Category Archives: Geocaching

Our World – Turkey Mountain Autumn

Saturday, son SuperPizzaBoy and I made a trek on Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa to replace a geocache of ours that had gone missing.

The weather was ridiculously warm, up in the 70’s, and it was very dry.

Turkey Mountain had a lot of fall color. With the clear sky and sunny day it was almost sparkly.

It was very windy in Tulsa and the tops of trees on the mountain were being blown hard by the wind but it was still on the ground.

We pretty much had the place to ourselves. Some sort of mountain biking event was winding down by the time we got there. Once we got a quarter mile from the parking lot we only saw a handful of people in the hours we were there.

Good thing we went yesterday because it rained pretty hard up there Sunday and it got cold and overcast. We could use the rain, the ponds and lakes are getting low.

We were both tired by the time we finished but I think we both had a good time.

Have you taken a good walk this Fall?

Our World Tuesday

Our World – D Day Outing at Oxley Nature Center

Sunday afternoon in Tulsa was glorious, warm, sunny, dry. A great day for getting some vitamin D. Getting outside if you know what I mean. SuperPizzaBoy and I loaded up his three wheel Triton and off we went to Mary K. Oxley Nature Center on the north side of Tulsa.

The center has some old highways long blocked off from traffic that are perfect for SPB’s three wheel Triton. He doesn’t like walking like his Dad does so it is a good compromise.

He can ride for miles.

We saw brilliant Fall foliage.

And some shimmering lakes.

Oxley has lots and lots of side trails. In wetter years the walkways come in pretty handy.

We found a couple of geocaches. I’ve found almost all of them at Oxley.

We both got a few hours of exercise and probably overloaded on Vitamin D.

There was a lot to be had. And the Cowboys didn’t play until Sunday night anyway.

Our World Tuesday

San Juan Whale Watching

About two weeks ago in Seattle we got up very early and clambered onto the Victoria Clipper III and headed off north in search of whales.

The vessel wasn’t very full so we got to spread out a little. Luckily they had lots of coffee on board an free refills.

And the boat could haul a** as we say in Oklahoma. It could have probably pulled a dozen skiers.

We saw all sorts of boats on the way, motor boats, big and small.

And sail boats, most moving with their motors.

And big ole houses right on the water.

And beautiful bridges.

We got to Friday Harbor and spotted this classy yacht, the MV Olympus. It used to be the governor’s personal yacht way back when and the subject of some scandal because of the cost. It is now privately owned and is displayed at classic boat shows. You can charter it if you want. You want to know how much?? Hahaha, well then you can’t afford it as they saying goes.

At Friday Harbor we had lunch. I went geocaching and found my very first Washington geocache. No lie, the photo above was taken at the cache site.

While hunting for whales we saw some spectacular skies.

And some harbor seals. They don’t really like Orca whales, but the whales love the seals.

We saw some deer on a wildlife preserve on an island.

And then finally!!

We gave up. I got this pic from the NOAA web site. (Sorry)

We would like to have seen some whales but we had a great trip anyway.

We saw some more great scenery on the way back to Seattle.

I never got tired of seeing the Space Needle. Seattle has to have the prettiest skyline of any city I’ve ever visited. (Nope, hadn’t been to Paris, yet.)

NatureFootstep Waters

San Juan Island on Dwellable

Intenational Geocaching Day

I went a on a little geocaching jaunt Saturday at Keystone Lake.

I went to fetch a geocoin for a geocaching friend of mine and to get two other caches as well.

I headed off on the trail and then had to get off the trail to the cache where the geocoin was. Not there!! Dang. Common malady among so called trackables.

At the next cache I ran into fellow geocacher and trail runner “Speedy.” He’s kind of slow but steady and not too trusting. Speedy and I are always battling it out at the local trail races to see who is going to be next to last. I can almost catch him during the races but right at the end he puts on the afterburners and leaves me in the dust. I’ve been working on my kick and getting better but he still finishes ahead of me. One of these days I’m going to beat him. Jut look at him. I’m going to wipe that smirk of his face one of these days.

He needs to be careful or I’ll send him to south Louisana. Years ago I built a natural gas processing plant in the swamps near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Cajuns who worked at the plant cooked and ate everything that slithered, scurried, or crawled across the plant site. They’d know just what to do with Speedy.

I went after another cache that was described as a “bit technical” by an earlier finder. That is a polite way of saying “older fat guys might think about staying away from this.” I went ahead anyway. Good judgement is not something I’m known for, especially at home. I got out relatively unscathed, relatively. No witnesses at least, so I’m not telling.

Anyway, it was International Geocaching Day and by finding a cache I got this badge.

And the badge is fine and good and all that but I go geocaching for the walk in the woods.

Its kind of why they call fishing, “fishing” instead of “catching.” It’s all about getting your head on straight.

So, all is well with my (Kia) Soul.

Turkey Mountain Geocaching – Oklahoma Rock and What are these doing here…

Wednesday Night I cashed in my weekly kitchen pass for a trail running and geocaching expedition on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain.

I headed down the Blue Trail and then another fainter trail to the Oklahoma Rock.

The cache is also named Oklahoma Rock but it is not at the rock. It is 207 feet from the rock in the direction that the rock is pointed. The Oklahoma Rock cache was placed by M5, otorious for ingenious fun hides. This cache has a twist because he placed a smaller version of the Oklahoma Rock near the cache, pointing back to the big Oklahoma Rock. Sounds easy right?

So off I went. I’m not going to spoil the fun for you by showing you what the cache looks like, what the smaller rock looks like, or talk about the problems I had in finding the cache. You need to figure that out for yourself.

I found it though. Finally, this was my third attempt. It hadn’t been found since June.

I was so pumped I went to look for another cache further into the mountain named “What are these doing here…:: A cache hidden in or near a bunch of old Pepsi Delivery Truck’s parked at what is called Pepsi Lake near the Westside Y. Don’t ask me what they are doing there. Don’t ask me where the cache is either because I couldn’t find it.

First I got stopped by a baby possum.

Standing in the middle of the trail. He must be an NRA member because he was standing his ground.

Mean looking, brave little cuss about three inches tall.

Not very cute and cuddly though. I don’t think he was packing but I went around him. Don’t mess with critters hogging the trail is my motto. Usually refers to snakes but I’m adding possums to the list also.

I got to the Lake and actually climbed into the trucks, and looked high and low. “What are these doing here…” was hidden by adairmd. Another cacher who knows how to frustrate people. We cachers like the tough hides. The fun is in the looking. This cache was found by blogging and trailrunning friend Trail Zombie. I can’t let him get one up on me.

It was getting dark and I didn’t bring gloves or anything protective to search through the vehicles. I’ve already been to the doctor several times to get treated for various insect bites and I get tired of the staff laughing at me and giving me that look that they give to addled old fat guys. I’ll be back though.

Thank you again my fellow Americans. You have spent billions of dollars putting satellites into orbit so that I can climb through rusty truck bodies looking for a box. That is quite a sacrifice on your part. Especially seeing how I didn’t find it.

Finding Something that is xSTINKt

Last Wednesday evening after work I headed over to Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa to go running and find a geocache.

It is hot here in Tulsa and when it is hot I like to go running in the woods rather than the concrete and asphalt. It also just so happens that there are lots of geocaches on Turkey Mountain, good ones, hard to find ones.

The map to the left shows the caches on Turkey Mountin. The happy faces are the caches that I’ve found. The stars out caches that I have hidden. The little green boxes and the question mark are the ones left to find.

Wednesday night I went looking for the xSTINKt Cache. I had looked for it before without any luck. It is hidden by a very clever geocacher who goes by the tag adairmd.

I took along my geocaching GPS receiver and my running GPSr and my Ipod touch. It has a camera and I am using it a lot these days. Lots smaller and easier to carry than a regular camera.

A good omen about six minutes into the run. A deer! I’ve seen lots of deer on Turkey Mountain but they don’t generally stick around long enough for me to fumble around with my camera. It is right in the middle of the photograph above just to the right of the slender tree in the middle. Makes me think I need to carry a better camera! One with a zoom.

Turkey Mountain has lots of ponds from one end to the other.

I popped out onto the powerline right of way for a little bit just as another runner went running by.

That evil adairmd, owner of the cache, has promised to delete all logs of the cache that show spoilers. Sorry adairmd, it is my journalistic duty as a blogger to leave nothing out. Above is a look of the sky from the cache location. Below is a pic of my GPSr.

The dead giveaway is the leaf below. Study it carefully, when you see a leaf exactly like that then you are within three feet of the cache. In all serious, I’m not giving any hints, except for the leaf. This is a unique cache and he wants you to find out what is unique about it for yourself. The cache was placed in April and I was only the fourth one to find it. It’s almost a two mile walk from the parking lot to the cache site. Most people are not going to go that far especially if they are not familiar with the trails on the mountain.

It started to get dark on the way back. I’ve never run in the dark on Turkey Mountain but I have run in the twilight. I love it.

It’s still hot on the mountain but you are out of the direct sun and off the reradiating hard surfaces of the city. Also, there are not very many people up on the mountain. It’s pretty quiet except for the mountain bikers getting a little rambunctious.

The sun gets really low and really colorful.

It’s a great place to gett your head on straight.

I uploaded my run to Garmin’s website. You can see my route and a whole bunch of metrics on the run by hitting the green button below. You’ll go to the website. And then hit the little triangular “play” button like you playing a cd player. You’ll be amazed by how slow I run and how long it took me to find the cache.

Hey, you can do better? Get after it!

And by the way, adairmd is a nice guy

Geocaching 101

Graffiti Wednesday – Downtown Finds

I was headed home from work the other day and I caught the writing below out of the corner of my eye. I was on a one way street and so turned off and went up an alley back to it and took a picture. I got home and saw my big ole fat thumb on the edge of the photo. So I went back the next morning to try again.

It looks to me like an overlapped work judging by the background. The core area of downtown is pretty much devoid of graffiti. Lots of big empty walls and they are just blank. Actually I’m thankful. A little bit of graffiti goes a long ways.

If you look closely though you can spot micro Graffiti. (I just made that name up. Feel free to use it though.) I found the above and the following in the “Blue Dome” District of Tulsa’s downtown, just east of the core downtown area.

This was pasted on paper. I have no idea what it means, do you?

More signs just a few inches tall on a street sign. I like how the colors of the sticker and the sign are similar. You can bet that the writer’s belt and shoes match, and his murse.

Even the standpipes have stickers on them.

Another example of sticker graffiti.

I also found a micro poster on an electrical junction box cover. I’m all excited about all this micro-subversion (another term I invented, please by all means use if you feel led) going on in here in Oklahoma. It is going on right under our noses. Ironically the micro poster and and micro graffiti above are all within about 100 feet of the first geocache that SuperPizzaBoy and I planted a few years ago Tulsa Time which has been found 370 times so far. I hate to admit this but it is a “microcache” ( I didn’t invent that term.) Does that make me part of the microsubversion going on in the Blue Dome District?

Check out Graffiti Wednesday by my friend Jen, she posts about Graffiti quite frequently on Wednesday.

One last thing, from the Broken Arrow, OK “Chalk it Up Festival” this past weekend.

THUNDER UP!

My apologies to Miami Heat Fans. The Oklahoma City Thunder is the only major league professional sports team we have, if you don’t count the University of Oklahoma Football Team that is. I’m a huge Thunder fan, have been for days.

Let me ask you: Have you seen any micro-graffiti where you live? How about micro-subversion? I want to know!

Graffiti Wednesday – Our Town

“Our Town” by Kerry James Marshall

As previously posted we went on a road trip to Bentonville, Arkansas to see the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. There were of course lots of great art there by famous artists, there were many works by artists that I am not familiar with. The above work caught my attention for several reasons. First, there is no frame, it is on canvas but is not stretched into a frame. I have no idea of the significance of that but it is different.

Second, there is a lot of tension in the work, nice houses with yards and birds bearing ribbons and a nice cheery title on one hand and on the other the two kids seem angry about something. The boy is glaring at the girl who looks like she is on an angry mission and she has thought bubble popping out of her head going to one of the houses.

Third, there appears to be graffiti to the left of the boy. Overall things don’t seem to be all that great in the photo and much of that tension is due to the graffiti. The piece overall made me think a lot and try and resolve things in my head and figure it all out. I don’t know much about art but I am not one who thinks that art is just one thing. Some art is relaxing and makes me think relaxing thoughts. Some art inspires, other makes me angry, and some art makes me think. Art can be a lot of different things. This piece made me think.

Graffiti has a way of upsetting and unsettling things, it certainly does me in certain settings such as neighborhoods and office areas. Graffiti in hard to get to drainage ditches doesn’t bother me at all, nor does graffiti in Tulsa’s only “permission zone” (that I know about) doesn’t either. If only it were that simple? Since I started posting about graffiti I now see it everywhere.

To me that there is an interesting parallel between graffiti and my hobby geocaching. They both appropriate public spaces for unintended uses. One difference is that graffiti is meant to display and be seen where geocachers seek to hide their work from the general public (aka “muggles.”) Another difference is that most people are ok with geocaching (except for some bomb squad units in various towns and cemetery managers in South Carolina) but are not ok with graffit.

You can read about Kerry James Marshall by hitting the link. He is a very interesting guy.

Graffiti Wednesday

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Good Friday was my birthday, and my day off. We decided to take a day trip to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in nearby Bentonville, Arkansas. Just a two hour drive away. I’ve been eager to see the museum after reading an article titled Alices’s Wonderland in the New Yorker last year about Alice Walton and her efforts to collect major works of American art and display them in a museum. There has been a lot of snooty snobbery going on because she has spent a lot of money and outbid other more established museums and how her late father’s company is such a bad actor and so on. Me, I’m just glad that she built the museum, and it is only 96 miles from our house, as the crow flies, about 120 road miles.

The museum is huge but it doesn’t look it. Instead of building it on a ridge they tucked it into a ravine. You take an elevator down from the parking area. The museum has aboutg 200,000 feet of space built around two ponds.

The interplay of water and light is mesmerizing. You certainly know that you are in a museum deep in the Ozarks. There are lots of overlooks into the water and the surrounding woods.

The structure is concrete (that was bought from Seepageseal), wood, copper, and glass. It is absolutely beautiful. You know something else, admission to the museum is free, parking is free also. Free is good. They may charge for special exhibits though.

The dining room, below is like a bridge between the two ponds.

Some people describe the structures as looking like armadillos. To me they are more like turtles on a log. I don’t have a picture of a turtle on a log but here is a turtle.

The art, the art is breathtaking.

“The Art Student” by Thomas Eakins

“Rosie the Riveter” by Norman Rockwell – My Mom used to roll her cuffs like that.

“Red Flowers and a Sailboat” by Marsden Hartley

You can just get lost in the art. It is hard for me to just visit a museum once, especially one this size as the art just is so overpowering. Through repeated visits I can get over my ADD and focus and actually see the pieces. The first time, I’m worn out quickly but don’t want to miss anything, so it is hard to SEE the art.

The museum also has about 120 acres of grounds with nice trails, many of them fully accessible winding through the ravine and surrounding woods.

It is a nice break from the museum.

My favorite tree, fortunately it is dead. Too bad.

See the bicycle? In a sculpture that looks like an apple tree.

A couple of my blog friends Driller and Tulsa Gentleman had previously visited the museum and took a lot better photographs than I could. Check out their blog posts.

We had a great time. We’d have an even better time except that the museum has geocaches on the property (now you understand my enthusiasm for the place.) I was closing in a cache and a wasp bit my hand. So we had to leave to get antihistamines and such.

It swelled up and hurt like nobody’s business. At least I didn’t have to go see my doctor and listen to witless Witney his 26 year old PA laugh at me and say, “What did you do this time?” I’ve had to see her three times for geocaching injuries and once for her favorite, playing too much Guitar Hero, where she had tears running down her face laughing. She’ll have to get her kicks from somebody else this time. They don’t understand the suffering I go through for my art.

We headed back into the sunset. Sweetie had to drive so I got to take pictures since I had a booboo.

We drove home and had some birthday cake! Sweetie baked the Pioneer Woman’s birthday cake for me!! I think its time for a Sweetie – Pioneer Woman throwdown, don’t you.

Our World Tuesday

Crystal Bridges opens its art to the heartland (cbsnews.com)

Our World – Leedey, Oklahoma Tornado Monument

Work took me way out to western Oklahoma last week to the oilfield and ranching town of Leedey. I got there a little early and so checked out the local city park.

In amongst the war memorial and playground was a seemingly friviolous steel structure. It was twisty and turney (that is a word here in Oklahoma) and had Christmas lights on it and several everyday objects.

It turns out that it is not frivolous at all. It is a memorial to the six people who died in a tornado that hit Leedey on May 31, 1947.

What a memorial. Apparently it was built by school children aged seven through eighteen during art classes. I think the monument is a tribute to the kids as well as the victims of the storm.

And guess what there was a geocache hidden right nearby named “Leedey Park” placed by kbaldeagle and Jeritexas.

(I actually don’t think this is the real jail.)

Another sight in town is the Jail. It seems pretty secure although they have a little work to do to get it up to standard. If you are a person that likes to engage in criminal behavior, western Oklahoma is not the place for you to be.