Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

This past weekend Dave, our friend Ryan and I headed South to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Rescue. I seriously had no clue that a place this neat existed in Oklahoma. My cousin once told me that the Wichita mountains, for Oklahoma, were pretty impressive. I'll have to say she is 100% right. The mountains were nice but what I loved the most was the wildlife refuge. I saw bison, long horn cattle, elk, deer, wild turkeys and prairie dogs and that's just what I saw. There are many other animals that I didn't see. I also love that the animals roam around freely and can even cross the road if they want. I'm pretty sure there are lots of parks like this (aka Yosemite) and I'm pretty sure I need to visit them. 

Here Dave and I are at the top of Mount Scott at the Wichita Mountains. This mountain is only accessible by car however there is a lot of rock climbing and several trails you can hike in the area. 

I told Dave this was me pondering "I wonder how many miles Dave is going to make me hike?" =)

 Lucky for me though Ryan saved the day and hiked with Dave. 

While the guys hiked, I opted out of driving to Lawton, OK for coffee and shopping and went on a photo shoot. These long horn cattle were just grazing away happily. They kept coming closer and closer to my car, which makes for great pictures. However, if you look at the middle right picture, Mr. Bozo thought it would be a good idea to get close to the long horn to snap a picture and he spooked them and then they began to run and run far away. They ran far far away from me, which I guess is good for safety but bad for pictures. I still don't get why Bozo thought that was a good idea...

This little guy let us know load and clear he didn't want us too close. Don't worry - I had my macro lens and was far away. 

Another great attraction in the area is a restaurant called Meers. It's 4 miles from the refuge and I gotta say it's a bit ironic because they raise long horn cattle to serve at the restaurant. Their website states studies have proven that beef from long horn cattle are lower in cholesterol and saturated fat than chicken. Meers has also been voted as having the best burger nation wide. The burger was great but do you see those cheese fries in the background? Guys, I haven't eaten those since before Korea and I won't be eating them for a looooong time. Holy guacamole they hurt my stomach so bad. Anyways, this massive burger was 16oz and Dave and I split it. nom nom. Have you ever eaten long horn beef?

So there you have it guys - mountains and some awesome wildlife right here in Oklahoma. Have you ever been to a wildlife refuge?