Tag Archives: My Corner of the World

A Guy Who Hates Crowds Checks out the Tulsa State Fair

I am not much into crowds but I like State Fairs. How does that work you may wonder. Well you have to plan things is what I say. Read up.

The planning started this past. Not only do I dislike crowds, I like a good deal. The Tulsa Library System has an Adult Summer Reading Program. You sign up for on an app and you do everything online except pick up your prize. The prize was a coffee cup and a book of coupons including a coupon to get into the fair for free. So anyway the day I went to the Fair I brought my coupon, and they took it. Phase 1 successful.

https://flic.kr/p/2rwrdKE

First thing I saw after I went through the gate. Doesn’t get any more state fair than this.

Oh, I almost forgot. Go on a school day, early!! Do not go on the weekend if you don’t like crowds.

I headed for Central Hall where the arts and crafts are and saw this. I thought it was funny as all get out. How do they get there? How do they vet the parents when they show up? I have questions.

The first thing I saw was the photography exhibits. All sorts of talented photographers entered into the many different categories.

I am reminded again that I am not a photographer. I’m a picture taker!! Anybody can take pictures.

This is my favorite photo. I thought it was hilarious. Surely it should have got 3rd prize don’t you think? Wait a minute, its that a photo of me? Probably not, probably.

And then the pumpkin carving section. That’s always fun.

And this is my favorite pumpkin. Does it look like somebody?

And then the various projects done by students. They always amaze me with skill and imagination.

Lots of entries on grasses. You mean there is more than one kind of grass in the world? I get reminded of that every year.

They had entries on rocketry. I had never seen that before. I was involved with model rocketry when I was in high school and the first year of college. That was fun. I got to go the Air Force Academy and present some research I did on multistage model rockets.

Enough with all that, I went to the next building where they had a petting zoo and some sheep and goats on display.

And on to the animal barns. They animals on display were cows.

And this guy giving me side-eye. He’s beautiful.

I ventured over the midway for an obligatory food shot. Not into the midway, nor the buildings where they sell stuff. It’s all hot and crowded and I don’t do it. That’s okay there is lots of other stuff to do.

Found my way to the beer tent.

Got myself a corndog

And a wheat beer and got the farthest table I could from everybody else. Easy to do at this time of day.

Check out the Tulsa State Fair Web Site

I am linking with My Corner of the World

My Corner of the World – Anniversary Time!

Last week my bride, Heather, and I celebrated our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary. That is getting up in some years. We have been through a lot together, up and down and all around. I will tell you one thing, you don’t stay married that along by accident, both people have to work it. Anyway, we celebrated here in Tulsa.

We decided to go check out the Tulsa Botanic Garden. We are members but we haven’t been there in a while and it is always fun.

They do a great job with both the plants and garden decorations. I love gardens that also decorate with non-plant items. It adds a little extra.

I love color!!

And whimsy and butterflies.

While there we checked out their CrossTimbers trail. It winds for a mile or so through woods and prairie.

It’s got some great views.

I really wanted to see it because I was part of a group of people with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition who came out in June and rerouted the trail to make it more sustainable and take it through more interesting areas. That’s an action shot of me above, back in June, with my loppers, bug spray, sun hat, and water bottle lopping away. We got a lot done in just a few hours. The garden still had some work to do after that day and they announced the new trail route was open a few weeks ago.

The Garden had a controlled burn done last year that really worked out well and knocked down the invasive species and opened the woods up.

There’s Heather, way ahead of me as usual.

I stole this photo from Heather’s facebook. She takes better portraits than I do.

So after the trip to the gardens we went home and cleaned up and went shopping for our anniversary gift. We were looking for a chiminea and we found one from a local out fit right away. A medium sized one complete with a bag of pinion, a bag of lava rocks for the fire to sit on, and a hat for the chiminea. And they delivered it to us a couple hours later.

So we went to our favorite restaurant and had a great Italian dinner and then came back home.

And fired up the Chiminea. Lots of fun and smells good with the pinon wood.

Thirty Six years in the book. I’m a blessed man, what can I say. Looking forward to Thirty Seven. Thirty seven is a prime number and I love prime numbers.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Our Corner of the World – Pirate’s Cove

On our recent trip to the Gulf of Mexico we decided to branch out and check out Pirate’s Cove. A beach bar not far by miles from where we were staying, maybe five or six miles, but over 45 minutes to drive to because of the all the bays and inlets.

It’s a laid back beach bar that was packed on the day we went. They are on the bay and I’d guess most motored their boats over there. They are famous for their hamburgers and their alcohol laced bushwhackers. We had one of each when we were there.

It has a funky vibe and is supposedly the inspiration for two beach songs. I don’t know if it’s true or not but the place is good and the songs are good so I’ll match them up but I’m not going to fight anybody over it. (Us photobloggers don’t fight.)

The first song attached to this place is Jimmy Buffet’s legendary, “Cheeseburgers in Paradise.” I will say that I would put Pirate Cove’s Cheeseburgers near the top of my list. They are not cheap, if you are looking for cheap go somewhere else.

The other song is Kenny Chesney’s “Bar at the End of the World.” Pirate’s Cover is definitely out in the middle of nowhere. I would recommend making sure your car’s navigation system is working. Even then, we made a wrong turn or two. We started out in Alabama, ventured into Florida, and then back to Alabama to get there.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Our Corner of the World – Trail Warriors

Last Friday I loaded up my bike and took it to Tulsa’s RiverParks trails. The light wind was out of the north so I started on the south end at 71st street so I would have the wind at my back on the return leg of my ride.

I had my action camera attached to the handlebars set to take a photo every three seconds and off I went. I was feeling strong so I went across the 71st bridge to take the long uphill ride to Turkey Mountain. It’s a gradual slope but still I had been putting it off. It went well though, me and my knee felt strong even though pretty slow.

I went by the lower parking lot at Turkey Mountain. We’ve had a couple of serious crimes lately at Turkey Mountain. A stabbing and a rape so everybody is on edge. The RiverParks Authority was having extra cameras installed as I went by.

It was amazing the number of people I encountered on the trail. Strange for a week day except is Friday really a weekday any longer? Above is a fraction of the bicyclists I encountered.

Walkers and Runners galore. I love the lady with the cane. After my surgery I did lots of walking with my walker and later my cane. I should have attached an action to cam to it!!

I was astounded by the number of people talking their babies for a stroll. Tons of baby strolling moms and pops trail warriors.

I pulled one photo out of the collage. Here are four strollers in a row.

And dog walkers everywhere.

And people standing in the trail yakking. Move off to the side folks, you are messing up my Strava segment times.

And people off by themselves, just pondering the view, taking photos, talking on the phone.

I crossed the river four times on my ride. Once on the 71st bridge to start, the bridge above, which call the 11th street bridge, and the Williams Crossings pedestrian bridge twice.

Several people fishing.

The construction crews keeping the trails in good shape while bicyclists whiz past them.

A couple kayakers were out that morning. I’ve kayaked once on the river last year. I’ll be doing it again in the next several weeks.

All in all a good ride!! Pretty slow but hey I had a good time.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Our Corner of the World – Beach Warriors

DSCF0791 — Do you like my surgery scar on my right knee!

This past couple of weeks, I have been hanging out at the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. We love it there. I spent a lot of time sitting there letting the sun do its best to kill me with its death rays, while wondering about all the people that are part of the beach. The Beach Warriors. It’s a whole army of people.

Early in the morning, the fishing dads come down from their condos. Other dad’s bring out coolers, chairs, and shelters, set them up and the families don’t show up for hours.

The guys and gals that set the beach service up are out early as well. Talk about a job from hell, drag all that stuff out, set it up and sell only about 30% of the setups max. You can take photos for free though.

Most people bring their own chairs and such.

And you have the energetic beach runners. I used to do that some years ago when I still ran. Beach running is hard except for young people who just seem to glide along.

And the energetic youngsters running around like kids have done for thousands of years at the beach.

And then photo’s at the beach. This was a family directed event. The professional photographers work fast. Time is money you know. I loved this family they took all the different arrangements of people you can image. Youngsters, oldsters, moms and dads. They took their time.

And the beach kayakers. Lots of fun but the amount of energy spent per unit of fun was high. This guy was actually surfing his kayak in.

Stand up paddleboarding has a chill vibe. Lots lower energy per unit of fun. You have to have good balance!! With both kayaking and paddleboards you have the problem of hauling your watercraft across the beach to the water.

There was an Amish presence on the beach this year. During the day they all sit together and talk and visit. Nobody taking instagram selfies or anything like that. This evening they all turned their chairs around and watched the men play a version of baseball. Fun for everyone!

A catamaran came by at least once daily. Part of a dolphin tour just offshore. We’ve seen lots of dolphins go from west to east about ten in the morning and back late in the late afternoon. It’s one of those things where it is a lot more fun to watch with your eyes instead of trying to photograph or video.

The Alabama Highway Patrol cruised by once or twice checking everything out.

The beach patrol came by also checking to make sure we are safe, nobody is using glass, and your shelters are behind the designated line. Also, they have a final cleanup on the beach about 10 or 11. If you leave chairs or anything behind, they confiscate and dispose of them.

This is just a sampling of the Beach Warriors you come across on a beach.

My Corner of the World

Gleaning Blackberries at Joe’s Farm

The other day Heather and I went to Joe’s Farm in Bixby to get a few things. The sign above is from previous years. This year the farm didn’t grow any produce, they planted a cover crop to replenish the soil. They still had blackberries and flowers as well as produce from other farms to sell. Heather loves blackberries and asked if the blackberries were still available. The lady there said they are pretty much all gone but if we wanted to we could see if we could find some for and gave us a container to put them in. So off we went.

We passed the fruit trees.

And before you get to the big tree you hang a right and…

And there are the blackberry bushes. I had never picked blackberries so…

I asked Heather, are these blackberries and she said yes but they are not ripe. The ripe ones are very dark. Okay, I get it. And the blackberries were pretty much all picked over but we went up and down several rows and gathered enough to fill the container. It was fun, kind of like geocaching, except for berries.

And then on the way back we stopped and looked at the flowers. They sell cut yourself flowers. Photos are free! And yes I used a filter on the photo above (and below). Flower photos demand impressionistic filters is what I think.

I forgot to take a photo of the blackberries we picked. Heather made a blackberry crisp out of them and that was pretty tasty.

I am linking with My Corner of the World and Skywatch Friday.

Dedicating “The Sanctuary” at Turkey Mountain

Over a week ago, several dozen trail lovers and various politicos gathered on Turkey Mountain to dedicate a new area. The Sanctuary with 88 acres (some sources say 90) and six miles of trails. The contractor has been working on the area since last fall and it is now fully opened up. It is on Turkey Mountain but across the street from the main area of the park.

The trails were built on land already owned by Tulsa RiverParks through a $2 million grant from the Daryl and Julie Christner Foundation. Above is a family representative talking about how his dad loved being outdoors. I saw him later leading a group of mountain bikers on the trails.

I was standing right next to Oklahoma’s Lieutenant Governer, Mike Pinell. Rather than take point blank photo, I took a picture of his cowboy boots. So I am on oil and gas twitter (or X if you must) and one of the ongoing things there, tongue in cheek, is that round toed boots are lame and square toed boots are cool. You can see he is wearing round toes. I elected not to call him out on that. (True confession, I have two pairs of square toe boots and one of round toes.) His big mission as lieutenant governor is publicizing and pushing Oklahoma and he does a good job of it.

He talked about how everybody is always welcome at Turkey Mountain. He also said that Tulsa is the most philanthropic city in America and how many public private partnerships go on here. He mentioned that Oklahoma has 34 sovereign nations within our borders (talking about the Native American tribes) and twelve ecosystems.

So the speeches were limited, and then everyone was invited to hike a quarter mile to treehouse for refreshments.

So off we went. I had a peanut butter cookie and chatted with a few people I knew.

That’s the heaviest duty treehouse I have ever seen.

I studied on the posted map a little bit and decided I was going to go on a hike.

I love the trails. They are all single track and some of them are pretty rocky. So you have to kind of pick your way carefully, especially if you are an old codger.

It was a bright sunny day, and there are lots of trees so there were lots of shadows.

I head lots of birds but they wouldn’t come out and sit still for a photo.

At one of the trail hubs I found this headboard. I was thinking. I have seen that before!!

I saw it in 2014 when this was all privately owned and some outlaw trail builders built their own trails on the property. Take a look to the left and behind the headboard.

It’s an oil well! A relic of Turkey Mountain’s past. It looked familiar as well.

Heather and Logan found them selves an #oilwell on #turkeymountain #tulsa #oklahoma #igersok

So here is my wife and son at the same well eleven years ago.

So we were pioneers of the Sanctuary. Somebody got hurt crossing the road back to the main part of Turkey Mountain and the owners of the property posted it and so exploration of the property came to an end.

Enough of past history. I finished my hike and went through the moongate at the main entrance. I just love moon gates.

So a little over two miles. A friend and I hiked about three miles on a different route a few days later.

At least one Tulsa News Station had a crew there. Channel 6 news. Check the link for several videos.

I am linking with My Corner of the World.

Skywatch Friday – The Weather is Heating Up

It’s hot and humid in Oklahoma, USA these days. Yes, well it is July and that is what we get.

I don’t really mind it. We have air conditioning in our homes and cars and you just have to adjust your outdoor time accordingly and use precautions. Take water, use sunscreen, dress appropriately, (I wear a lot of tech fiber clothing that wicks perspiration away.) And try to do outdoors activities in the morning and very late afternoons.

And look out for your pets, they need lots of water and rest also.

So just get out and enjoy yourself and take lots of photos.

Skywatch Friday

My Corner of the World

2025 AAA Route 66 Roadfest and Car Show in Tulsa

Last Sunday, Heather, Logan and loaded up and went down to the Tulsa State Fair and checked out the Route 66 Roadfest going on there. A celebration of all things concerning Route 66. This is the third year I have attended it and I love it.

Cars are a big part of Route 66. After all it is a highway and cars are best way to travel it.

A core part of the show are five or so sections that take the Route 66 by decades and talk about what was happening with the road and what was happening with the country.

_DSC0869 — **1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie Convertible.**

There was a section of vintage travel trailers. These two ladies had this trailer and a bunch of associated things plus what I loved was they wore matching dresses color coordinated with the trailer. I hardly ever ask people if I can take their photo but I asked them and they seemed delighted to do so.

Our family of five in the 60’s also had a small travel trailer. We used a lot and I am sure that we saved lots of money but we were also very cramped. It was not too bad if the weather was good as you could always go outside. In bad weather though it led to lots of family togetherness. Much of it good, and some of it not so great.

Hey had metal glasses like those and a metal water pitcher. The iced water in such pitchers just seemed a lot colder than that in plastic water containers.

Everybody had these small phonographs. So nostalgic but I’ll take my Ipod with almost 6500 music tracks on it.

I love this two story travel trailer. Reportedly it has two bedrooms upstairs. What a spectacle that would be. What a nightmare pulling the thing in a strong crosswind.

_DSC0886 — **1953 Buick Super Convertible Model 56C**

My dad loved Buicks and I don’t know how many times he told me that you could tell how fancy the model was by the number holes in fender. So this was a three holer in his parlance, kind of like the Buick LeSabre. The Electra had four. We had a LeSabre when I was a kid. The first new car my parents ever bought. Dad saved money by getting it without air conditioning and then he salvaged parts from numerous cars in junkyards and built his own. It worked well but it took him months and it was kind of a complicated thing.

_DSC0892 — **1936 Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster.**

There were a ton of mid 1950’s Chevrolet Bel Air’s at the show. I always thought they looked cool

There were loads and loads of Ford Mustangs as well.

The 1950’s Ford Thunderbirds, in my opinion, were some of the most beautiful cars ever built. I especially like the unique colors.

I love the Land Rovers, especially the vintage models.

This was the prettiest car at the show. The Volkswagen Karman Ghia.

Next year is the centennial of Route 66. There are going to be big events all over the place including the Routefest in Tulsa.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

My Corner of the World – 2025 Tulsa Tough Bicycle Races

Tulsa Tough is a big huge bicycle party in Tulsa. It includes three days of closed loop short distance races (called criteriums) in three different locations in Tulsa and two days of bike rides in the countryside in and around Tulsa.

I typically go to the criterium on the last day of the race. The course includes part of Riverside Drive and loops up steeply on a brutal hill called Crybaby Hill. I used to go up to Crybaby Hill but I’ve declined the last few years. It is very crowded and kind of outrageous in some respects but all in fun. So maybe next year when my knee will be fully healed.

The criteriums start early in the morning and go into the evening. There are sorts of races segmented by age and gender, especially for the amateurs. The professional races are later in the day and those guys and gals are amazing.

So I only saw a few of the amateur races but they were fiercely competitive.

It was hot. I don’t think I could ever do one loop going up that hill.

It’s a big party for the cycling community which tends to be kind of close knit anyway. Me, I’m just a recreational rider. Twelve miles is my sweet spot on level ground.

I actually did one of the rides years ago. The shortest one that they had at 32 miles. Great right? Nope, I had never ridden that distance before. It was kind of fun until it wasn’t and I got off the official course and so I just went to my car, loaded up the bike and went home. Ironically, I ended up riding a little more than the official course distance. Read about it here.

I am linking with My Corner of the World.