Orange Beach, Alabama
Why are lifeguard towers so darn cool? Most places I have been I have hardly ever see lifeguards in them. They are very beachy though like this example from our recent vacation to the Gulf Coast of Alabama. We had pretty good weather and great skies while we are there and a pretty good time.
I went on a run after work Monday. I saw a lot of stuff like the scene above with the daytime moon. I love daytime moons.
I saw a bunch of geese all swimming in one direction like they were zombies. I thought they flew north instead of paddling north.
I saw a bridal shoot going on in the middle of the river.
I saw another runner checking out the shoot.
And some bicyclist zoomed on past me. Zooming past me is not hard. I like my shadow selfie.
I passed the golden dome of the Greek Orthodox Church.
I went across a bridge where there were a bunch of locks. I knew that it was just a matter of time before this tradition hit town.
Four slow miles in the 90 degrees heat.
Friday, we ended our vacation by making the 13 hour drive from Alabama coast to Tulsa. I am always amazed by the drive.
Everybody loves the Transylvania, Louisiana water tower.
I am amazed about how big our country is and how empty of people it is in many sections. As we travel through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas one can see how the countryside has become depopulated. I am not sure that is good or bad, it just kind of is.
I am also amazed by how beautiful the country is.
And the wealth it generates. And I wonder how come it doesn’t translate to the people live and work on the land. Especially in the south. You can see a deep rooted poverty. How come we don’t see that so much in the northern midwest? Both areas are primarily agriculture based.
Anywho, I just love the drive.
Especially when we get to Oklahoma and are greeted by red skies.
We are on vacation right now. We left early on Thursday and made a long drive to Mobile, Alabama. It was a gut buster but worth it. Our plan was to leave early from Mobile and get through the tunnel going to the east side of the bay. Sometimes, if you wait until the afternoon, the traffic backs up for hours. The plan worked. We got to Mobile, we got up and zipped through the tunnel with no wait. It was like getting a bonus day of vacation.
What did we do with our bonus day. We made a side trip to Fairhope, a little town on the east side of Mobile, Bay. I had never heard of it but Heather said lets go, so we went. What a great side trip that was. It has a very nice old town with lots and lots of interesting cafes, shops, and galleries. We checked out an independent bookstore, Page & Pallette. What a great, not so little store, and the people who work there are READERS!! They have a huge “Staff Recommends” section and they know about those books and most of the other books in the store also. They have lots of books by regional authors. So we spent a lot of money on books, and ever dime was well spent.
We took the scenic route cross country from Fairhope to Gulf Shores to our traditional first meal spot, Lulu’s. Lulu’s sits right on the intercoastal canal. I love watching the boats of all kinds, and barges and kayaks and everything else going up and down the waterway but we had something special.
A seaplane landed right in front of us. They pulled up to Lulu’s dock and went and had lunch. What a Jimmy Buffett thing to do (no, it wasn’t him). By the way Lulu is Jimmy Buffett’s sister.
So we got to our condo, got unpacked and ran out to the beach. Logan loves the beach. He is a regular beach bum. Shoot, we all are. Sorry about the tilted shot. I’m writing this post out on the balcony and I am not doing much editing.
To balance things out, here is a pic off the back side of the condo last night. It is tilted the other way, so on average, it all balances out.
And here is the view this morning. More to come!
I love this newly renovated substation on the edge of downtown.
Monday I had a lunch meeting that and so I left a little earlier than my regular time to sneak in a run downtown before going home. It was right about 5 pm and the skies were clear and the light bright so I took my camera. Of course I take my camera no matter the lighting.
A good view of downtown and am empty desolate parking lot. The domed structure off to the right is the First Church of Christian Sciene.
As I got closer to the Arkansas River I ran close to one of my favorite structures. It is a fountain, or it used to be a fountain. I love the mid-century modern design with a bunch of geometry. It is quite a striking structure.
Not a long run by any means but a nice way to end the day.
One of the ponds on Turkey Mountain late in the afternoon. We have had a good amount of rain on the mountain this spring so many of the ponds are full of water. For some reason, the ponds are called lakes. I’m okay with that. The sky is a little vague in this photo but I like the light on vegetation in the foreground and I like the reflection of the sun also. So I’m going with it and hope you don’t mind.
One day after work when I was on the east bank of the Arkansas River looking across trying to figure out whether to run on Turkey Mountain or not which is the hill to the right. I decided to go ahead and stayed dry for the most part. I really look forward to my Wednesday night runs on the mountain or the river and rarely cancel them. I always feel like a kid when school has let out especially when the weather is decent. I hardly ever see anybody else especially when I’m more than a quarter mile from the parking lot.
Downtown Tulsa from the west bank of the Arkansas Rive using an iphone texture since my PC’s software gave up and died. This is from a perfect morning about a week and half ago just before a 5K race that went up and down river (first to the left and then back to the right).
We have a lot of buildings going up in downtown Tulsa. Hotels, shopping areas, all sorts of stuff. This building oddly enough is a stick built wood structure and only four floors. It is sitting next to the tan colored YMCA building which was recently converted to apartments.
A view of Turkey Mountain from across the River.
I spend a lot of time at the Turkey Mountain. It is called an Urban Wilderness with a big emphasis on “Urban.” It sits on the Arkansas River only a few miles from downtown. It has freeways on its north and west side and a major street on the south. On the east side tucked in at the river is a seldom used railroad spur line.
That is downtown Tulsa in the distance. Along with a pipeline and a powerline to boot.
It has at least three pipelines running through it, two major liquids lines and a large diameter natural gas pipeline. There are two major power lines running.In addition there are remnants of oil wells and some abandoned flow lines and remnants of houses.
The poop plant in the foreground and Instate I44 crossing the river.
On its northeast side it has a large sewage treatment plant. Sometimes the aroma wafts up on top of the mountain. Sometimes the parking lot is crowded and you have people with their fleece pajamas walking along the trails smoking, talking loudly on the cell phones on speaker mode.
I love sunsets on the mountain. At this time of day the mountain is deserted.
But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I have run and hiked hundreds of miles on its trails. The rude people never get more than a quarter mile down the trails and get bored and leave. For as much use as it gets there is not much litter. Thousands of people love the place and a while ago when an out of state developer proposed putting an outlet mall of all things on a privately owned portion of the park the community got together and said NO!! And then passed a measure to buy the tract from its owners. A couple of Tulsa companies provided the interim financing so the deal could close.
That is son on the left during a Fall hike years ago.
Even on its busiest days Turkey Mountain is big enough where you may see only a few people once you get a half mile down the trails. It gives people space and room to breathe. And the people take care of it.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday
Resources
Urban Wilderness Coalition – A great group of people who led the successful struggle against the Outlet Mall. It looked hopeless at first but they stuck with it and persevered.
Turkey Mountain Web Site – Turkey Mountain is administered by the Tulsa RiverParks Authority. Lots of good info on what is going on.
Miles to go before I sleep… Blog by Trail Zombie – A great guy who also lives on the mountain. Lots of posts about Turkey Mountain in particular and trail running in general.