Category Archives: My World

My World – Tulsa Cave House

Tulsa, Okahoma, like most cities, has many different sections. You got downtown where commerce and culture is concentrated, mid-Town where the yuppies, rich people, and cranks live and play, north Tulsa which faces many challenges and is the home of many hard working people. East Tulsa where most of the interesting asian and latin restaurants are, and the sprawling suburbs of south Tulsa, where I live. The most interesting part of Tulsa is west Tulsa. That is where the refineries, tank farms, and factories are and where the oilfields, moonshiners, and gangsters used to be.

It is also the home of the Tulsa Cave House. It was built in the 1920’s as a chicken restaurant. But the legend is that there was a speakeasy in the hill behind the house, accessible by a tunnel. Supposedly it was the hangout of the local gangstgers, including Tulsa’s own Pretty Boy Floyd. I just love stories like that. I do not care if they are true or not? Of course, the tunnels are now sealed and nobody can figure out just where the secret door to the tunnel used to be. Oh, there are ghosts also, you knew that right?

Check the link above. It leads to some links including photographs of the inside and information on the owner. You can get a tour for $5 each, by appointment. I have not toured it yet. Maybe son and I will do that one of these days.

The grounds of the house host a geocache named Yaba Daba Doo. Go check it out.

For other views of the world check out That’s My World.

My World – Saint Louis Zoo

In mid-October the family drove up from Tulsa to Saint Louis for a Fall Break trip. We are big zoo fans so the Saint Louis Zoo was a must see. It had lots of animals of course but something special about this zoo is the landscaping.

Of course, being a zoo they had plenty of interesting critters.

For great views of our world from all over check out That’s My World.

Saint Louis – The Arch

A couple weeks ago the Yogi’s went on a road trip from Tulsa, OK to Saint Louis, MO for SuperPizzaBoy’s Fall Break. We have never really been on a Fall Break trip before so we were excited.

The day we got to Arch the weather was cold and cloudy. The arch was otherworldly. It just seemed to come from out of the outer space to the ground.

You know something about the Arch that none of the guidebookstell you? The grounds of the Arch are absolutely gorgeous. It is a park with ponds, grass, and trees. It is a beautiful space that would be noteworthy without an arch.

To go up in the Arch. First you have to go down underground to the visitor center. They have a nice museum down there and your choice of movies. They have a mock up of the elevator car used to get up to the top of the Arch. Its a good idea to check it out if you think you are claustrophobic. I’m mildly claustrophobic but I didn’t have a problem. Here are Sweetie and SuperPizzaBoy in the mock up.

The top of the Arch is ok. I had to go, the Arch is on my bucket list after all. But the Arch is a lot more impressive on the outside than on the inside. You lay down at a 45 degree angle and look out little portholes.

Ironically, for a monument to celebrate Westward Expansion, there is not a whole lot to see to the west.

The more interesting views are to the east. At least if you like baseball. Even if you are not a Cardinals fan.

I’m not a Cardinals fan but I would love to see a game in Busch Stadium. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Cardinals. When I was a kid in Utah and Arizona I was a big time Boston Red Sox fan (Carl Yaztremski, Tony Conigliaro, Jim Lonborg, Sparky Lyle, Rico Petrocelli – the only better baseball names are Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig and Mickey Mantle as far as I’m concerned) and I regard the 1967 World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals to be the epitome of baseball. The Red Sox lost but I was proud of them. The Cardinals won and I respected them, after all, they beat the Red Sox! Oops, sorry, I’m a little off track. Hey I’m entitled. At Eagar, Arizona Elementary school in 1967 in seventh grade we got to go across the street to someone’s house and watch the World Series on a SONY COLOR TELEVISION. Does life get any better than that? Even if the faces were a little purple?

For photographs and stories of places from all over the globe check out That’s My World Tuesday.

My World – Oklahoma Aquarium

My Sister and her husband came for to visit us in Tulsa this past weekend. We decided to check out the Oklahoma Aquarium in nearby Jenks, Oklahoma.

The Aqarium sits right on the banks of the Arkansas River. They have a wide range of exhibits that includes not only salt water fish and animals but fish native to Oklahoma. We had a very good time.

They had some jelly fish

And some very ugly fish

They some little cute colorful fish

As well as some big brutish fish

If you are not happy just looking at the fish they have some fish you touch.

Sorry for the blurry shot, lighting was kind of dim.

From left to right, my sister Ellen, my son SuperPizzaBoy, my wife Sweetie, and best ever bil Irvin.

Check out the Oklahoma Aqarium if you are in the Tulsa Area. Their web site lists hours, programs, and fees.

Check out “That’s My World” to find out more about what is going on in our world.

My World – Meadow Gold Sign on Route 66

Old Route 66 runs through the whole length of Oklahoma, west to east (or is it east to west). It has turned into quite a tourist attraction. People from all over the world come to drive it, stay in the motels, eat in the restaurants, and look at the sights. Oklahoma has its share of them.

In Tulsa, Route 66 runs right through the south edge of downtown and then heads east along 11th street. Just to the east of downtown, 11th crosses Lewis, used to be a grocery store with a giant Meadow Gold Sign on top of it. As with all Route 66 monuments people liked it but worried about it. According to the Tulsa Foundation of Architecture Blog. The sign was saved by a consortium of government and private agencies, including the Tulsa Foundation of Architecture, with funding from the City of Tulsa.

The sign has been restored and has permanent home and everybody involved is pretty happy about the whole situation.

Check out My World Tuesday for photographs from all over the world.

My World – Tulsa Club

The Tulsa Club Building Now.

The Tulsa Club Building was built in the 1920’s by the Tulsa Club and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber occupied the lower floors and the Club occupied the upper floors.

The building is in a city known for Art Deco and the building fits in well with Art Deco buildings but it is not Art Deco. It was designed by Bruce Goff and the building is known as a “Modern” Design. Mr. Goff was known for basically doing his own thing with buildings.

This is the Tulsa Club Then.

Undated photograph*, presumably from the 1920’s or 30’s. Any car folks out there who can date the cars parked? What interests me about this photograph is that the distinctive black tile work now on the building was not present in the earlier photograph. It’s a mystery to me. Its not just the tiles, there appears to be a narrow addition or facade to the entire front of the building.

Above is a closeup of the tiles, below is a detail. I have studied them and I confess I think the design is totally abstract.

The new facade detracts from the clean lines of the original building, but maybe contributed to a more modern look. I could find no information at all about the addition.

In its heyday the club was a place for the elite to meet and party.*

Unfortunately, the building is not well preserved. The Tulsa Club folded in the early 1990’s. The building was gutted for its fixtures and then sold to somebody in California, who apparently didn’t do anything with it, including pay the annual assessments. The interior was badly damaged by vandals and squatters. The City is trying to foreclose and the owner is trying sell the building according to this article. The MODERNtulsa blog has a post with recent photographs of the interior. The photographs are hard to look at.

The future of this building concerns me.

For other views of the world we live in check out That’s My World.

*The black and white photographs are courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.

My World – Tulsa Driller’s Baseball Game

One day last week SuperPizzaBoy and I decided to go to the ball game. Tulsa’s Drillers, our AA Minor League team. They played the Corpus Christi Hooks (like in pirate Captain Hook, get it?) The Drillers are affiliated with the Colorado Rockies.

He is not called SuperPizzaBoy for nothing folks.

After the Star Spangled Banner: “Play Ball.”

Got to have a little ice cream, right?

The kid takes a half decent picture. Of course, he didn’t have much to work with.

Lights are getting a little low. We left early. Look at the view from our seats. $6 each, free parking!

The Drillers are moving next year to a new ballpark downtown, ONEOK Stadium.
Can’t wait.

Check out My World Tuesday for other great views of the world.

My World – Oklahoma Road Trip

I had a four day weekend so we decided to take a little road trip from Tulsa.

First we headed off to Oklahoma City

On the way we took a small detour on old Route 66 so I could find a few geocaches. One place we looked was at this old gas station right on the road. The landowner left a little informative sign. Apparently their was a counterfeiting operation here during the depression. Also, not long ago somebody dumped a body. We didn’t see a body but somebody had dumped a kitten there. Very sad.

A little further on we stopped at “Pops.” A diner/gas station on route 66 near Arcadia. Built by an Oklahoma Oilman this place boasts over 400 kinds of soda pop. I believe it! We only had one each.

SuperPizzaBoy had a “Mexican” Coke, Sweetie a Grape Nehi.

I had some sort of Black Cherry Cream Soda. They were all great.

A little blast from the past, we went by the first house that Sweetie and I lived in when got married. Nearly 20 years ago.

Next, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. It was great. They had a exhibition on “Turner to Cezanne” from the National Museum of Wales. Plus the museum is know of their Dale Chihuly glass exhibit. Breathakingly beautiful works of glass. Check out his web site here.

We spent the night in downtown Oklahoma City. We ate dinner and saw a movie in Bricktown. Lots of canals, restaurants, bars, and a movie theater.

Next day, we ate breakfast and headed down to Duncan, Oklahoma to see the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center.

This is a small museum but well worth seeing. They have an interactive, hands on area, great for kids, and a regular museum with some great works. The star of the show is a multimedia presentation about a cattle drive. It is multi D. So when it rains you get sprinkled, you also smell the bacon and coffee on the campfire. When the longhorn’s stampede you feel it in your seat.

Next, it was back north to Norman to the University of Oklahoma. They are working hard in Norman to make a university for which the football team can be proud. The University is home to the Fred Jones Museum of Art. The basis of the art collection is the Weitzenhoffer collection the university received several years back. Works by Degas, Gauguin, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, among others are in the collection. They also had an exhibition of the Rennard Strickland Collection of Native American Art.

We really liked it but our eyes were getting a little glassy from what SuperPizzaBoy called our “Museumathon.” So we loaded up, drove to Oklahoma City to Johnnies for hamburgers and great ice tea and then booked it home.

Check out That’s My World for great photos of our world.

My World – Doaksville Oklahoma

I found Doaksville, Oklahoma last week during a trip to southeast Oklahoma. I had never heard of Doaksville and found it only because I was looking for a geocache. I love serendipity and this is a good example why.

Doaksville was once the biggest city in is now Oklahoma. It was started as a trading post by Josiah Doaks in the 1820’s. It grew quickly and for a time was the Choctaw Tribal Capital. The Civil War started its decline and it became a ghost town by 1900. In the mid 1990’s the Oklahoma Historical Society did extensive archeological excavations of many of the former structures. The site is now well maintained and has excellent interpretive displays.

To get to Doaksville you walk through the massive Doaksville Cemetery. It is very easy for me to get distracted by old cemeteries.

I get to wondering things like, “Does anybody know anything about Little Lonzo Wilson?” a three year old who died on Christmas Day 1918.

The grave of David Folsom, former chief of the Choctaws. A Christian slave owner who brought missionaries to Indian Territory and supported education efforts. “Christian slave owner” is a concept that is very hard to imagine right now. It also applies to some of the founders of our country.

Old piece of a gravestone – separated from its grave. I love the held hands.

Jimmie Dale I hope that you are fishing somewhere.After you walk through the cemetery you get to Doaksville. Nobody there but me for over two hours one day.

Excavated Tavern- this was the hearth.

A plaque commerating the surrender of General Stand Watie. A Cherokee born in Calhoun, Georgia. A wealthy plantation owning slaveholder. Supported Cherokee removal to Indian Territory. For a time he was Principal Chief of the Cherokees. Led the First Indian Brigade of the Confederate Army. Fought Union troops in Arkansas, Indian Territory, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. He also fought fellow Indians who did not support the Confederacy. Surrendered to Union troops after the battle of Doaksville.

The jail. Three cells, not very big. Three foot thick limestone.

Here is the cache I was looking for.

For other views of our world check out That’s My World Tuesday.

Article from Smithsonian Online about the Final Confederate Surrender at Doaksville

That’s My World – Little Dixie Geocaching

I went on a little geocaching expedition in southeast Oklahoma last Friday. Southeast Oklahoma is nicknamed “Little Dixie” because historically and culturally it shares a lot of traits with Arkansas, Lousiana, and east Texas.

At Hugo lake I had to hiking across a couple bridges. The first one, although shaky, was doable.

The second bridge was under water. As we say in natural gas business. I plugged and abandoned this cache.
I ran into a major distraction at two caches in an abandoned town named Doaksville. I had never heard of Doaksville but at one time it was one of the largest towns in Indian Territory. It has been a major archeological site and there are tons of interpretive signs and information. I spent a couple hours their poking around. I’m researching another “My World” post for Doaksville. It is of major historical importance. For instance the last confederate general to surrender after the Civil War did it at Doaksville. The town was abandoned for various reasons in the 1880’s and was just left to rot.
Next, Idabel, home of the Girls of Today in Idabel Oklahoma. I had been there several times but had never found a cache there.

The cache I found in Idabel was in a bamboo patch. What’s up with that? Bamboo?

Then I drove up to Beaver’s Bend State Park. One of the jewels of the Oklahoma State Park System. I found a couple caches there and two whitetail deer and a deer fawn who popped up from its hiding place about 15 feet away from me.

Beaver’s Bend is a beautiful place to visit. Fortunately for geocachers. I think only about 1 in a hundred people go more than 50 yards off the trails.

At about 7 pm I called it quits. I called Sweetie and told her that I was driving home.