Sunny Wichita Falls Walk Around Sikes Lake With Art & Mona Lisa

Anticipating incoming thunderstorms, on this final Sunday of June I decided to take a walk, a short distance from my abode, where I've not walked before.

That being a walk around Sikes  Lake.

Sikes Lake is at the south end of Midwestern State University. I think the lake may be part of the campus, due a sign you will see later in this blogging.

I have not lived so close to a university since decades ago when I lived in Ellensburg, Washington, a slight distance north of the Central Washington University campus.

I was a bit non-plussed when I saw the above sign at the outdoor entry door to the aquatics center. But, mistakes happen, even on at a university full of people in the process of getting educated. Or as MSU might say "proces of getting educated."

The Sikes Lakes paved trail takes one past the Wichita Falls Museum of Art, where one sees multiple pieces of outdoor sculpture installations, along with the covered pavilion you see below.

I believe concerts and lectures take place at this pavilion location. It appears to be a real pavilion, unlike a Fort Worth style imaginary pavilion. I do not believe any Rockin' the Lake Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats take place at this location in Sikes Lake.

Above you see a couple examples of the aforementioned outdoor sculptures. The one in the foreground is titled "Screen Sculpture #49 Painted Steel".

The Sikes Lake Trail has one of those ubiquitous Mustang installations one sees all over Wichita Falls. I had no way to tell if this particular Mustang and her baby were part of the Museum's outdoor art, or not. I do know I have never seen Mona Lisa displayed on a horse's right rear leg before.

Multiple signs warn against swimming in Sikes Lake. And no kayaking or canoeing without prior MSU approval. Why no swimming? Lake too shallow? Polluted? Why does kayaking require MSU approval?

I have no clue.

Freedom loving Texans are so much more restrictive with their rules than I was used to in the free spirited progressive liberal minded state of Washington.

I saw four covered picnic gazebo type installations as I walked around the lake. Three of them with  a water fountain, such as the one you see above.

How is it that Wichita Falls has figured out how to deliver drinking water to remote locations around a lake? While a much bigger city, such as Fort Worth, can not figure out how to deliver such? Or how to install, in its parks, restroom facilities of the modern, non-outhouse variety?

Wichita Falls seems to have a real sense of civic pride, grounded in reality, unlike that Texas town from which I recently escaped. Wichita Fallers seems to realize their town has some problem areas in need of work, with the town actively addressing those areas, rather than pretending the problems don't exist, such as was the case in that delusional town from which I recently escaped....