hiking in Oklahoma?

Greetings from Woodward, Oklahoma!

This weekend's weather was quiet and so was VORTEX2. Without any storms to chase there was plenty of time to test software and instruments as well as explore some of what Oklahoma has to offer. On Saturday we moved over to the other side of Norman to a new hotel before Andrew, Julie, Derek, Richard and I took a probe up to Oklahoma City to see the Triple A Oklahoma City Redhawks play. The game was fun with great weather, even though the redhawks were blown out. It was even Star Wars night at the ballpark, with the guy who played Chewbacca signing autographs.

Yesterday, there was some hope of a practice mission, but the coordinators felt that we were well enough prepared that this wasn't necessary. So with another beautiful afternoon to kill, some of the OU people suggested a hiking trip. I was skeptical, considering Oklahoma's reputation for flat plains. However, there is a nice range of small mountains about an hour's drive Southwest of Norman called the Wichita's.

hiking in the Wichitas

After a few hours of hiking, we stopped by a world famous burger/steak place called Meers. It wasn't much from the outside, but the inside had a great western feel. The best part, by far, was the burgers and beer. You can't often say you saw where your dinner lived yesterday, but you can at this restaurant. Across the street is a ranch of Longhorn cattle, which supply the restaurant's burgers. It was easily the best cheeseburger I've ever eaten. The restaurant also has a special beer brewed for it that compliments the fresh beef, called Meers Gold.

Meers Beer

Where dinner lives.

Meers from the outside

After an early forecasting meeting, V2 decided to head up to Woodward, OK today in order to position for future targets later this week. There isn't much hope of severe weather, or operations, until Wednesday at the earliest, but the long range models suggest a busy week after that. Woodward is a nice, but small oklahoma town. We'll have another down day tomorrow and plenty of time to see some more local sights. I've heard there's a series of Caverns north of town that we'll likely investigate. But, until then it's time to investigate the hotel bar!

.Hanging around the vehicle bay at the National Weather Center in Norman before leaving this morning.