2023 · Days of The Week · Oklahoma · Travel Tuesday · USA

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge: The Holy City of The Wichitas, Oklahoma 2014

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Located in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge just 22 miles northwest of Lawton, the Holy City of the Wichitas stands on aΒ 66-acre area that looks much like Israel during Biblical times. You’ll find numerous full-sized buildings and structures inside the city, including the temple court, the Lord’s Supper building, Herod’s Court, and Pilate’s judgment hall, all built with locally-quarried granite in the 1930s. You can also explore areas designated as Calvary’s Mount and the Garden of Gethsemane, in addition to watchtowers and perimeter walls.Β 

The site is also home to the nation’s longest-running annual Easter passion play, “The Prince of Peace.” American theaters showed newsreel footage, and in 1937 the U.S. government produced a full-length film of the pageant. Attendance reached an all-time high in 1939 when 225,000 visitors jammed Audience Hill for the sunrise performance.

Other on-site attractions include a memorial for the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, a Veterans Walkway, and the World Chapel, which has become a popular wedding locale. This modern-day chapel replicates Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and features ceiling and wall murals by artist Irene Malcolm.

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When we left Holy City, we had a couple of motorcyclists and a prairie dog in front of us. The riders honked at the prairie dog, which sat in the middle of the lane. The Prairie Dog ran over in the grass, turned around, and showed them its tongue. What a naughty little critter??!!!

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2023 · Days of The Week · Oklahoma · Travel Tuesday · USA

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge And The Meers Store & Restaurant, Oklahoma 2014

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When Kevin was about Katelynn’s age, his dad was stationed as a soldier at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. Since the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge is lining up with Fort Sill, my parents-in-law took their three boys and went camping and/or hiking in the mountains for the weekends. Many years later, Kevin always talked about going back hiking in the Wichita Mountains. At the Labor Day weekend in 2014, I said: β€œOkay, the girls are big enough. Let’s pack the camping gear and give it a shot!”

When we made it to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, we went to the visitor center to get some information, before we drove to the campground. Once, Kevin had set up the tent we traveled to The Meers Store & Restaurant, which is located in Meers, one and a half miles north of the refuge. Kevin, Katelynn, Sara, and I never had Longhorn burgers before. So, there was our chance. The restaurant opened as a burger joint in 1901 and is now known as its “Best Burger in Oklahoma”. Since the place is so famous, we had to wait about 2 hours in line to get a table. The experience was so worth waiting outside at 95℉.

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… to be continued …

2022 · Halloween Season

My Jack-o-Lanterns ~ 2013

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Another Saturday has arrived to show off some of my Jack-o-Lanterns from the year 2013. Some I carved for our local β€œFamily Fright Night Campout”. And a couple of pumpkins, I carved for Halloween night.

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… to be continued …

2022 · Arizona · Days of The Week · Places · Travel Tuesday · USA

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona 2008 (Part II)

Tuesday morning, I brushed my hair while stepping out of our tent. A lady from the neighboring camping lot approached me slowly and said: β€œLook to your left and move slowly away”. First, I thought, she was talking about a venomous snake or a bobcat or something really frightening. It was White-tailed Deer. But that young deer was so close, if I had stretched my arm out, I could have touched its nose. Not a good idea! The annual reports show that accidents happen more with β€œcute little bambies & bunnies” than with any other β€œdangerous” wildlife. Because some stupid tourists think, oh look at that sweet little deer, take photos while hugging them and wonder why they get kicked in the groin. On the other hand, there have been β€œonly” three bobcat attacks in the last Century. And usually the cats only attacked, because they were cornered … by tourists. Do you get the point? (I could tell some interesting stories; I’ve witnessed on my two-day trip in Yellowstone N.P. in 2010. But that’s material worth writing in another blog.) Back to the white-tailed deer buck: Kevin and Katelynn came back to our campground from getting cleaned up. I told them to be very quiet. Kevin picked up the camera and filmed the three deer on our lot. One thought it owns the place, while the other two were licking stones to get minerals. Katelynn and I sat on a boulder and watched them from a safer place. We also invited more camp neighbors to capture photos of the deer. Sharing is caring!

After the deer adventure, we packed up and drove to the Tusayan Ruins & Museum. It was very interesting to see how ancient people lived at the edge of the Grand Canyon. The rest of Tuesday, we traveled east on I-40 to get to a motel close by the Petrified Forest National Park. We wanted to be well rested, before we visited the park and travelled back home to Texas.

… to be continued …