Tag: weather

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” Woody Guthrie

On By HanneIn Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hot.

When I have previously driven to OKC, I’ve able to slowly adjust to the heat – usually as I make my way through Wyoming, Colorado and into New Mexico. By the time I make it to Oklahoma City, I’m relatively adjust to the blistering heat of the summer. But when I fly in, there is always a huge shock when I step out from the climate controlled airport and into the furnace otherwise known as Oklahoma.

It’s like a level of hell, or walking into an oven or just… Of course I’m here just in time for an excessive heat warning. In Seattle we have ‘heat advisories’ for the low-90s, telling people to stay indoors, drink water, etc. Through Saturday we’re under an ‘Excessive Heat Warning’ with a heat index (temp/humidity) up to 115. Gross.

IMG_8769But since I didn’t drive down, I rented a car for my stay. The Colcord Hotel (home away from home) does have a shuttle for Downtown/Bricktown, but with a few days to explore, I’d rather have a car at my disposal.

I arrived around dinner time on Tuesday. I found a liquor store to buy a bottle of wine (because you can’t get wine in a grocery store – nor can you buy a wine opener where they sell wine, had to find one elsewhere), ordered room service and crashed out early. I was up and out the door by 9:30 yesterday. Since I didn’t get to road trip down, and I have unlimited miles on my rental, I decided to try and put a few miles on. From OKC I drove 110 miles up to Tulsa to visit the Woody Guthrie Center. It’s not a big place to explore, but it holds several interesting pieces from his collection as well as a ton of history surrounding his songs and art work.

WG
Lyrics to “This Land is Your Land”

From Tulsa I headed 115 miles west to Enid, OK for an ‘old time museum’ that was supposed to be open. Except it wasn’t and I wasted 2.5 hours driving there and then back toward I-35S. Oh well, it was a pretty drive. From Enid it was another 100 miles back toward OKC. I made a stop in Guthrie, OK to visit the Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum – wow, they had a ton of stuff on display. And I love how pretty much everything was cured with morphine and alcohol. Established in 1887, Guthrie was the original capital of Oklahoma and it’s beautiful downtown is considered a National Historic Landmark. I wanted to spent more time exploring the city, but at 105F, it just wasn’t worth the misery of strolling the old streets. I might try and head back up on Saturday, but we’ll see.

Once I got back to the hotel, I met up with some friends who arrived from various corners of the US (and one from England). We walked down to the pub for a bite to eat and ended up playing Trivia. We were doing great, but fumbled in the last minute to come in 4th (I think?) out of six. For the majority of the game we were in second place. Boo.

This morning I was up and out the door around 9am (already 85F). I headed south to Moore, OK where a massive Tornado hit in 2013 just prior to my visit/tornado dance. Cait and I had explored one of the neighborhoods and I returned in 2014 to the same block for progress photos. This year it was almost unrecognizable. There was still one empty lot, but otherwise life goes on, right?

moore
Life not quite back to normal.

From there I drove down some backroads (only other traffic I saw was a tractor) to El Reno where the tornado that put me in a shelter, touched down. There is a memorial for the three members of the TWISTEX team that died. I have to say, it was a little nerve-wracking being out in those fields, so far from anything. There weren’t any storm clouds in the distance or anything (I would’ve chickened out), but still… It didn’t help that the radio had played an ad for storm shelters on the drive out.

Tomorrow a few more friend arrive in the morning, Harmon’s charity event tomorrow evening. Since I opted out of the Saturday golf event, I hope to spend the day exploring a bit more. Sunday will be lazy until it’s time to say goodbye for another year and head home. In an airplane. Zoom Zoom.

Mark Harmon in OKC

On By HanneIn Travel3 Comments

(looking for the tornado post? click here)

(looking for the OKC Energy FC post? click here)

Ah yes, the main reason for my year trek to Oklahoma…

It’s funny, because the newness and excitement of ohmygodmarkharmon has worn off, but the trip seems to be 2getting better and better. I (of course) missed road tripping down (and my road trip buddy – Cait), but this was probably one of the best times yet. I had a great time with a couple different groups of people – some of them not even from the event, we just started chatting at the hotel. It was a little crowded at the event, but other than that – no complaints. I think I most look forward to seeing my friends who otherwise live across the country, and meeting new ones (hi skid).

Ok, it is cool though to be having a drink at Flint and have ‘Gibbs’ walk in and sit just behind your table. A little surreal, but… we’re bff‘s now, remember?

I did get to have a few words, which was nice. I’m much more interested in a legit conversation than going through the autograph line three times to have everything I own signed (yes, I saw people do that – ugh, the riff-raff).

The baseball game was called off due to rain, but as I am not a baseball fan, I can’t say I was super disappointed. I was more concerned about the weather myself, and made friends with a cop – Officer Cunningham. She was very helpful and when the lightning started, she was quick to assure me that the conditions weren’t right for anything more than some lightning and maybe thunder. I half believed her at the time, but saw her again at the soccer game and she had been right.

1I do want to say how impressed I was with Mr. Harmon, signing right through the downpour. Several times, people offered him an umbrella, but since they weren’t allowed in the stands, he didn’t want one either. If the fans stood in the rain, he was going to stand in the rain too. It didn’t rain the whole time, but with a professional game scheduled for right after, they just didn’t have time.

I did get the chance to chat about the new Jurassic Park movie with Frank Marshall. He said it’s coming along nicely – apparently he just came from the filming location.

That said, people only come to this post for the photos. This year I put my website address on them. I don’t mind them being sharedbut they should be linked back to my blog. Last time they were snagged, cropped, edited and not linked, so… I’ll probably post a few on FB for those that are FB friends as well.

 

“My Oklahoma home is in the sky…” – Bruce Springsteen

On By HanneIn Uncategorized2 Comments

I’ve decided to post about OKC in parts:

If you’re looking for Mark Harmon photos/info, click here.

If you’re looking for OKC Energy FC info, click here.

I had to get up early this morning. With an 8 hour drive ahead of me, plus wanting to stop at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, I knew I needed to get a good start to the day. I also wanted to take a drive through Moore, OK, where Cait and I toured the day after the El Reno tornado and only a week or so after the Moore tornado. I wasn’t sure if I could find the same place, but Moore isn’t big, so I figured I’d just circle a bit and see what was left of the damage. As I drove, a few things started to look familiar and suddenly I was turning into the same neighborhood we saw last year.

photo 4
Same tree, nearly a year apart.

As I turned off the main road, I started to feel really, really overwhelmed. I think I was riding so high on adrenaline last year, esp. with the continuous storms the entire drive home, I didn’t really get the chance to deal with the enormity of it all.

Then Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah  came on my playlist and I just lost it.

I have zero idea how these people continue to live there and just rebuild and move on with life. I spent the whole weekend with one eye to the sky, and I saw someone out planting in their front yard like it won’t blow away again (the house, who cares about the flowers). Many homes were still being repaired, some finished and some were just empty lots.  The roads are still cakes with dirt, though the debris are gone.

I think it was really good to drive through the same neighborhood. In a way it was oddly reassuring that, even after the worst of things, life goes on. Even if it seems impossible. I look at the top photo, and I wouldn’t even know where to begin with a massive pile of rubble. I remember seeing families just standing at the end of the driveway, staring at the mess and then just digging in.

While I won’t claim to be ‘over it’, maybe a little healing was done today.

*The house in the photo to the left no longer exists (just an empty lot).