Travels – Page 58 – Paint Your Landscape

Oklahoma Visit with Family

November 10, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

Despite the earthquakes and super cell storms that absorbed most of our time in Oklahoma, we did get a little time to visit kids and grandkids. Terry’s youngest son Keith and our granddaughter Alyssa live in Tulsa so we decided to spend an afternoon at the Oklahoma Aquarium. This is a great family-oriented environment with several interactive aquatic displays and the largest bull shark grouping in the country, housed in a one-of-a-kind walk-though clear tunnel tank.

The unusual creatures to be found under the sea have always fascinated me, so I thought I would share some of my favorites.

Graceful jellyfish — The graceful jellyfish

Moray eel — The moray eel, the reason I have no desire to scuba dive!

Tulsa has done an admirable job of expanding upon their riverwalk, complete with sitting areas and plantings. It was a great way for us to grab some exercise on the one sunny day that we had while in the city.

Since Terry lived in Tulsa many years ago, he wanted to see how the downtown area had changed so we also took some time to drive around, with Keith and Alyssa as our tour guides.

The BOK Center ( Bank of Oklahoma), is a multi-purpose arena in Tulsa, used for sporting events as well as music venues. It was designed by César Pelli, the architect of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and is the flagship project of Tulsa’s Vision 2025 long-range development initiative.

Alyssa is a very talented 12-year old, learning to play the guitar by ear and is asking for a ukulele for Christmas and has an interest in learning to play the violin. She loves classical music, sings beautifully, and wants to be a marine biologist or veterinarian and loves nature.

Oklahoma City is where we experienced all the crazy weather and where Terry’s oldest son, wife, and our two grandsons live. We opted for an indoor activity and decided upon the National Cowboy Museum, a wonderful depiction of all things western: paintings, bronzes, rodeo history, western performers and a great display of saddles from the 1700’s through present-day. Beautiful fountains and gardens rounded out the presentation. Unfortunately photography was not allowed in many of the viewing rooms.

The two grandsons are into sports, playing basketball and football. Given that the oldest grandson, Brandon, is only 14 and is already 6’1″ and wears a size 16 shoe, and the youngest, Matthew, has had a big growth spurt, football may be in their future, at least mom and dad hope so.

Oburn Family — Amanda, Matthew, Brandon & Chad

Time to head south!

Wild, Wacky Oklahoma Weather

November 7, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

Monday, and most of today was spent in front of the television watching news reporters track a super cell of storms racing towards Oklahoma City, where we have come to spend a couple of days with Terry’s oldest son, wife, and our two grandsons. We can bearly believe the weather that we are seeing here right now, truly wild! A number of tornadoes have touched down in outlying areas; strong winds of 70-80 mph have been reported; and large hail and heavy rain is occurring throughout several counties. All of this is certainly enough to keep anyone on edge, particularly those of us sitting in RV’s!

If this weren’t enough, at 8:45 pm we felt what we thought was a strong wind gust, but oh no, what we felt was another earthquake! This quake struck in the same area as the last one, about 50 miles from here and registered a magnitude 4.7. You just can’t make this stuff up! It is now 9:30 pm and we have thunderstorm warnings and a tornado watch until 4:00 am tomorrow morning. It is going to be a long night!

At some point I will write a post about time spent with family, really I will, as soon as Mother Nature finishes having her way with Oklahoma.

Earthquake!

November 6, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

Who would have thought that we would come to Tulsa, OK and experience an earthquake?! I have always thought that OK has a mixed bag of weather in not the most pleasant sense; i.e. hot and humid, bitter cold and damp, droughts, floods, fires, tornadoes, and earthquakes. I did not think in my wildest dreams that we would be sitting here in our rig when an earthquake hit.

Yesterday morning at 2:12 am we learned that an earthquake measuring 4.7 occurred in Prague, OK, about 50 miles from Tulsa. It was reported as the second strongest quake in Oklahoma’s history, behind a 5.5 in El Reno that struck in 1952. We slept right through that one but at 10:53 pm last night, as we were watching a local news reporter discuss the earthquake that occurred in the wee morning hours, the floor of our rig began to vibrate and a startled look came across the reporter’s face. Yep, an aftershock and the first earthquake that Terry had ever felt. What we soon learned was that this tremor registered a 5.6, the largest in OK history, occurring 4 miles east of the town of Sparks. So my question is, when the aftershock registers higher than the original earthquake, is it still considered an aftershock or is it officially an earthquake, particularly when it sets a state record?!

Coffeyville, KS

November 5, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

So why stop in Coffeyville when we are so close to our Tulsa destination? Well, Terry just happened to look at the atlas the other night and we discovered that we would be passing very close to Coffeyville, the town where John and Janie (of Flamingo on a Stick blog) are working for a couple of months at one of Amazon’s distribution centers. When we pulled into the RV site at Buckeye RV, many of our neighbors converged on us, asking if we had come to work at Amazon. It seems that at this time of year the campgrounds are taken over by Amazon seasonal workers and I am guessing that the population of Coffeyville rises exponentially from September through December as the workampers migrate here. We are told it is a great way to replenish your coffers in a few months, allowing those leading the nomadic lifestyle to travel the remainder of the year. Everyone here was very friendly, giving a helping hand in getting us settled.

There is not much happening in this small Kansas town but we were able to find a local haunt, with the guidance of Amazon seasonal workers, for a bite to eat and a chance to catch up with John and Janie. They had just finished their first week of orientation and work and are already counting the remaining weeks down. It sounds like a fascinating operation but not for those who are opposed to physical activity. We were told by several folks, including our new friends, that it is a great way not only to make a few bucks but also to lose a few pounds and get yourself in shape. Once you get acclimated to the job, we are told you can walk 10-15 miles daily during your 10-hour shift. If you are interested in being a workamper at one of Amazon’s facilities that support this, I would highly recommend going to John and Janie’s blog, Flamingo on a Stick, to learn more about what their job entails. This is something we have been entertaining, so we are anxious to hear what they think of this experience at the end of their 8-week tour of duty.

We were thrilled that John and Janie’s work schedule allowed us to visit with them, if only for a short time and are already looking ahead to when we might meet each other again somewhere down the road.

There is an email relating to friendship that gets passed around quite a bit. It goes something like “some friendships are meant for the day, some for a season, while others are meant for a lifetime”. We are hoping theirs is the latter. Take care you two, until we see you again.

Headline: Ghouls Spotted Around Gardner

November 1, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

It is Halloween week and scary movies and haunted houses are right up my alley, so we decided to join in the fun. At the last minute the decision was made to go on a haunted hayrack ride in Custer Park, sponsored by the local fire department. We heard from someone who lives in the area that this was not as scary as the haunted house in one of the surrounding towns and given that we had a 7-year old and a 9-year old in tow, this seemed to be the best choice.

Eight of us piled onto the hayrack for a one-mile ride out to a haunted barn, with ghouls and zombies popping up along the way. The youngest two in the family decided during the ride out into the country that the haunted barn was not for them and many tears ensued. When we arrived at our destination, everyone decided to take the plunge but unfortunately my brother and sister-in-law spent their time soothing frightened children as they wound their way through the pitch-black maze of 13 separate rooms in the barn. Terry and I led the way and I had to admit that it was well done and given my claustrophobic nature, feeling my way through a black maze with monsters and other creepy-looking creatures appearing at many of the turns was a little startling at times. The kids made it through and both decided it wasn’t so bad after all. Always easier to say this after the fact, isn’t it!

My friend Villa and I joined my brother and sister-in-law, Alan and Traci, for a Halloween party at one of the local pubs. Terry offered to stay behind and babysit the kids. Villa and I did not dress in costume but enjoyed watching everyone parade through the bar in their most creative Halloween garb. Costumes were judged at the end of the evening, and although I am biased, I believe my brother Alan should have received the male prize. So many of his friends did not even recognize him in costume!

Cruella Deville & The Joker, aka Traci & Alan

This is one of those times when removing the “red eyes” in a photo just doesn’t make sense!

Terry had his own costume judging contest to deal with back at the house. The oldest nephew Seth and niece Paige decided to paint their faces and be judged. What was a good uncle to do but declare the contest a tie!

Prior to the entire town turning into zombies and other creepy looking characters, we were able to visit the school where our niece Paige and nephew Blake attend, where they proudly showed us their classrooms.

On Halloween day the grade school kids participated in a parade, complete with costumes. Terry was able to snap a few shots of the kids as they strolled by.

And the cutest of them all, Traci’s nephew Ty.

6-month old "monkey" Ty and "zookeeper" mom Angie

Halloween night and the kids are ready to hit the neighborhoods and get all “sugared up”. We learned it has been a tradition for the moms to get out the golf carts and take the little ones trick-or-treating so Villa and I hopped on to experience a neighbor’s haunted house (much toned down from the previous trip).

Girls Night Out? No, just Halloween in Gardner.

As we pulled away I remembered that I was in charge of making the soup for dinner that night. Since that wasn’t happening, I quickly ran back to instruct Terry to “make the soup”. Well, really that was all the instruction I gave him. His response was, “you’re kidding, right?”, to which I responded, “no, make the soup”, as I quickly ran back to the golf cart. Luckily he knew there was a recipe sitting in the kitchen and I had set aside the ingredients but that was all he had to go on. We didn’t know what to expect when we got back. We might be going out for pizza.

We arrived at the neighbor’s haunted house and luckily it was “kid rated” so no tears this time!