Skywatch Friday – Falls Park

While in South Dakota in early August for a family reunion another place I sneaked off to was Falls Park near downtown Sioux Falls. I love it there. A huge park with lots to see and great photo opportunities. The Big Sioux River runs through the park and makes a bunch of beautiful cascaded water falls.

They are very beautiful.

For a time in the early part of the 20th century the energy of the falls was harnessed to generate electricity. Those days are gone but the old power house has been repurposed to a cafe. I will say it again, I love it when buildings are repurposed espcially when they are as beautiful as this one.

The falls are loud and are mesmerizing.

I climbed the nearby observation tower and took a photo of the one area of the park. Silly me didn’t take a photo of the observation tower.

And I found several geocaches while I was there. (Geocaching is an online treasure seeking game. Check this link to learn more.) I love geocaching.

There was a sculpture called The Farmer there. Farmers do lots of sitting and thinking of course if they want to be successful and of course they got to get up and do things as well.

Me, I’m not much of a farmer. I’m a retired natural gas guy. I just take lots of photos. I have 89,006 on flickr so far. Five or six of them are pretty decent. Not sure about the rest.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

Saturday’s Critters – Oxley Nature Center

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In early August I ventured up to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center.

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They have lots of deer up there. Sometimes I find them and sometimes I don’t. This time I found three groups.

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They are wary but not skittish like deer who have been hunted.

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If you stand still long enough, they ignore you.

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I found this mama with a fawn.

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Lots of birds out that day also. They were way off so the photos are a little fuzzy.

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And a dragonfly!!

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Skywatch Friday – Big Sioux Recreation Area

While in South Dakota in August for a family reunion, I had a little free time so I went to the nearby Big Sioux Recreation Area near Sioux Falls.

It’s a sizeable state park featuring a lot of different terrain. River bottoms, prairie, forest, valleys and hills.

From a low point in the park to the highest point, where I also hiked.

It has a moderate entrance fee and like it seems everything else in the Midwest, is impeccably maintained.

A small geocache hanging in a tree

I went their for the hiking and geocaching.

I had the place to myself during the weekday that I was there.

The Big Sioux River winds through the park. Tell the truth the Big Sioux River seems to everywhere in my family history. Our family church is near the Big Sioux River and many of my relatives were baptized in it. It runs through Dell Rapids where many of my family live and where the reunion is held. It is one of those long winding rivers that seems to be everywhere.

Something about the wind blowing a cottonwood tree

South Dakota is a surprising state. My vision is that it is flat but for a flat place it has lots of hills and valleys and even mountains and forests. Think Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills.

It has lots of big majestic trees.

And high hills with great views and skiesl

I didn’t spend much time there. Went on a little hike, found a few geocaches and took some photos.

A video of a geocache find I made.

Big Sioux Recreation Area is relatively unknown gem of a place. I’ll be back.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

My Corner of the World – Roots

Back in August I ventured up to southeast South Dakota for a family reunion. While there the family attended services at Sioux Valley Baptist Church on land donated by my great great grandfather back in the 1800’s. So this reunion Sunday a family member Lutheran pastor led the service. So that was kind of cool. My uncle Glenn, 90+ years old, tells me that the interior furnishings and decorations are the same as they were back when he was just a boy.

So this is me, my cousin Robert, and our uncle Glenn at the site of what my mother called the “Damn Dam” in Flandreau, South Dakota. Glenn, my dad, and another brother and a friend of theirs jointly bought a canoe and used both upstream and downstream of the dam for years. So every year they all had to go visit the dam and take their wives who teased them about it the Damn Dam. So now Glenn takes me and my cousin to it and we tease him a little about but we all know it’s a fond memory of his.

Another place we visit in Flandreau is the Japanese Gardens. An old time dance hall from a long time ago. My grandmother used to talk about seeing Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Lawrence Welk and others back in the day when they were touring the Midwest. I don’t know why they called the Japanese Gardens but I did find out that it temporarily named something else during World War II and then returned the original name a few years later.

I’ve seen it a lot but I’ve never seen it in use. So I was glad to see that a local developer had a cut a deal with the city to restore it and use it as an event space again. There was a large poster inside that laid out a lot of the performers over the years and I wish I had photographed it because it talked about rock and roll groups during the 50’s and 60’s that performed there. I couldn’t find any such information online. I just love it when old buildings are restored and repurposed.

Later on we went to the town of Dell Rapids. Glenn talked about swimming as a kid in the Big Sioux River as it ran by the city park.

Abandoned Bathhouse

Remnants of the old bath house still stand. Nobody goes swimming in the river any longer.

One thing that startled me is we stopped at a gas station and I saw these pumps where you could get either 70% ethanol or 55% for your specially equipped car. Egads!! I thought. I have never seen anything like this. The stuff is pretty potent liquorwise, 70% would be 140 proof alcohol and 55% would be 110 proof. I wouldn’t drink it though as the other component is gasoline.

I always learn a lot on my trips to South Dakota.

I’m linking up with My Corner of the World

Skywatch Friday – On the Road to South Dakota

In early August I headed up to southeast South Dakota from Tulsa for a family reunion on my dad’s side of the family.

I love the drive up there and the fastest route generally keeps me off the freeways most of the way. That kind of suits me. Lots less traffic and lots more to see. I love the big skies in the Midwest.

I also enjoy the small towns. Lots to see there. I like to see old infrastructure of almost any kind. The Midwest has lots of agriculture infrastructure to look at and photograph.

I also love their county courthouses. Nice big solid buildings for the most part.

Something I noticed on this trip that I don’t remember seeing much before is the plethora of barn quilts. In eastern Kansas it seemed like everybody had a barn quilt, the county courthouse had this one on the grounds. Doing the google thing I find out that barn quilts are kind of folk art that has been in the Midwest states especially for a long time. They are designs painted on wood that are then hung on barns originally. Kind of cool is what I think.

Burlington Kansas. There is a geocache hidden on this sign and notice that an early presidential candidate is announcing his run. This might be my favorite “welcome to” signs I’ve ever seen.

Getting close to my destination as the sun started declining I pulled off the freeway to get this shot.

Anyway it takes me a while to get anywhere and I enjoyed myself. When my wife goes with me she doesn’t put up with that kind of nonsense. I don’t blame her. But I enjoyed my drive up through America’s heartland of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

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Skywatch Friday – The Groom Cross

Last week I posted about Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amarillo. Once ou get through Amarillo, headed east, you come to a giant cross near, the town of Groom. Naturally, since I was by myself, I pulled off I-40 to check it out.

The cross is 190 feet tall. It was installed in 1995. In addition to the big cross their are other artworks on the site depicting the stations of the cross, the last supper, an empty tomb, a gift shop and other things. The name of the site is “The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries.” Hit the link to go to their web site. The cross and other attractions are free and there is plenty of parking.

The site was built by Texas oilman Steve Thomas and his wife Bobby. The story is that he always wanted to be a missionary but liked staying home so he built this because of its proximity to Interstate 40 and Route 66. So people come to him in a sense.

The Last Supper installation with the replica Calvary Hill behind it.

St. Michael the Archangel defeating Samson.

It’s a nice, restful stop, (complete with restrooms) and is nicely done. And if you are into such things there is a geocache on the property (yes I found it.)

As an aside, Steve Thomas built the site on land owned by another man, Ralph Britten. Mr. Britten is the owner of another attraction in Groom, the leaning water tower. The tower was built this way to publicize the Britten Truck Stop which is long gone. The water tower still stands today and is a long time Route 66 attraction.

So now you know all about Groom, Texas.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World

Saturday’s Critters – Roadrunner

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I was in Albuquerque last weekend and came across this roadrunner at a local park. It was a little shy and kept a constant distance from me and wouldn’t turn around or give me a profile view for nothing. I lived in New Mexico for years and I don’t think I ever saw one. When I worked summers in the oilfields of west Texas I saw lots of them. Of course back then we didn’t have smart phones snapping away at anything that moved.

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Skywatch Friday – Cadillac Ranch

Continuing my road trip from Springerville/Eagar Arizona for my first 50th High School Reunion. You may remember that I went by the El Malpais National Monument to see a natural arch and some spectacular sandstone cliffs. So after that I drove on into Albuquerque, spent the night and headed home to Tulsa the next morning.

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Something that I have been meaning to see for decades was Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo. It was installed in 1974 by three architects from San Francisco who called themselves the Ant Farm, on land owned by a millionaire in nearby Amarillo. It was moved in 1997 to further away from the city. You can read all about it in this Wikipedia article.

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I remember driving by it in 1977 when I left home after graduating with my engineering degree. I was on my way to Houston to start my new job with Mobil Oil Corporation. I saw the installation from I-40 and wanted to check it out but you know, I had a long ways to go and I was in a hurry. So here I am retired 46 years later and I took the time, finally.

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It’s kind of a place. No admission fee but you can buy spray paint and people were making the most of it.

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I just took it all in. In some places the paint is inches thick. According to the Wikipedia article it gets repainted now and again for television commercials, social protests, and once to mark the passing of the one of the founders of the ant farm.

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I have had several people tell me that they came out originally to it in the 50’s and 60’s (it was installed in 1974). I just nod my head and say that’s cool!! That’s kind of common for Route 66 attractions. People talk about visiting places as kids when the thing wasn’t even built then,

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I love that people are using really bright colors to paint with.

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And what got me was the kids were really getting into it. Ordering their parents to go buy more paint, or bring them this or that. How does that work? I don’t really remember ever ordering my parents around. I would have remembered if I tried to do so!

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Droplets of spray paint were wafting everywhere in the Texas breeze.

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And I was glad that there was decent sky that day.

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My advice is to not wait 46 years to go do something that you would like to do.

Have you ever checked out Cadillac Ranch? How about the Bug Ranch? It is a similar installation with Volkswagens on the other side of Amarillo. I posted about it about a month ago.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World