Tag: okc

Zoo: “An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.” – Evan Esar

On By HanneIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Had a lovely afternoon at the Woodland Park Zoo with a fantastic fandom friend today. Cacky, thanks for visiting!

I have such conflicted feelings on zoos, but of all the zoos that I’ve been to, I feel like we’re pretty lucky with the WPZ. The exhibits are much larger than most other zoos I’ve visited, and they do a fantastic job of enrichment. That said, certain animals like the Orangutans, Elephants and Gorillas always look so sad.

WPZ lost one of it’s elephants yesterday.  At 45, Watoto should have had another 20 years left. While the WPZ is leaps and bounds above other zoos, I think they need to re-evaluate their elephant enclosure and send our two remaining elephants (Chai and Bamboo) to a sanctuary. I don’t think there is enough land for them to expand where they are at. IMG_7257Such smart animals deserve more. I think we are past the point where people need to be face-to-face with an elephant to feel the urge to save them.

The Orangutans are the other ones that need something more. I only ever see them sitting around with their burlap blankets over their heads. One was sitting at the glass just staring ahead as everyone crowded close.

We were treated to an up close view of the male lion today. He strolled around, scratching, sniffing and watching zoo visitors through the glass. The size of his paws are absolutely massive and his thick mane gorgeous. I didn’t see Adia and her cubs were sent elsewhere earlier in the year, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the male lion up close before. What a beautiful creature.

We also saw the hippo swim around (briefly). I think it’s the one animal at the zoo that I’ve never seen move until today. In fact, they could’ve been fake hippos for the past however many years, and I wouldn’t have known. 

That’d be a good zoo scam.

IMG_7243One of my all time favorite spots at WPZ is the willawong station where you can feed parakeets, cockatiels and various other brightly colored birds. I had a delightful little cockatiel sit on my finger while he nibbled on some millet. He then fluffed up a bit and just sat on my finger.

All in all, a fantastic afternoon at the zoo!

 

Mark Harmon in OKC

On By HanneIn Travel3 Comments

(looking for the tornado post? click here)

(looking for the OKC Energy FC post? click here)

Ah yes, the main reason for my year trek to Oklahoma…

It’s funny, because the newness and excitement of ohmygodmarkharmon has worn off, but the trip seems to be 2getting better and better. I (of course) missed road tripping down (and my road trip buddy – Cait), but this was probably one of the best times yet. I had a great time with a couple different groups of people – some of them not even from the event, we just started chatting at the hotel. It was a little crowded at the event, but other than that – no complaints. I think I most look forward to seeing my friends who otherwise live across the country, and meeting new ones (hi skid).

Ok, it is cool though to be having a drink at Flint and have ‘Gibbs’ walk in and sit just behind your table. A little surreal, but… we’re bff‘s now, remember?

I did get to have a few words, which was nice. I’m much more interested in a legit conversation than going through the autograph line three times to have everything I own signed (yes, I saw people do that – ugh, the riff-raff).

The baseball game was called off due to rain, but as I am not a baseball fan, I can’t say I was super disappointed. I was more concerned about the weather myself, and made friends with a cop – Officer Cunningham. She was very helpful and when the lightning started, she was quick to assure me that the conditions weren’t right for anything more than some lightning and maybe thunder. I half believed her at the time, but saw her again at the soccer game and she had been right.

1I do want to say how impressed I was with Mr. Harmon, signing right through the downpour. Several times, people offered him an umbrella, but since they weren’t allowed in the stands, he didn’t want one either. If the fans stood in the rain, he was going to stand in the rain too. It didn’t rain the whole time, but with a professional game scheduled for right after, they just didn’t have time.

I did get the chance to chat about the new Jurassic Park movie with Frank Marshall. He said it’s coming along nicely – apparently he just came from the filming location.

That said, people only come to this post for the photos. This year I put my website address on them. I don’t mind them being sharedbut they should be linked back to my blog. Last time they were snagged, cropped, edited and not linked, so… I’ll probably post a few on FB for those that are FB friends as well.

 

“My Oklahoma home is in the sky…” – Bruce Springsteen

On By HanneIn Uncategorized2 Comments

I’ve decided to post about OKC in parts:

If you’re looking for Mark Harmon photos/info, click here.

If you’re looking for OKC Energy FC info, click here.

I had to get up early this morning. With an 8 hour drive ahead of me, plus wanting to stop at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, I knew I needed to get a good start to the day. I also wanted to take a drive through Moore, OK, where Cait and I toured the day after the El Reno tornado and only a week or so after the Moore tornado. I wasn’t sure if I could find the same place, but Moore isn’t big, so I figured I’d just circle a bit and see what was left of the damage. As I drove, a few things started to look familiar and suddenly I was turning into the same neighborhood we saw last year.

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Same tree, nearly a year apart.

As I turned off the main road, I started to feel really, really overwhelmed. I think I was riding so high on adrenaline last year, esp. with the continuous storms the entire drive home, I didn’t really get the chance to deal with the enormity of it all.

Then Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah  came on my playlist and I just lost it.

I have zero idea how these people continue to live there and just rebuild and move on with life. I spent the whole weekend with one eye to the sky, and I saw someone out planting in their front yard like it won’t blow away again (the house, who cares about the flowers). Many homes were still being repaired, some finished and some were just empty lots.  The roads are still cakes with dirt, though the debris are gone.

I think it was really good to drive through the same neighborhood. In a way it was oddly reassuring that, even after the worst of things, life goes on. Even if it seems impossible. I look at the top photo, and I wouldn’t even know where to begin with a massive pile of rubble. I remember seeing families just standing at the end of the driveway, staring at the mess and then just digging in.

While I won’t claim to be ‘over it’, maybe a little healing was done today.

*The house in the photo to the left no longer exists (just an empty lot).

 

 

“Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” – Swami Sivananda

On By HanneIn TravelLeave a comment

It’s funny how there is always something – something that sparks extra excitement within us. It’s like my heart-rate jumps, I sit up a little taller, I focus a little harder. It almost sounds like I’m in love. And to some extent, I am.

The prospect of another road trip. I know there is always another trip ahead of me, but usually I don’t know when. Without specific dates, I can plug them into a hotel finder or search local events. But now with the dates locked in for Mark Harmon’s charity event in OKC, I have dates. And it’s like something has been lifted off of me. I have that goal, and I want nothing more than to go barreling head-first toward it.

It’s not just the actual trip – it’s the planning, the reading, the maps… I feel like an addict of sorts, checking and rechecking distances and drive times. I know I can comfortably hit 6-700 miles in a day, up as high as 900 if I’ll have a break the following day. I know how much time I need for bathroom breaks and fuel purchases and that I need to add an extra hour for roads I’ve never driven so that I can pull off to take photos.

For the roads I’ve already driven, I have favorite coffee shops and diners, dotted along the route. Favorite bars and restaurants in the cities I know so well.

There are gift-shops and postcards. Tourist information centers and truck stops. The new people you meet. This year will be nearly 7,000 miles of both familiar and unfamiliar territory.

IMG_3363Of all the places I’ll be returning to one this trip, Memphis, TN is my favorite. While I would never live there (own a vacation home, yes), Memphis is a place that I consider to be my ‘Soul-City’. A place where you find yourself letting out a deep sigh, dropping all the negative baggage and breathing in renewed energy. Some places, when I arrive, I spend the first evening in my hotel room, with a bottle of wine after a hot shower. Memphis is one of those places where I can’t get my car unloaded fast enough, as all I want to do is stand in the middle of Beale and watch the excitement move around me.

It’s simply mesmerizing.

So I still have a good four months to go – I foresee several more trips to AAA, numbers of miles and drive times mesmerized and outfits analyzed. But it’s good. These are all things that make me feel alive. I feel more inspired for the gym. I want to read more. I want to write more. I just want more out of life when I have a goal within reach.

It feels good to feel alive again.