I love the big skies of Oklahoma. This is a view of Lake Yahola in north Tulsa looking roughly south. The little bump on the horizon to the lower right is downtown Tulsa. I love how nature can make our big accomplishments look small.
Tag Archives: Tulsa
2017 Tulsa Boat Show
Saturday morning after my haircut I drove to the Tulsa State Fairgrounds to see the Tulsa Boat Show. Lots and lots of boats.
I stepped up to MarineMax’s area to look around and a real nice salesman, Wes asked me about my camera and what I do with the photos. I showed him my blog on my cell phone and he seemed very interested and told me to take as many photos as I wanted to. So I did. They have some very nice upper end boats.
Deluxe accomodations and fixtures.
And even a separate space below for the kids, or the crew, or for guests.
The bathroom was kind of small so I couldn’t get everything but I liked the sink. Anywho, if I ever get a gazillion dollars and a hankering for a nice boat I am going to see Wes at MarineMax. A really nice guy.
There were all kinds of boats there.
Huge outboard motors. These are taller than I am.
I love the bass fishing boats. I used to have a lot smaller version when I lived near Lake Conroe in Texas. They feature platform seating like above and an electric trolling motor so you can work your way along whatever feature you are fishing. Lots and lots of fun.
Pontoon boats are popular. They can be great for puttering around on the lake.
There were some gigantic RV’s. Tulsa doesn’t have an RV show any longer so they horn in on the boat show This unit is beautiful. I have no idea how one would drive that down the road, or really how you park this thing.
it does have an out door television.
Inside is nice with nice furnishings and a fireplace.
Big kitchens,
Nice bedrooms
Large bathrooms. Yes, this one had two.
This is more my speed.
I love the little ATVs.
This is my favorite. A retro look trailer. This is like what our family of five camped in when I was a kid. Kind of cramped but you know having a dry place is nice when it is raining when you are camping. I’ve seen some miserable people trying to cook on a Coleman stove when it is raining.
Skywatch Friday – Playground Sky
The sky during a recent blustery day on Tulsa’s industrial west side. I love the bare trees, the blue sky, and the clouds. I even love the “trash to energy plant” on the lower left side of the photo with the two smokestacks.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday
Our World – New Route 66 Monument in Tulsa
a bonus shadow selfie
Tulsa’s Howard Park right on Route 66 in the city’s gritty industrial west side has a brand spanking new monument consisting of three big sculpted pillars of Indiana Limestone by Utah artist Patrick Sullivan.
The pillars depict Tulsa sights like Cain’s Ballroom, art deco architecture, the energy, aviation, and railroad industries and Native American heritage.
I love stuff like this. This monument is here to stay. An F5 tornado may topple them but they are not going anywhere.
An article from Route 66 News with video and a lot of the backstory on the monument and the artist who created it.
Howard Park’s Facebook site
I’m linking with Our World Tuesday
Greyhound Bus Lines – “Leave the Driving to Us”
I found a Greyhound bus in downtown Tulsa last week at the bus station. Nobody any it but it looked ready to go. It is fully up to date it looks like with handicapped access, power, wifi,and reclining seats. Other than that, I am not sure that buses have changed much over the years. I would bet that of the features listed, only the reclining seats worked. I have never rode in too many buses but a lot of stuff didn’t work. Stuff like the restroom, the air conditioning, or even the bus itself. Anybody else spend some time on the side of a road in a broke down bus??
My longest bus trip was from Albuquerque to Mexico City in 1971 as part of a High School trip. I don’t think we rode Greyhound but it was a long ways. The crow flies distance is 1172 miles. I’d add a couple hundred at least for the roads. I don’t remember much about it except it was fun. We got broke down a couple times. I wish I had a decent camera back then. I remember the small towns were pretty cool. Mexico City was great. The highlight was the pyramids at Teotihucan. They were spectacular.
So who rides the bus lines these days? I guess people who have a lot of time and not much money. To visit my Dad in Idaho would take two days and 23 hours but cost only about $200 one way or less than half what it cost to fly and be there in 6 hours, including layovers. I think it would be a miserable journey though.
I got on good ole youtube to look at old bus commercials. Back in the 60’s they showed people dressed up in suits and ties and nice dresses to travel on the bus. Kind of like flying used to be.
Things have sure changed.
Skywatch Friday – A Noon Walk and a Full Wolf Moon
I got away from work for a little while Tuesday at noon and drove to nearby Gilcrease Museum. I didn’t go into the museum but I went for a walk on the adjacent city park, Stuart Park. There was a sign there to be on the lookout for a bobcat and to report sightings. So that kind of perked my interest. I didn’t see any bobcats but I did take a few photos. It was very warm, almost 70. This is after being 4F on Saturday morning. Now we are supposed to have an ice storm on Saturday. Oh well, this winter if you don’t like the weather just wait a little bit and it will change.
And then last night when I got home I noticed the moon was almost full so I got my trusty camera out and took a shot. It is the Full Wolf Moon, or almost full I guess. I love taking shots of the moon. I have dozens of them. I don’t know why, it doesn’t really change does it. I imagine I’ll be taking lots more as time passes.
I’m linking this post with Skywatch Friday. Come join us. A new link starts Saturday at 2:30PM Central Time (US).
Fences Around the World – Oxley Nature Center
I went on a run at Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center this week. I have taken off the whole week between Christmas and New Years and the weather has been quite mild. Unlike other parks around town, Oxley has their trails extremely well marked some even with gates like this. I’m a Forest Service kid and I love this type of construction. And, who can resist checking out a trail called the “Meadowlark Prairie Trail.”
And I am donating a free shadow selfie at no extra cost.
I am linking this post with Fences Around the World
as a PS I am ashamed to say that I have subscribed to Photoshop for over a year and just this week have been figuring out how it works. I had always discounted Lightroom before but I have learned it is an integral part of the whole process. You do the easy edits in Lightroom and then pass the photo easily on to Photoshop. And then you can pass it back. Easy Peasy. Plus I have some of the Topaz Filters and have learned that the they are easily integrated into Photoshop as well. In the photo above I used I used a free Nik Filter from Google. They made them free in March of 2016 and they are very powerful. Anyway, they are integrated into Photoshop also.
I feel kind of dumb but having a little time to study things shows me that I have been wasting a lot of time. Better late than never I guess.
Philbrook Picnic Grounds
I love these yellow picnic tables framed by the big tree branch on the grounds of the Philbrook Museum during an overcast day. Its a great museum and they have wonderful gardens.
I am linking with Outdoor Wednesday today
Weekend Reflections – Winter Solstice
The Winter Solistice was Wednesday. I went out on the Arkansas River trails here in Tulsa to get some fresh air. Fall has definitely given over to Winter here. If we can just get through this season without ice I’ll be happy.
I’m linking with Weekend Reflections
Skywatch Friday – Pond Reflections
My favorite go to 3 mile walking/running loop is Lafortune Park just a few miles from the house. The trail goes around a golf course, tennis courts, and a playground, and by a several ponds so there almost always moments to rest a little bit and snap a pic or two. I’m always wanting to yell “You the Man!” or “In the Hole!!” at the golfers but never have, probably never will. I used to work with a guy who when we played golf with the CEO of our employer would say, when the CEO hit the ball, “Oh my gosh, look at the ball go!!” He even said it when I hit it, or whiffed it as mostly the case. I always thought it was funny.
We were celebrating my wife’s birthday yesterday and when we got home I noticed that we had a full moon. So I dug out my trust Canon SX40 Superzoom and took a few pics of the moon. I an one of them through Topaz Textures and then uploaded onto my Ipod Touch and used DistressedFX to further process the image to bring out the features of the moon. This moon doesn’t have a cool name like some of the other moons. It is called the Long Night Moon.