Monday, January 26, 2009

Turner Falls In Winter With Gar The Texan

I was scrolling through Picasa looking for pictures of Mount Rainier to go along with one of a Volcano Eruption Evacuation Route sign, when I came upon pictures taken up in Oklahoma, in January, at Turner Falls Park.

The pictures include ones of the illusive Gar the Texan, who does not use photos of the real him on his blog. I understand that several years of marriage to a butter-loving German has added some poundage to the skinny Gar the Texan we see in these photos.

In the first photo Gar the Texan is climbing down some steep stairs at the Turner Falls Castle. This very eccentric, well, castle, was built during the Great Depression.

The day that Gar the Texan and I went to Turner Falls Park in Winter, on the way north, he had the worst case of the vapors I'd seen him have. A Whopper at Burger King revived him. But, even after the revival I was concerned as to what he'd be able to do at Turner Falls Park, due to a lot of climbing and hiking being involved.

There is a cave high up the cliff beside the falls. Gar the Texan was determined to get into that cave, because we'd seen people in it when we looked down on the falls from the overlook. I am a bit of an acrophobe, though my acrophobia is very situational, as in it makes no sense. Get me at the Grand Canyon and I can climb out on some precipitous ledge and not be queasy. But if you mix a waterfall into the steepness, I get wobbly.

So, I followed Gar the Texan higher and higher as we climbed the Turner Falls cliff. The effort came to a point where I did not want to go further, but Gar did, climbing through a hole and then into the cave.

To celebrate his triumphant rock climbing and spelunking, Gar the Texan climbed a pinnacle high above the falls and let out some sort of primal scream that had me, for a second, thinking he was having another case of the vapors.

Honey Creek is what flows over Turner Falls. The water comes out of an underground spring a short distance away. It is very clear water. In summer the water gets nice and warm. In winter, not so much. But there is more of it in winter, making for scary rapids above the falls.

I have not been back to Turner Falls Park since the visit with Gar the Texan. I have been up to Oklahoma, a time or two, and have driven by the exit from I-35 that quickly leads to Turner Falls.

All year long the Turner Falls pages on my Eyes on Texas website are the most visited. Why? I do not know.

3 comments:

Gar said...

So many things are wrong with this story.

You caused me to get my hair cut which is how I lost my energy which is why I got the "vapors" (whatever those are). I've since cured that.

There are pictures of me on my blog. A big one of my non trustworthy face at the top of every page.

I weigh the same now as I did then.

Durango said...

How can you get the "vapors" and not know what they are? It's Southern Slang for getting faint-headed & dizzy.

The picture at the top of your blog does not look at all like you.

You're claiming the reports that you've bloated up are false? We need photo documentation with some sort of time/date stamp.

Gar said...

Yeah, faint-headed and dizziness caused by low blood sugar. I've rectified that.

I have little proof. Here's a pic pseudo-dated 11/2008: PICTURE