boundaries.
After our hike and other stops, we hit the famous Meers store and cafe in the old mining town of Meers. They serve burgers made from longhorn beef and they were quite tasty. I read several places online where it stated that waits at the restaurant can be over two hours - fortunately we didn't have to wait that long. If I had, I think I would have been disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the hamburger was good, but certainly not good enough to wait 2 hours for. The fries definitely weren't worth any kind of wait; they tasted like your run-of-the mill fast food fries. But the building and the atmosphere were very cool, and I think that's a big part of the draw.
We had a blast on this trip. The Wichita Mountains are easily my favorite place in Oklahoma. If it wasn't so hot in Lawton during the summer, I might even consider living there for an extended period of time. I look forward to the day when (hopefully) we will once again live in the West and have access to the wide open spaces and public lands that we miss so much. I also hope someday to go camping on Thanksgiving, preferably somewhere in Southern Utah or New Mexico, and fry a turkey. And then wake up on Black Friday morning with no one around for miles. Someday...