Tag Archives: Tulsa

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

Saturday’s Critters – Hike at Ray Harral Nature Center and More!

It has been raining a lot in Tulsa lately. It makes the trails muddy and I don’t want to damage them so I go places with more sustainable trails. Fortunately Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has asphalt paved trails so that is one of my go to’s when I get the yen to go hiking when things are muddy.

I found this male northern cardinal. I brought my good camera and he was nice enough to sit still while I got his photo. I saw glimpses of other birds but didn’t get their photos.

Found this young squirrel playing coy with me.

I used the Merlin App to track who else was around. I got a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo. The Fish Crow called loudly as did the Carolina Wren.

I spotted this painted rock in one of the pollinator gardens at the center. I put it in my pocket and carried it around during my hike and then put it in a different pollinator plot not very far from where I found it. I used to love making painted rocks and hiding them. I am going to get some paint and sealer and try again. I’m not much of an artist and I settled on a yellow sunburst on a blue background. A friend of mine mocked me saying that Walmart was going to sue me for infringing on their logo.

When I first started I hid them way too well and nobody was finding them. I guess from my geocaching background. So I started putting them in more visible places and that worked out better.

A bunny wandered into range in my backyard trailcam.

And a brown thrasher.

Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so son and I mowed the yard. I mowed the front as he caught up on his beauty sleep. I trimmed the front and backyards. My 35 year old cord electric trimmer finally quit a couple weeks ago and I got a nice battery powered model to replace it. Much more powerful and convenient than dragging a cord around all over the place.

So son mowed the backyard. He likes to be creative in his patterns. Used to drive me crazy cuz of all the mohawks he left but now he is still creative yet no more mohawks. (Mohawks are unmowed strips of grass that look kind of like a Mowhawk haircut.) I think he got tired of mowing the yard twice.

It got hot, yesterday, here I am all cleaned up doing my zombie walk in the 105F heat. (I don’t think it got to 105 but it was still hot.)

Don’t forget to cheer for the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday evening when they battle the Indiana Pacers in the final game of the NBA Championship!

I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of talented photographers participate.

Skywatch Friday – Colored Skies and Subtle Skies

I fired the drone up over the backyard last week toward the end of the day.

It had been raining and I wanted to go hiking so I went to Broken Arrow’s Ray Harral Nature Center. A beautiful place with many paved hiking trails so one can go hiking while adhering to Leave No Trace guidelines. The end of the hike I found this composition with flowers, trees, and a sky. Nothing earth shattering, just kind of pleasant.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Late Afternoon in the Neighborhood

I launched the drone the other day. It wasn’t sunset time but there were clouds and light so off I went. This is 40 meters over my backyard in Tulsa, Oklahoma, looking west.

And then I turned the drone 180 degrees to the east and pointed the camera closer to the ground.

And, as you can tell, I played with the photos a little bit. I used a program called Dynamic Auto Painter and used one of their watercolor presets.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

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.

My Corner of the World – Tulsa’s Mayfest Festival

So last Saturday afternoon my bride, Heather, and I loaded up and went downtown to check out Tulsa’s spring arts festival, Mayfest. Mayfest has been going on forever and we used to go to it years ago when it was in the core part of downtown. Heather would come down for lunch and we would walk around looking at the arts and crafts for sale, get something to eat, and listen to music. In the 90’s Hanson would play on one of the side stages. A talented group of youngsters who became famous and are now all growns up with their own children and they still live in the Tulsa area. We’ve seen them from time to time.

https://flic.kr/p/2r3WZ6Z

The University of Tulsa took over Mayfest some time ago and somewhere along the way they moved out of the core downtown area to the Arts District which is where all the cool kids go for restaurants and bars.

So we walked along checking out the arts and stuff for sale. I didn’t take photos of any of that as I have learned that artists and craftspeople don’t necessarily appreciate their work being photographed and I respect that.

This was the first time since before Covid that we attended the event and we were amazed at the quality of everything we saw.

After a while we got hungry and thirsty so we stepped into Cabin Boys Brewery for some refreshment.

Craft Beer and Nachos were just the thing.

Afterwards we drifted over to Guthrie Green to listen to the music which was also great. I amused myself by taking photos of people taking photos. Hey we are all in this public space and I didn’t take any photos that anybody could find embarrassing.

I’m ending with a flashback to 2016 when I was invited to submit a couple of my instagram photos to an art gallery at Mayfest. Mine were the top two on the top right hand corner. That was my peak artistic experience. I’ve gone downhill every since. (Not really.) I’ll tell you what though the world sure has gone through some topsy turvy things since then.

I’m linking with My Corner of the World

Recent Tulsa Area Skies

Last Thursday it rained and then late in the day the sun came out and I happened to be driving by to see this church with some great golden hour light so I stopped and got a photo.

Earlier last week during a cold wet miserable day I was on the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa and captured this image of downtown Tulsa. It’s kind of grainy but I like it.

At local park on a sunny day I got this pond and skies.

I went to the Tulsa Boat Show last Friday. On nice days the Tulsa Driller is always a must do photograph.

Expo Square is where the Golden Driller is, right on Route 66. The county has made some improvements

And a backyard skywatch photo looking east.

And again in the backyard looking northwest.

And from the front driveway looking down the road to the west.

And that is about it.

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

Skywatch Friday – All Over the Place Edition

Somebody published a geocache within walking distance of the house. Well, i’ve walked over there twice and can’t find it. It’s in a tree just to left of this scene. I didn’t find the cache but I’ve got two walks over to look for it and a not bad photo.

A full moon in October. Not the greatest I’ve done but here it is.

And a better rendition of a half moon, also in August.

I got a new action camera recently. It’s a GoPro clone at literally one tenth the cost. About seventy percent as good as a GoPro, so I’m ahead the way I figure it. I attach it to my bike’s handlebars and set it to take a photo every ten seconds. Most of the photos are of nothing memorable so I delete them. I love vintage power plants and this is Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Tulsa Power Station. It hardly ever runs but it still on the rate base making money for PSO whether it runs or not. I used to work for a sister company to PSO that supplied the gas to all the power plants. We had a systems that would show us graphically all the gas the power company was burning to make electricity. It was cool watching the load go up during extremely hot or cold weather. Lots of people worked hard to make sure the lights stayed on.

Here is another action camera shot of this person riding an escooter on the RiverParks trails.

And somebody else walking their dog and a guy in an electric wheelchair crossing the river on the new pedestrian bridge. A big variety of people use Tulsa’s RiverParks. I’m always amazed.