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.
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.
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?
Saturday morning I got up at dark thirty and headed out to western Oklahoma to Lake McMurtry to run the 12K portion of the Lake McMurtry Trail Run. They also had 25K and 50K events. The people who run these trail runs are hard core and they consider the 12K to be kind of like a fun run or something.
The Race Director, Trail Zombie got us all organized and everything with a few simple directions. Mainly don’t get lost and don’t cheat. TZ as we call him directs several races during the year, leads weekly runs on Turkey Mountain, volunteers a lot and has his own full time business. He is one of the world’s really nice guys.
And here is the start. I started out last place and stayed last place for a long time. 12K is about 7 miles and I finally passed a few at about mile four. I say a few because I think I finished 46th out of 50 or something like that.
The course was an out and back which means that we run back on the same trail we run out on. Plus the other races used this route as part of the route of their races. This means that people have to be aware of what is going on and let people pass by. I’ve run lots of trail races and I have never seen any conflict on the matter. People just pull off and let others pass and everything is cool. The whole ethic of trail racing is cool and laid back and that is why I like it. Don’t get me wrong, people run the race hard.
The race was almost entirely in the woods but we broke out into grassland just briefly a couple times.
And here is the beer stop. One stop but we hit it twice. How many races do you know provide craft beer at the water stops. I had a Coop Brewing DNR the second time, I forget what it was I had the first stop, but it was good.
And right close to the beer tent is the regular stuff, water, gatorade, pickle juice (yep, I’ve learned to have a shot of it when I can), baked potato quarters rolled in salt, bananas, cookies, nuts, m&ms. No wonder I can’t lose weight and no wonder I don’t finish any better than what I do.
I actually buckled down and ran the the last few miles to the finish and didn’t take any photographs. My average miles split was 13:30 which is not too impressive but is at least a minute faster than most trail runs I run in so I am pretty happy.
At the finish TZ told me where to find the “Leap of Doom.” It is a feature of the 25K and 50K races but they don’t let us 12K baby runners on it out of fear for our lives. But, I fortified my courage with a beer and headed out to check it out.
I could tell I was getting close. One thing about TZ is he is good at warning people. I couldn’t turn back even though I wanted to so I ventured on ahead.
And the warnings kept coming. But I was intrigued, I mean who doesn’t want to see the 72nd wonder of the world.
Gulp
Here are the instructions. I don’t know how to breathe and scream at the same time, do you?
Of course I had to record the event for posterity. This is first attempt.
This is the second attempt. Do you like my shoes? Do you think I should put movie ambitions on hold for a while?
And so I survived the famous Leap of Doom. Well the other thing I needed to do was go find a geocache.
The nearest one was about a kilometer away so I walked to it. Turns out that the location was right on the the trails used in the other races. While I was looking for it several runners stopped and asked if I was okay.
I turned my Garmin watch on for the hike. I get amused at myself when I run on a geocaching hunt cause it shows me going around and around, and I did go around and around. I finally found it though.
And here is the location. I loved the old car. The amazing car geeks at Car Spotting Tulsa think it is a late 40’s Chevy. I love all the bullet holes. And yes I did find the cache.
So, I was done. Got a lot done over there in Lake McMurtry is what I think, ran a race, jumped the leap of doom a couple times and found a geocache and a neat car. So I gathered my stinky self up and drove back to Tulsa. On the way I stopped in the little oil field of Yale, Oklahoma and toured Jim Thorpe’s house. Fascinating story about the greatest athlete of all time who lived in a small town in Oklahoma. That will be on the next post.
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.
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.
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.
