Our World – Kauai Helicopter Adventure

A definite highlight of our Hawaiian cruise earlier this summer was out Helicopter tour of Kauai. It was a birthday gift to son Logan from his grandmother, Nana. Heather and I globbed onto it also. We were all thrilled. We took off on a Safari Helicopters aircraft with Brian at the controls. I was glad that he didn’t let Logan fly the thing.

We headed over the ship and and then back into the island giving us a running commentary on all that we saw. Sorry I wasn’t taking notes but he was very informative.

We saw some very deep canyons. This may be Waimea Canyon, the so called Grand Canyon of the Pacific and now a state park.

We saw lots of beautiful land. Our pilot, Brian listed off some of the celebrity landowners who are buying up the old ranches of Kauai. Michael Case of AOL online for instance owns 39,000 acres via various entities. Facebook gazillionaire Mark Zuckerberg paid over $100 million for just 700 acres. I think he got taken personally. $100 million for just over a square mile? I’m glad for the landowner that he bought it from.

Oh well, back to the friendly skies. I’ve posted this rainbow before. Again a very beautiful flight.

I was amazed at the up and down topograpy and all the water and how green everything is. Kauai is called the Garden Island for a reason I found out.

And then out over the north shore where we spotted this boat motoring along in some beautiful water.

And then along the beautiful Na Pali coast which is simply breathtaking. Brian talked about his plans to hike along the coast with some friends about about seven miles and camping. It sounded like a plan to me but he didn’t extend any invites.

I have no idea what this is. Sorry for the fuzzy photograph. It sure looks official.

Another fuzzy pic of a view through a canyon to the Pacific Ocean.

And then again into the interior. There have been lots of movies filmed on Kauai. Here is a list of close to fifty movies that were at least partially filmed on Kauai.a

It was all so beautiful but it came to an end.

We bailed out and Sherrel the Safari Helicopter Rep took our pics. It was a great trip.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Shameful or What?

Saturday afternoon, the weather said 91F, my car said 100F. Me and Logan need to get some exercise but he doesn’t handle the heat to well and he is still nursing his ankle. So I said, “Hey, you want to do go mall walking Buddy?” He kind of did the “Sure Dad, and so off we went.

When is Sears ever going to learn about merchandising?

The plan was to park at the upper floor of Sears at one end and walk on down to Macy’s and back while going through the two big stores in the middle, J.C. Penney’s and Dillards.

Logan couldn’t get out of Sears fast enough.

We weren’t really prepared, neither one of us was wearing Hush Puppy’s for instance.

Red Cross was there taking people’s blood. I used to give blood many moons ago but things got worse and worse. One time they backflowed the heparin into my arm. Now that was painful. The last time I gave blood my wife had to come get me. So sorry guys. You can’t have my blood today. Logan didn’t feel like it either.

Outside Eskimo Joes. If you are from Oklahoma you have probably heard of them. It is a restaurant that also sells a lot of clothes. I bought a nice Route 66 themed shirt on sale. The lady asked me if I would like to join their club. No thanks, last time I was here was in 1992.

I think it was in Penney’s, I offerred to be Logan a Cars themed back pack. He didn’t seem that that would be okay for a high school senior. Besides his Mom does all his school shopping.

The food court. Neither Logan can stand loud crowd noises. So no thanks, we’ll go elsewhere.

Macy’s had a great dish display.

The old carousel. Not the same one as eon’s ago but he rode one just like it around and around and around.

We were walking not shopping but this window scared me. Those super heroes look pretty angry to me.

And what is up with this. Since when is ice cold equal to 37 degrees. For pure water it is 32 degrees. For sugar water it is probably a lot less than that is what I say.

What is up with all the hat stores. I have never actually seen anybody buy a hat in one of those stores. What is up with that?

And what is up with all the sports logo merchandise? The University of Oklahoma, Okalahoma State, it just flies off the shelves. I’ll tell you though that one good thing about being a Dallas Cowboy fan is that they discount the merchandise pretty heavily about three games into the season.

At about 75% of the way through the mall. I’m getting kind of tired of it all. But the AC is working great.

Logan outside the Apple Store. He is an Apple man through and through. I’m cheap, I have an Ipod touch and an Android phone. I can change the battery for $7 and have a big old cheap 32 Gig memory chip to help out the 16G built in. Try that with your Iphone.

Logan and his cool new friends. Say goodbye dude, we have to go.

About 2.25 miles and DON’T YOU JUDGE ME!!!

Destin, Florida – A long time ago

I am still scanning our old film photographs. I’m doing about four of five rolls a day. Doesn’t sound like much but it is, especially the tagging and sorting so I can find these things out of my over 40,000 pics on Flickr. This morning I scanned pics from our beach trip to Florida back in October 2001. Great thing about a kid not in school yet is that you can take trips on off peak times.

Here is Logan the sand castle destroyer waiting for dad to build another target for him to stomp on.

He has always been a happy little bugger. He especially likes the game of making a monkey out of dad.

Here he is with his mother. They have always had a special bond.

I had forgotten about this. We went to something called the Gulafarium and after watching the dolphins and seals do there thing we got our photo taken with one of the performers.

Do you like looking at old photos? I sure do.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin is one of those books that is hard for me to categorize. A.J. Fikry is a widowed book seller in a small island town and is pretty darn prickly. The book opens with a pretty young publisher rep coming to present her employers line of books for the upcoming season and he pretty much throws her out after demeaning and insulting her. Then I find out that he is only in his 40’s which speaking as a sometimes crusty guy myself, that is way too young to be that crusty.

And then the storied part comes. Somebody steals a prized, very valuable book from him, somebody else leaves a baby in the store that he decides to raise and then the the pretty young bookseller comes back into the story. Given all that, I wouldn’t call this a “heart warming book” it is about a life that is lived with ups and downs and two steps backwards for every step forward. I loved the book and hated when it ended.

It is a rare book that me, my wife, and my MIL all loved. I’d loan you the copy I read but MIL wants it back.

I give it five stars.

Western Oklahoma Cowscape

3G Ranch, Washita County, Oklahoma

We were in western Oklahoma last weekend visiting relatives. As part of our visit we went out to check the cattle. Usually by the time July rolls around the color is washed out of the landscape but this year with all the rain the grass was still green and belly high. I’ve spent a lot of time in western Oklahoma and I love the friendly open people, the big sky and seas of grass across the rolling landscape.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Our World Tuesday – Crashing a Pool Party

Foto Friday Fun (on Tuesday) – Joe Perry’s Guitar

I take a lot of photographs. I have almost 48,000 of them on Flickr and I am adding more all the time from my “good” camera, my point and shoot, my Ipod, and cell phone plus I scan in my film photos and I’m in the process of scanning in lots of pics from our family shoebox archive.

So I don’t remember taking this shot of Joe Perry’s guitar at the Tulsa History Museum almost four years ago. I do remember the exhibit, kind of. (Joe Perry is the lead guitarist of Aerosmith.) I have never been much of an Aerosmith fan but I do respect their music. I just don’t like it very much.

I rediscovered this when I was searched my Flickr feed for 7364 which is this week’s number in Gaelyn’s Foto Friday Fun. I know that it is Tuesday, not Friday, but that is the way it worked out this week for me.

Our World Tuesday – Crashing a Pool Party

This past weekend we ventured out to the big skies of western Oklahoma. We had lots of fun but let me tell you about one thing that happened. And I swear that it all happened just like I say below, more or less.

We drove a long ways down a dirt road. A red dirt road. We have lots of red dirt in Oklahoma, and it doesn’t wash off.

And then we turned off the dirt road and made our own road. You know why….??

To crash a pool party!!!

Hmmm, have you ever felt not really totally welcome at a party?

So rather than jump in, we started taking pictures. Here is Sue Carol and Glenn.

And here is Logan, Nana, and Heather.

Well here is….well here is trouble is what this is: Sue Carol, Heather, Nana, and Cheri Lou (aka the ring leader.)

And here is the ring leader with her husband Joe. Everything was going along great and then…

This happened!! Whoa, slow down guys. I know I told you guys to act like you like each other. But hey, slow down I said. Easy!

Things happened fast after that. This one stomped off first.

And then the rest of herd stampeded off. Who knew that cows could be such prudes.

And here is Juliette leading off Roscoe, “…in front of a child..” Juliette was heard muttering. You know, when the donkeys shun you, it must be bad.

But we kept on clicking. With all the rain at least they didn’t leave a cloud of dust.

And I swear this all happened just like I said, more or less.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday – Getting Ready for the Fourth

I was doing my Wednesday night run and came upon this scene on the west bank of the Arkansas River. Trailers loaded with fireworks getting ready for Tulsa’s fireworks display on the fourth. I never knew that they started preparations so early. Our family loves fireworks!!

I cheated on this photo, as I often do. I ran it through Topaz Impressions which mimics various painting styles and I blended in the “Swirly Strokes III” filter at 75% blend with the original photo. I wanted to show the trailer and trailers are not often photogenic so the effect was to “smudge” it a little bit. (Heather has a painter in her family and she told me that she often “smudged” things. I’m not a painter but I feel free to smudge, you should also.) As you can tell I am not much of a “SOOC” worshiper. I don’t even know what the means, really.

Anyways, all my fellow Americans, enjoy the Fourth!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Kind of a Wordless Wednesday – One Day’s One Hour Urban Hike

Dennis R Neil Equality Center

Centennial Park

American Legion

Former Adah Robinson Residence in Tracy Park. Designed by #BruceGoff and Robinson with Joseph Koberling #artdeco #Tulsa #Oklahoma #architecture #tracyparkhistoricdistrict

Adah Robinson Residence – Early Day Tulsa Architect

I guess he ran out of paint. Or maybe he got ran out.

It is amazing, if you look closely, how many people sleep outside in and around downtown.

Remembering in a Good Way: Looking at Old Photographs

We had one simple assignment from Logan’s school lately. They want us to pick out one baby picture and one picture from either Kindergarten or First Grade. Sounds simple right? Well if you are picking photographs of some other person’ kids, maybe, but our kid (or your kid) I don’t think it is possible. All sorts of things start happening when you start looking at old pics, especially if a little wine is around. You start laughing and almost crying almost at the same time. But in our effort to pick out two photos we are about half done, maybe. Until we find another box of pics.

This is a candidate. Logan has always loved books, even before he could read. He is still quite a reader.

And this is our probable candidate. He has always been a beach baby and swims like a fish.

And this is another favorite.

This is beyond baby stage but this is my almost all time favorite picture of Logan. Napping on the beach at Destin a long time ago. I’m kind of cheap but I’ll spring for the chairs and umbrellas from the beach service every now and then, just cuz. This is the one picture I’ve had of Logan in my office for over a dozen years. No matter how stressed I get, I can look at this and chill out. How do you like that thumb action.

Switching gears. This is Logan and his Boompa, Boompa was Logan’s best buddy. He is no longer with us but his memories remain. He was the world’s greatest father-in-law and we miss him.

And look at this. Here is me, actually getting married. And she still lets me hang around. Twenty six years!!

And here is me, in the pre Heather days. See, I told you I had hair. Not much hair but I had it, and about 40 less pounds. This was at my parents house in Albuquerque. There I was with keys in my hand impatient to get back to Houston. Why was I in such a hurry? What did I think I was going to miss?

My advice to everybody, look at old photographs more often.

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world

Our World – Kauai Helicopter Adventure

Shameful or What?

Destin, Florida – A long time ago

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Western Oklahoma Cowscape

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Foto Friday Fun (on Tuesday) – Joe Perry’s Guitar

Our World Tuesday – Crashing a Pool Party

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday – Getting Ready for the Fourth

Kind of a Wordless Wednesday – One Day’s One Hour Urban Hike

Remembering in a Good Way: Looking at Old Photographs

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