Tag Archives: Tulsa

Not Quite Singing in the Rain – Getting Soaked on Turkey Mountain

During the downpour yesterday #DownTownTulsa

Wednesday nights are my night to go running after work. I have a little routine. I leave work and go to a liquor store and pick up some craft beer and then I head out either to the Arkansas River trails or Turkey Mountain. Last Wednesday it started a downpour just as I was leaving downtown but my good ole Accuweather app on the phone said it was not going to rain for at least two hours so I’m good right?

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So started out on the Yellow Trail taking pics with my Ipod Touch using the Hipstamatic App. I just love blurry photos. My intention was to try and do six miles or so.

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This is my favorite spot on the Yellow Trail. I just tell people to follow the arrow. Nobody listens to me but I say it anyway. I repeat myself a lot that way.

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This is my favorite new landmark on the Yellow Trail. It reminds me of something new I’m reading a little about lately Trail Marker Trees.  Trees that Native Americans shaped as trail markers or other uses. Check the link. I’d love to see a few live. I’m a little skeptical about them personally.

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I stopped a smelled a few roses. Metaphorically.

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And check out some color.

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Just as I got to the north end of the Yellow Trail it started raining, hard. I put away my Ipod and got out my waterproof Nikon. People tell me about how much they love raining in the rain. I don’t like it too much but if you are out in it and wearing tech clothes then it is not so bad. I decided to cut my run short and run the upper Yellow trail back.

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The mud sticks to your shoes and things get a lot slipperier but I eventually got back to my car.

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The only thing worse than running in the rain would be riding a bike. The thunder and lightening was getting pretty bad also. That can ruin your whole day.

If I had it to do over again, I’d do it over again. And no, I didn’t go home and drink the beer I bought earlier. You see we are much more godly people in Oklahoma than where you live because our laws don’t allow us to purchase cold full strength beer. So I drank some of the beer I bought last week!! That is called pre-planning.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Weekend Update

We had a lot going on this weekend.

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Logan had his first riding lesson in a long time. He sprained his ankle back really badly back in May and had been in a boot and then on restriction since then. He was glad to get back in the saddle on a hot Saturday.

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After the riding lesson we loaded up in the car and headed off to Livesay Orchards out in the boonies about 45 minutes southeast of Tulsa. We hadn’t been there since Logan was a baby and man is it popular. We ended up in a group of nine cars headed out there and when we got there we found out there was a line to get in. The line moved fast though. I mean they are selling mainly peaches so it doesn’t take long for people to pick out what they want and move on.

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And man where their peaches, bushels, pecks, half pecks anything you wanted as long as it was peach related.

 

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After that we headed cross country to the ‘burb of Bixby to Dotson’s Produce and picked out some Amish Tomatoes. I never did figure out if that was a type of tomato or the religion of the farmer that grew them.

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Dotson’s had all sorts of other produce. We tend to go crazy in a place like that.

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We decided to counterbalance all healthful vibe of the produce with some Hawaiian Ice which is Okie for ice cream cone at a place nearby. Part of the fun is waiting in the heat. Is it against the law for those places to provide shade for their customers?

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Sunday was church, seeing the movie “Ant-Man” with one of Logan’s friends and then an historic occasion. Logan left with his friend, with his friend driving. First time that happened!

Then Heather and I had dinner and drinks with some friends and then out to pick up Logan out in the country.  IMAG0078

So we ended the weekend with a nice crescent moon.

So our weekend was great, how was yours?

Linking with Our World Tuesday

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

#DennisRNeil #EqualityCenter I love the #bunting #downtowntulsa #noonrunning #running #cloudyskies

Dennis R Neil Equality Center

Centennial Park

Centennial Park

Centennial Park

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American Legion

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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

#UrbanTrailRunning #Bouldering #DowntownTulsa #UrbanExploring

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

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

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Our World – Tulsa Tough and Crybaby Hill

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I finally made it to a Tulsa Tough Bike Race and Crybaby Hill today (Sunday). I’ve missed out in past years but this was my year.

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Tulsa Tough is a series of bike races held in Tulsa every June. It has grown and grown. It includes everything from a “Townie Ride” open to everybody to  amateur and professional level criterium events. A criterium race, I’m told from Wikipedia, is a race on a short course consisting of closed off city streets. The race is a set number of laps. In other words they go around and around.

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The formal name for the Crybaby Hill event is the “River Parks Criterium.” It is brutal. The riders start on Riverside drive and go for a short while and then climb up a steep hill and then make a right turn and then back down to Riverside drive down a very steep hill and then a greater than 90 degree turn. And then they repeat the lap, over and over. It looks brutal. Check this Tulsa World link for the story behind the Tulsa Tough races and Crybaby Hill.

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They have classes all the way from youth to old guys and gals and professional levels. All sorts of very skinny yet muscular people speaking foreign languages this week in Tulsa.

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Crybaby Hill is also a party. Check here for the origin of the name (if you didn’t before). Basically people get to the top of the hill and cheer the riders on.

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I left today before it really got crazy. Next year I’m staying for the whole thing.

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People wear strange outfits to the event.

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In between laps the contractor handing the portapotties was racing to finish the installation. Everybody was yelling “clear the way for the *******.  The orange lines are where the spectators are supposed to stay behind. They had to put those in because in years past, from what I’m told, the gap the riders could ride through got narrower and narrower as the day went on.

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My favorite sign. Take that Westboro Baptist so called Church.  The guys in the striped shirts are the supposed to keep everybody behind the orange lines. They enjoy their jobs.

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The theme was “Under the Sea” so I guess that makes this guy King Neptune or something.

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I’m not sure what she was supposed to be.

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And some more characters. Notice the baby’s for sale. This is Crybaby Hill after all.

This is a brief video of the scene at the top of the hill where the riders are just about tuckered out and the crowd is cheering them on with cowbells, whistles, sirens and beer.

And this is a video at the bottom of the hill where they have to make a greater than 90 degree right turn on a steep downhill. You’d better have a precise line and good brakes to get through this unscathed.

Anyway a good time was had by all. And bikes were raced.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

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Hot Weather Run on the River

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Hot weather means less people running and cycling on the Trails.

While we were in Hawaii the weather here in Tulsa got hot. We are now approaching full blown summer weather. Last Wednesday I went for a run after work in the 96F heat. I know how to run in the heat. Run slow, which comes naturally to me, carry water, take lots of breaks and listen to your body is what I do.

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With the construction of a gathering place going on, running is limited on the east side so I cross over to the west side of the river. With all the rain we have had the river is up and there are lots more fishermen that what I normally see. I don’t know what they are fishing for but they are hard at it.

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I found a little cross stuck in the ground. A memorial to somebody obviously. I don’t know who and there were no names. I say a little prayer for peace to whoever put it there and move on.

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The main function of Tulsa Power Station is to bolster the rate base. I think it is the last unit on and the first one off during the summertime heat loads. It sure seems to fire up during smog alerts in the summer.

I only went about a mile and a half down the river to the PSO Tulsa Power Station and went down to the long forgotten kayak run (now visited only by geocachers I think) to where you can right down on the river.

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180 degree panorma

The river is up several feet and was pretty wild. It would be easy to drown in this water if you were not careful.

A 12 second video of the water. Loud and fast. Thank goodness and the Corps of Engineers for Keystone Dam upstream of Tulsa or things could really be interesting. Tulsa used to have bad flooding way back when before the dam was put in.

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Running back I got this subtle reflection of the river of a condo across the way. You can tell why we call northeast Oklahoma “Green Country.” Everything is greening up this year with all the rain we have had.

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The shadows are longer. Time to go home, shower, eat dinner and down a cold one ( or two.)

Have you gone any adventures yet?

Simon Property Group Pulls Plug on Turkey Mountain Outlet Mall

Have you heard the news!! Simon Property Group is abandoning their Turkey Mountain outlet mall project. They are going to put it in a much more appropriate site in the Tulsa suburb of Jenks. Read about it here. A site that people repeatedly brought up during the discussions on the project. The site should work better for Simon. You can also read more info here to learn how to enhance the view of property with the help of experts.

Turkey Mountain Topaz Glow Dizzy Late Afternoon Sunlight

Of course the city of Jenks will get the sales tax revenue, or at least the promise of it given the huge subsidies that Simon was looking for in terms of paying for infrastructure and other types of corporate welfare they were looking for to help with the economics of the their project.

Sunset Turkey Mountain

I couldn’t be happier for all involved. Now comes the real work. Money needs to be raised to buy the remaining land on Turkey Mountain at market value in order to preserve it. Tulsa is growing and it is just a matter of time before somebody else tries to develop it. It is not fair to the landowners to expect them to provide people like me free land to enjoy.

In the meantime, I’m happy that Simon came to their senses. I don’t think they expected the buzzsaw of opposition that they riled up with their proposal. I’m also proud of my fellow Tulsans. Despite Oklahoma’s populist roots, large corporations do pretty much what they want to do in Oklahoma these days. It is nice to see a little push back in a case like this where something bad was fixing to happen (as we say in Oklahoma.)

Skywatch Friday – at the Hanson Brother’s Hopjam

Hopjam Skywatch before

Tulsa had a Craft Beer and Music Festival last Sunday sponsored by the Tulsa’s own Hanson Brothers. It was quite the shindig. The music part was free and featured some great bands including the Hanson Brothers. We couldn’t stay for them but we sure had a good time listening to the music, sampling the beer, and just hanging out. It was all happening on under a big ole Oklahoma Sky.

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Here is Isaac Hanson at the family beer tent. He was very gracious talking to fans and getting selfies taken with them.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Shadow Shot Sunday – Villa Philbrook

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Topaz Impressions

The Philbrook Museum of Art is one of my favorite picture taking places. From the galleries to the gardens to the building itself it is a great place to take your camera. It is an “Italian Renaissance Villa” built in the late 1920’s by  Tulsa oilman Waite Phillips for his home. He later donated it to the City of Tulsa for use as a museum. It has grown since then and is a treasure.  We have a membership, courtesy of my sweet MIL, so I go there ever month or so just to walk around with my camera. I have been there dozens of times over the years and always find something new.

Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

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Tulsa International Mayfest 2015

It is Mayfest time again in Tulsa. The downtown festival featuring food, music, crafts, and people watching happens every year and kind of ebbs and flows with the economy.

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Apple Ipod Touch and Waterlogue

This year found me kind of busy so I wasn’t able to spend as much time as usual but i still made the rounds with my trusty ipod touch and its Waterlogue and Snapseed Apps.

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Apple Ipod Touch and Snapseed

The food stands are my favorite, for taking pictures. Goodness knows I’m not going to eat at one of them. Basically you have to buy coupons to pay for the food and drink. I just want to pay to pay for my food and drink in cash. Not do the deal where I have to see how many coupons I want and then go stand in the coupon line and then go get the food. Lets do something different next year folks. I always thought cash was king.

#Mayfest #Tulsa #Streetlife #EMT's #EMSA #Waterlogue

Apple Ipod Touch and Waterlogue

Plus, I didn’t see the Indian Tacos nor the Gyros. Sorry, if I am going to eat festival food it has to be something different. Also, many of the craft vendors had “No photography” signs up. What is up with that. I don’t think they can make it stick but I don’t really like to mess with people when it comes to a conflict between my hobby of blogging and their livelihood.

So anyway, check out Tulsa International Mayfest

Skywatch Friday – Turkey Mountain Sunset

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I found this dancing tree during one of my evening runs on Turkey Mountain. I love the way the leaves reflect the low sun on its way down. A few minutes after this, it starts getting dark up on the mountain and it would be time to head back to the parking lot but I’m always wanting to go a little bit further. I love the feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere.

Linking with Skywatch Friday