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May 05, 2009
Bricktown and the National Weather Center
After visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial, we all went for a quick walk through Oklahoma City's Bricktown district to get some lunch.
Bricks in Bricktown:
At the corner of Mickey Mantle and Flaming Lips:
We went to a sports restaurant for lunch that had the best view of the nearby baseball field. Imagine eating here during a game!
Over lunch we discussed what to do with the rest of our day and decided to head over to Norman, OK to see the National Weather Center:
The inside of the National Weather Center was amazing. It was everything I had ever dreamed it would be (yes, of course I dream about the National Weather Center). When we first walked in, we watched some of Reed's videos on a large, flat, touch-screen TV. Here's one of the videos we watched, of an F4 tornado in the June 24, 2003 outbreak (I was there on my last storm chasing trip, but missed this huge tornado, unfortunately):
We ended up getting a full tour of the building, because one of our tour guides, Matt, works there. One of the coolest things was this hanging globe in the middle of a huge atrium with different things projected on it:
Brent:
Does this look familiar? It's "Dorothy" from the movie Twister. If you're familiar with the movie, you'll also recognize the one in the middle as Jonas' rip-off of Dorothy. The one on the far right is the real deal from NOAA:
So cool:
The Flying Cow Cafe:
We ended up getting up to the observation deck on the top floor, where Matt told us he likes to watch thunderstorms. He also pointed out these cool vents that, apparently, can suck all the air out of the building in 30 seconds in an emergency:
The Observatory (with the coolest chairs on springs you'll ever sit in):
Severe weather vehicles out in the parking lot:
We actually ended up getting to go outside and watch a weather balloon getting sent off into the atmosphere (it was much cooler than it sounds):
Brent watching the weather balloon:
Last little speck before it disappeared:
Ok, so maybe I took a few too many pictures of the weather balloon, but it was my first! And I'm a huge weather dork....
Anyway, here's the fountain out front of the National Weather Center:
After the NWC, we drove through Norman, Oklahoma and saw the old Norman train station:
Then we went to a place called Cane's (something we don't have up here in CT) where we had an awesome chicken dinner:
Sunset in Norman, Oklahoma:
Weather pictures coming soon!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at May 5, 2009 05:25 PM
Comments
I didn't know people in Oklahoma had such a great sense of humor! Flaming Lips Road? Flying Cow Cafe? Love it!
Posted by: M at May 6, 2009 09:43 AM
good blog - - - interesting
Posted by: sammy at May 6, 2009 03:35 PM
That tornado was absolutely massive! I would love to go on a storm chasing tour, but I'd probably end up having an anxiety attack the whole time, haha
Posted by: Sarah at May 8, 2009 06:55 PM
CONSIDERING THE LACK OF TORNEDO ACTIVITY YOU SAW ALOT OF GREAT STUFF G
Posted by: G at May 9, 2009 11:15 AM