Heather and I went to the Zoo Friday thinking that it wouldn’t be too crowded. Wrong! Every school in Oklahoma it seems was having a field trip there. The kids were here there and everywhere. We came upon this Rhino ignoring it all. He does look sad though.
One of Tulsa’s best attractions is the Arkansas River that runs through it. It is beautiful and Tulsa and suburbs have enhanced it by putting in miles of trails and parks on both sides of the river.
The River also separates the urban east side and the industrial west side of town. The east side has downtown, museums, nice subdivisions and such. The west side has two refineries, a power plant, concrete plants and a bunch of other industries. I like both sides actually.
The only thing is that the river is most attractive where it has water in it dependably and that is only upstream of Zink Dam which was built in the last century and is showing its age plus the dam is beginning to build up silt behind it. The city has an engineering report now and it describes a project to renovate the Zink Lake Dam and add three other dams to the river. The total cost is just over $300 million bucks. It is a lot of money but I think it may be a bargain.
The new dams will feature “Obermeyer Gates” which is a kind of hinged dam that raises and lowers by means of an air bladder. So when the gate is lowered, silt and sand can move downstream and fish can move upstream. I am not sure how often they would cycle the gates but it does sound like an interesting technology.
Check here to see a video of how the Obermeyer Gate works. I had the video embedded but it autostarted and drives everybody crazey.
All I know is that communities are either growing or dying, their isn’t too much room in between and if cities want to grow they have to invest in themselves. I’ll be watching this and seeing if we can pass a bond issue to address the river.
Saturday I dropped the kid off at his comedy improv class and I headed over to the Philbrook Museum of Art to wander the grounds. My MIL Nana bought the family a season pass and I love it because I feel that I can just pop in and spend an hour without thinking that I have to get my money’s worth.
This is the Tempietto at Philbrook. It and the Praying Hands at Oral Roberts University are the most photographed scenes in Tulsa. I’ve taken my share of them. It is just so beautiful I never get tired of it. The guy in the pic had an easel and was painting. There were several other people out and about drawing and sketching the gardens on Saturday.
And this is from the base of the Tempietto looking back to the house, Villa Philbrook it is called. I never tire of this scene either.
And this was on the east side of the grounds. There were purple tulips (I think they are tulips) and they were just beautiful.
The gardens at Philbrook Museum of Art are a great way to spend an hour or two when the weather is good. Do you have a go to place that you never get tired of going to?
Last Tuesday night I went over to Turkey Mountain and did a little (darned little) trail running and geocaching. I started out on the Red Trail to go find some caches. I passed a couple that was walking along really slowly looking at their GPSr and I asked if they were geocaching. The guy put the GPSr behind his back and said, “What’s that.” Newbies, why are they so embarrassed? Cuz they should be is the answer.
It took a while for my GPSr to lock on so I kind of wibble wobbled as you might see from the Garmin Connect map at the end of this post but it finally synched with the satellites (thank you my fellow American taxpayers for those satellites I’ll add here.) My first cache was difficult. It required a double backward flip off this fallen tree and a clean landing. Believe it or not I did it and so claimed the cache. Proof, you say? Well I told you that I did it didn’t I?
Then the next one not too far away. All I had to do was stick my hand somewhere I didn’t want to. Nothing bit me, this time.
And I climbed out of the Red Tail area via the Fro Flo trail. I love going the wrong way is all I can say. I went uphill on the Fro Flo guys. Gasps from the Turkey Mountain free riders.
There are several videos on Youtube of the Fro Flo by riders using their Go Pro cameras. This one had some good views of the jumps.
I’m trying to figure out what this is for.
This one looks fun. Would you ride your bike up this ramp and then down the length of the log. Yeah, well me neither.
So anyway I got back to the parking lot and started up the blue trail to the top of Lipbuster and looked for a cache (and didn’t find it) near the water tanks and then I noticed another cache on my GPSr about a quarter mile away. I thought, maybe I could bushwhack it over there.
Not a good idea. One thing led to another. Thorns, tall grass, thickets, scratches, blood, insects. No snakes though. That I could see anyway. Fortunately I had used deet before my run so no ticks or chiggers.
I finally found a clearing. Where I could make some headway.
And then out in the middle of nowhere I found Little Miss Blue Eyes. Kind of cute don’t you think. Kind of spooky is what I think. Eventually I found a trail and made it to the cache site and found it and then I kind of took a wrong turn.
You see there were some new trails up there and I didn’t know how they ran so I just went with it and took quite a tour of the southwestern side of the mountain before I made it back to the Snake Trail. By then it was pitch dark and I didn’t do a whole lot of running.
I passed a cop car with its lights on. I think they were looking for the old fat guy going up the wrong way on Fro Flo.
Here is my route. Slow and sloppy was the mode.
This is a horse pasture in the middle of south Tulsa. I drive by it when I drop the kid off at school. It’s like a breath of fresh air before plunging back into traffic to get downtown.
So what do you do to get a breath of fresh air?
Linking with Skywatch Friday and Good Fences
I was taking my lunchtime walk around downtown and came upon these plants sitting on the steps of Holy Family Cathedral. What caught my eye and what I like the best is the foil. I have no idea why they were there. Truth is I don’t know that they are Easter Lilies or not. I mean it has been a while since Easter. So what do you think dear reader? Lily or something else? Cast out or just letting them get a little sun or left for somebody else to pick up?
I need some answers before I go crazy!
I went running on Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa last Wednesday night. It felt great, the temperature was cool, and there wasn’t very many people. I had a great time. I stopped by one of the ponds and took a pic of the reflections in the water. We’ve had some rain lately so there is water in the ponds and lakes.
For those following the status of the Outlet Mall that Simon Property Group is proposing on the mountain:
Simon Property Group, the multi-billion dollar company wanting to build the mall, is requesting a two month delay in its hearing before the Tulsa Metropolitan Planning Commission concerning their project. It is obvious that they were stunned by the opposition they are facing. This is the only time I can remember when a developer was ever slowed down in Tulsa even for the most cheesy of projects.
A local Tulsa magazine “The Tulsa Voice” has a great article on how people in Tulsa love Turkey Mountain and oppose the proposed Outlet Mall.
The city has had to reopen the upper parking lot and start putting up signs trying to prevent people from parking on the streets. The mountain is getting more and more popular.
Todd Huston of Tulsa went to Simon’s headquarters in Indianapolis and tried to present them with a petition signed by 8000 people asking them to cancel their mall plans and a t shirt.
Believe it or not some people actually want a mall at the location and are beginning to make themselves heard. Hey this is a free country.
Check out the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition for more news, photographs, links and other information on Turkey Mountain.
Captured during one of my Wednesday night runs on the Arkansas River trails here in Tulsa. I’m so glad that the weather is warming up. When I’m bundled up and fighting the cold wind I’m not usually in a mood to stop and take photos.
We recently ventured out to Tulsa Redbud Nature Preserve for a family outing recently. The preserve is in east Tulsa and you drive past trucking yard and pipe coating mills to get to it and it is worth the drive. It is a fairly small preserve but important and was acquired by the Nature Conservancy before it was transferred to the City of Tulsa because it has plant and animal species found nowhere else in northeastern Oklahoma. Since the emphasis is on preservation and not recreation they have restricted hours and allow only foot traffic. Leave your bicycles and horses home. Check the link above for the hours. They are generally open from eight to five and are currently closed on Monday and Tuesday.
They have about 2.5 miles of hiking trails. Much of it is along a cliff face that contains caves and springs and requires some care while hiking. It is fun but watch your step.
This is our family portrait. My fancy schmancy wrap around camera tripod was missing a part so we did the old wedge the camera in a tree any which way we can trick.
Here you go, bark bokeh.
Two and a half miles doesn’t sound like much but it took us a while and we enjoyed it.
And of course with Garmin you can follow along on our hike.
The first Spring storm clouds of the season were pretty spectacular Tuesday night. They didn’t get to Tulsa and I was glad that they were over there and I wasn’t. At the bottom right of the photo is the first redbud blooms of Spring that I have seen this year.
Wednesday night was a different story. Their were a series of storms that spun up in the Oklahoma City and Moore areas and came up the turnpike to Tulsa and hit right around quitting time. A trailer park in the suburb of Sand Springs got hit and caused many injuries and one fatality as well as extensive damage. Heather and Logan were at home and I decided to stay at work. Being on the road is the worst place to be during a tornado.
My office is a beige box in the interior of the building so I stayed there instead of going out side and taking pictures. I did get this one grainy shot of a flare at one of the local refineries. I don’t think the refinery was damaged, most likely it was just a process upset. They will be filling out paperwork for a week for causing so much smoke though.
This could be another wild year for storms here in the heartland.
