“Western Oklahoma’s State Park Treasures” Don’t Take Long to See

As this site continues its fast descent into a straight-up travel slide-show, I post this. This was based on an article on some Oklahoma tourism website (here). I just went to the five that seemed most interesting and reasonably close-by (i.e., not to the panhandle because it’s too far, and I’d already been to that one anyway),

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Fort Scott and Bleeding Southeastern Kansas

On the way back from the greater Kansas City area, I stopped in Fort Scott, Kan. because there was a fort there. Do I really need to explain myself? Yes? Fine. Because there was a fort there, whatever. This was like in October or something. It was a cool fort, and everyone that ever drives

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What I Did on My Winter Vacation, Part III: Copper Mountain

The drive from Monarch to Frisco and Copper Mountain was the most intense 104-mile drive of my life. It took three hours. During the trip I probably saw about five total miles of bare pavement, the rest was all ice-encrusted. I’ve been living in Oklahoma for the last three years; this was not an environment

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What I Did on My Winter Vacation, Part II: Taos and Monarch

From the greater Phoenix area, I headed back the way I came, up that one highway that probably has a number toward Holbrook. It was still pretty: Although it also spat snow somewhere in those mountains, a true harbinger of the two weeks to come. Which is good, since I cannot abide a false harbinger.

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What I Did on My Winter Vacation, Part I: Arizona

Now that I’ve accepted a new job starting next summer, it’s my stated goal to minimize the amount of time I spend in Oklahoma. Sorry, Oklahoma. To that end, though, I spent most of the winter break in Other States. First up: I’m not sure which state I should list as first. I got in

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The Earth Was Once a Garden Place, But Now It’s Just Missouri

A few weekends ago headed the 5.5 hours up I-35 to Independence, Mo. to check out church history sites. The best part was the barbecue place and the prayer for peace at the RLDS temple of division. Here are some photos and random, related (?) discussion. So that’s the RLDS (Community of Christ) temple in Independence. On

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I Went to Costa Rica This Summer; It Wasn’t That Great, but Here Are Some Photos

At first it seemed like it would be a cheap, easy way to see whether I could be a productive person while spending time in a foreign country. Then the car rental got involved ($80/day, most of which is revealed once you get there), then it turns out there’s not really all that much to

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6 States, 9 Days, Road Photos, No Commentary

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My 6-State Road Trip: Road Photos

Day 1: Norman, Okla. to Gallup, N.M. I can attest to the factualness of the number of construction zones. Breakfast: cold pizza on the road, lunch: Rudy’s Barbecue in Amarillo, dinner: Panda Express in Gallup. Lodging: EconoLodge. Much luxury. Gas mileage was very poor — around 16. Rudy’s’s reliability notwithstanding, least interesting day of the

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Capulin Volcano: Monumental and in New Mexico

The last day of this summer’s road trip started in South Fork, Colo., where Cheeto bag explosions are an epidemic (inferentially), worked its way down through southern Colorado into New Mexico, then across the Okie panhandle and then on to Norman, my supposed home. Had lunch in Taos (New Mexican food and the hatch chili

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