The family went on a little mini-vacation to Oklahoma’s beautiful Beavers Bend State Park where we went hiking, kayaking, and other fun activities. Above was from a kayak outing down the Mountain Fork River in the park. It may not fit what your idea of Oklahoma is. It’s not all cows, wheatfields, and windmills.
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Our family flat out missed the northern lights extravaganza last week. We tried but there was too much light here. I had lots of photos from our backyard to the northern sky but none of them showed anything. Oh well, I think there was just too much ambient light to show anything.
I launched my drone and I got some late sunset photos. The drone’s controller was squawking at me the whole time about not enough light, blah, blah, blah. I thought we were masters of our technology but it seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. So the above is the sky to our west.
And this is to the northwest. Waayyy too much light.
We have had lots of weather here. Here is a storm cloud to the east from our gym parking lot. Generally we don’t have to worry about the storm when it is to the east but we do worry about the people who are in its path.
After we went home I launched the drone. It was kind of windy and the drone controller was telling me to get it back because the wind is about to carry it off. That has only happened to me once and I had to do the mission abort thing. It worked it brought the drone back home back against a strong wind. It is almost panic inducing. Anyway, turns out that the storm under the clouds was just rain, no rotation, no damage. Which is good.
So I was hoping for some northern light photos. I saw lots on social media and I feel kind of left out. Some wags who also didn’t have any luck posted their plain pics with some colors obviously added. I thought that was funny the first couple hundred times I saw it.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.
Monday I went on a bike ride. I wanted to check out a new (to me) bike trail Bixby put in.
The new trail section didn’t have a trailhead with parking or anything. It starts at a neighborhood entrance with no parking anything so I went into the neighborhood and parked at their association play park and swimming pool just so I wouldn’t be in anybody’s way.
So I rode 15 miles on Bixby’s bike trail system. It’s oriented three segments: northeast, northwest and southern. The new leg is the northeast segment. I started at the very northern end and moved over to the northwest and then backtracked down to do the southern segment. I’ve been on the northwest and southern segments several times before.
The northeast segment cuts in behind a subdivsion and a grass farm. Bixby grows a lot of grass sod. There is less of it all the time because the farmers are selling out to builders who are building lots of subdivisions.
The bike path goes close to several strip shopping centers.
Much of it is in big spacious green belts bordering creeks and drainage ditches.
Here is the very northern end of the northwest leg. Somebody had mowed a path through the grass so I had to go check it out.
It looks like a homeowner put a gate in on his back fence and uses his mown path to access the trail. I’m hoping that Bixby and Tulsa get together and connect Bixby’s trail system with Tulsa extensive system. They only have two miles to go.
The southern leg goes in back of Joe’s Farm. The last truck farm in Bixby. It’s an amazing place and they do a great business.
The southern leg goes by the Bixby Police Department gun range. I’ve been by when they are shooting with their AR15 type rifles. They are not loud. They make an airy pew, pew, pew sound.
And then we are into Washington Irving Park.
I revisited Mr. Irving. He camped overnight here on October 12, 1832 during his tour of Oklahoma accompanied by U.S. Rangers back then. He wrote “A Tour on the Prairies” about his travels.
We have had rain so the river is up but not near flooding.
There is a map of the Arkansas River set in concrete. It is a really long river. It originates in the Rocky Mountains near Leadville, Colorado which is only 85 miles from where my sister lives in Colorado Springs.
The old bridge across the Arkansas is now a pedestrian bridge called the Harmony Bridge. A fun area with seating, shade, and entertaining things for kids and childish adults, like me, to do.
And the turn around is this cool play park.
And doubling back to the car, this was my only stop. On Harmony Bridge looking upriver.
So that was my fun little adventure.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday.
We have been having storms in Oklahoma. Twenty five or more tornadoes last weekend causing lots of devastation in some places. In Tulsa we have had lots of rain. No tornadoes though.
From 50 meters over house looking northeast. Ominous clouds. The greenbelt is flooded (by design.)
Looking west. More clouds.
Monday was a great day!! I went on a bike ride on the Arkansas RiverParks trails. This is where I started, close to the south end. That is Turkey Mountain across the river there. I know, it doesn’t look like a mountain but Turkey Mountain sounds better than Turkey Hill don’t you think?
Looking across the river to the Tulsa Power Station. It hardly ever runs. It looks like they have it up and going.
And then one of the refineries on the river.
And then from the other side of the river looking toward downtown.
And toward midtown.
Since then we have had more rain!! I’ll take the sun and the rain but you can keep the tornadoes. There might be a song in there somewhere?
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday
The Pink Moon, a couple days before it was full. It is called the Pink Moon not because of its color but because of a pink colored phlox that blooms in April.
Late afternoon trees at Lafortune Park.
The Library at Lafortune Park. I’ve always loved the big windows and swooping modern design.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday
Earlier this week I headed out to the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow to find a specialized geocache. It was a space based Adventure Lab Cache. No container to find, just information you need to look up. It was at the Voyage Solar System Walkway. A collection of displays set up along a street showing the relative sizes and distances of the planets to the sun.
Here is the sun, looks like an overgrown basketball.
Just a few feet away is Earth. Barely bigger than a pin prick and its even smaller moon.
And 2000 feet down the street, all by itself, is Pluto. Stripped of planet status recently but still proud.
And I got a virtual postcard proving that I found it. If only virtual anything proves anything. The installation starts at an elementary school which I think is great.
And I went hiking recently on Turkey Mountain. This flyover are still scary to me. They are not for hikers, they are for bicyclists. They really do fly over them. I think all that steel would hurt if you fell off your bike.
My sister and her husband came to town. We had a fun time. One day we went Woolaroc, wildlife preserve and art museum started by Oklahoma oilman Frank Phillips who started Phillips 66 Petroleum way back when. We saw some bison and other critters. My sister is a former Park Ranger at Yellowstone so it is kind of hard to impress her.
The liked the art a lot. Lots of western artists works are hanging at Woolaroc.
I love this stained glass window.
We went to the nearby town of Bartlesville to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower. Built for a pipeline construction company, H.C. Price who did a lot of work for Phillips 66.
BIL Irv got his photo with a big 66.
Sister Ellen did as well.
I did several years ago when I turned 66 years old.
And a few years before that I got my brother Bob’s photo on his 66th birthday.
Speaking of birthdays, I had one early this month. You can tell I am getting kind of old. I just started my 70th year.
As a treat Heather and Logan took me to see the the Van Gogh Immersion exhibit here in Tulsa. It was very cool.
And I got a cornhole game. Stop by if you are in town we’ll have some beverages and play a few games.
And I end with yet another Lego animal from the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World. Thank you for stopping by!
I went on a walk one evening and found this sunset at the end.
We got a new backyard fence a couple months ago. I finally got my weather station reinstalled.
My sister and her husband came to visit. One day we had an eclipse party in the backyard. Everyone had the special sunglasses except for Kodi the dog but he doesn’t care about eclipses so it was all good. After this shot, I wished I had thought to launch my drone. Not to look at the eclipse but looking down at this group as it went up in the air. It would have simulated the rapture for me. Don’t worry, I’m not a rapture but I thought it would have been fun to simulate it.
I took a short bike ride and checked out the water behind the new dam on the Arkansas River here in Tulsa. The river sure looks like nice full of water.
I feel kind of guilty because the Arkansas River is braided prairie river. They have sandbars and multiple channels and support lots of wildlife. So I am conflicted. But the “new” river sure makes nice photos.
And another Lego animal from our trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden a few weeks ago.
So that is it for this week. I am linking to Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.
Went on a hike on Turkey Mountain this week. (Like almost all weeks)
Checked out the new trail construction going on at the “String of Pearls.” Three ponds that used to be inaccessible because of thick shrubs and thorns.
Checked out the panoramic view at “The Hub” – the highest point on Turkey Mountain and has several trails going in and several going out including two wicked bicycle downhill runs.
We had a decent sunrise the house the other day.
I went to Philbrook Museum’s gardens and checked out the tulips.
And a perfectly formed maple tree.
Made a photo of tulips, a redbud tree, the Tempietto, and the sky.
I told my wife Heather all about it.
So I came back with her the very next day.
The tulips and everything else and more was still there.
Son Logan came with us and we checked out the Cabin.
And had some ice cream at a nearby place. A good time was had by all.
And yet another Lego critter, this time a zebra from our earlier trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
Sharing on Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World
I have been busy. I love being busy. Especially being retired and doing the things I want to do.
I went out to Turkey Mountain and checked out the new board walk they installed over the western rock faces of the mountain. This is an area called Rock City and I love how they put the walk right in and over the boulders using cedar that was cut on the mountain.
It is a small network of new trails interconnecting with two trails, one on top of the rock faces and one below. I bet it would be fun on a bicycle. It looks like they put a mesh on top of the cedar to add a little traction for the bikes. You slip off the wood on a bike it would ruin your whole day. Me and gravity are not friends these days so I will never take my bike across this.
I ventured back to the parking lot on the Tiger Muffin trail. It’s the trail name for a friend of mine.
Last Saturday I put my cold weather gear on and joined a bunch of people from the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition and Bike Club to clean up a trail called Mooser Creek Greenway. It had a lot of tree falls from Tulsa’s Father’s Day windstorm last year. The trails were cleared back then but a lot of the downed were a little unsightly. Plus there is a never ending chore of repairing erosion and wet spots on trails.
So I helped clear the limbs and trunks that were being cut up by people with chain saws.
I love the trail work days. Tulsa really responds to stuff like that and all sorts of people show up to help. I got a promotion with the Wilderness Coalition. I am now the Vice President of Government Affairs. My trail job didn’t change much. Moving limbs and cut up trunks off the trail is what I do along with whatever else needs doing.
Later that day Heather and I went out to the Tulsa Botanic Garden to check out the flowers and new projects.
They have added an event space in the middle of the pond. They are also converting some wild land they had into an arboretum. They have done a good job adding onto the gardens and it is getting more and more settled as time goes on.
The tulips put on a quite a show. Last year when we went some deer had gone into the gardens ate a bunch of the tulips and other plants.
They also had Lego animals scattered around the garden. I love this woodpecker.
And I always love redbuds. The Eastern Redbud is the State Tree of Oklahoma.
The Daffodils were putting on a show even though their time is short.
This was my favorite tulip. It looked black in the sun but is actually a deep purple. This one is the only one I spotted.
And to end up, we had an almost full moon the other day. I captured the image in the late afternoon so it was almost a daytime moon. I love the moon in all its presentations but I especially love a good daytime moon.
So what have you been up to?
I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.
I love geocaching. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an online game that you play in the physical world. People hide containers (geocaches) out in the world and then input the gps coordinates online (at geoaching.com) and then others go and look for them and record their success or failure online at the same web site. Most people use an app on their smart phone to play these days. (A better explanation is by geocaching.com at this link.) Over the years I have found almost 2200 caches and hidden about 30 or so. Only three are still active.
There are ethics to geocaching that you take care of the caches you hide. If they go missing or get damaged or something changes in any way then the expectation is that the owner of the cache needs to replace or repair, or disable it so other people don’t waste their time looking for it. I had two caches that had gone missing so I set about replacing them. The caches are in remote areas and I like to make them easy to find. Also, the expectation is on longer caches is that there be trade items. Mainly they are there for people who bring their kids with them. The idea is that you can take a toy or item from a cache if you have something equal or better to trade.
The first cache I replaced is in a patch of urban woods at the junction of three freeways in Tulsa. It is in a floodplain and hardly anybody would just go there for recreation. So you can get close on a bike trail.
And then you have to duck under one of the freeways and head to the woods.
I put it several feet above the ground. The area floods a lot so there is no use hiding it on the ground plus I like to people to find my caches so I made it kind of obvious.
So I took a different route back to my car. That was interesting. It wasn’t the terrain I though it was going to be. I went close to several homeless encampments and the back property of several businesses and it wasn’t much fun in terms of a hike but it was interesting. The thing is I hate going out and back on the same route. I like loops so I made a loop.
The prettiest part of the hike!
The next cache was on Turkey Mountain. I use the Turkey Mountain parking lots it is 2.5 miles to the cache site. I was in a hurry so I parked at the YMCA adjoining the Turkey Mountain. I’m a member so I just checked in at the office and used the Y’s trails, which interconnect with Turkey Mountain’s trails and saved my a lot of time.
I love trail bridges!!
Here is a view of the Y from across their lake (on Turkey Mountain, ponds are called lakes for some reason. Probably because they named a hill, Turkey Mountain.)
And here is the sign, 2.5 miles to the other parking lot. So I got kind of an express pass.
So is the general location of the cache site. This is the Rock City area of Turkey Mountain. I hid the cache a lot better than I did the other one because there all sorts of bikers and hikers on trails on both sides of the cache. Years ago I hid the cache in amongst those rocks. Bad idea. Nobody could find it and nobody wanted to because they were afraid of snakes. I am afraid of snakes too!! Plus when I did look for it I never could find it. So I would hide another one. That is great except somebody say, “Hey I found two caches close together. Which one is the right one?” That’s embarrassing. So I started hiding it close to the same location but not in the rocks.
This cache is a lot more fun and interesting place to go hiking than the other place.
So I got them both replaced the same day. Lot of fun!! And you can tell that on this second hike, I made a double loop out of it.
I am linking this post with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World. Go check both links out.