Walking With Mysterious Lucy Park Pagoda & Suspension Bridge

Down below freezing in this part of the planet last night. Was a little warmer than that when I drove to Lucy Park to do some nature communing.

I took pictures of two Lucy Park features today. The Pagoda and the Suspension Bridge. Taking pictures of only those two Lucy Park features proved coincidental at the end of the Lucy Park walk when I returned to where my vehicle was parked.

I have yet to find an explanation as to the why of the Lucy Park Pagoda. Today a local walked by as I was snapping photos of this mysterious structure. You from around here, asked I. Yes was the reply. I asked the local if he knew why this Pagoda structure is here.

It's a Pagoda? asked the local. 

I said that is what it looks like. The local then said it mostly likely was a situation where there were extra funds and someone suggested building a unique gazebo. And someone had seen a picture of a unique structure and designed the gazebo, not realizing it looks like a Japanese Pagoda.

Okay, I guess that will suffice as as good an explanation as I have currently for the Lucy Park Pagoda.

Continuing on past the Pagoda I walked along the currently extremely clear Wichita River til I reached the Wichita River Lucy Park Suspension Bridge.

A lotta locks have been added to the left side railing wall since I last swayed my way across this bridge.

You can not tell it via the photo, but the river water is so clear that one can see the river bottom. I do not remember seeing that previously at this location. I watched to water flow by for several minutes, expecting to see at least one fish.

I saw no fish.

Now, the reason taking pictures of the Lucy Park Pagoda and the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge proved coincidental by the time I got back to where my vehicle was parked.

A car drove up to me, with the driver rolling down her window. She looked Asian, possibly Japanese, and spoke a heavily accented version of English.

She asked me if I knew where the Pagoda was. I was just there, I told her, and pointed in its direction, and explained how to get there.

She then asked if I knew where the suspension bridge was. I told her just continue on the paved trail past the Pagoda, taking a right on the paved trail which is beside the river and a half mile or so, give or take a few feet, you will come to the suspension bridge. I told her not to be scared, walking across the bridge, when it begins to sway and move up and down.

When I've been in Lucy Park I have been asked a time or two or three how to get to Wichita Falls.

The first time I was in Lucy Park I asked at an information booth how to get to the Falls. There was some event going on during that first visit to Lucy Park. Hard to find parking. And that information booth. Have never seen the park that busy, or an information booth, ever again...

Riding To Walmart With My Arizona Sister Talking About Baklava Listening To Right Wing Nut Jobs

 

If I remember right I think yesterday I made mention of the fact that winter has arrived at my north Texas location.

As in the outer world has become cold.

Yesterday my Arizona sister rode long distance with me to Walmart. During the course of talking inquiry was made as to the current health status of Big Ed.

I then made mention of the various interesting products Big Ed has purchased hoping to alleviate the constant chill he finds himself shivering in.

Yesterday a pair of booties were the latest warming device to arrive. You stick them in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stick them on your feet.

A few days ago the new thing was headgear Big Ed called a Baklava.

I told my sister about the Baklava and how ridiculous it looks, like some sorta COVID mask on steroids. My sister asked isn't Baklava a Russian pastry? I said I thought it was a Turkish pastry, and that maybe it is also the name of this type headgear.

I suspect not, though. 

So, I told my sister I would try to get photo documentation of Big Ed in all his cold gear. It is all black, from gloves to insulated pants to shoes to that Baklava thing. He looks like a possible terrorist when he is in full uniform. The topper is his new Mr. Peabody eyeglasses which make him look like a smart terrorist. I suspect if he keeps going out and about attired in this manner that eventually one of the dumb locals, of which there are many, is gonna call the police to report seeing something suspicious.

Ed refused to pose for a photo in his cold gear. So, I put the Baklava on myself and took the selfie you see above. As you can see I am wearing a tank top and thus obviously am not at all cold. But that Baklava thing quickly overheated me in the few seconds it took to aim the phone at myself.

So, that has been my excitement for today. That and going to ALDI, listening to a Rush Limbaugh replacement on the way. The Limbaugh replacements are even stupider than Limbaugh. Today's was probably the stupidest I've heard yet. He was whining about getting booted off Facebook and Twitter due to leftist claims he was spewing falsehoods. As in spewing right wing nut job election fraud nonsense.

The idiot went on and on about how the main stream media is misleading the people by not reporting all the evidence of election fraud. This moron said you have to go to OAN if you want the real news. That and when he gets kicked off Facebook you can go to Parler to his Parler page. 

How do we fix this type stupidity? Mandatory re-education camps? Yeah, that'd go over real big...

Shadow Of Shivering Thin Man Above Wichita Bluff Hoodoo

That is a shivering selfie you see here, with my extra grumpy it's cold face on.

The real temperature may have been above freezing, but the gale force wind, delivered in gusts, made it feel like a severe Arctic Blast had blown into town.

Even so, I had myself a mighty fine time communing with nature in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

It has been awhile since I have seen the Wichita Bluff Nature Area Roadrunner. 

The Wily Coyote nemesis's usual hangout is in the area around the covered picnic pavilion one comes to at the highest point on the Bluffs.

I have never seen a Coyote whilst hiking on the Wichita Bluffs. But, where there is a Roadrunner there has to be a Coyote. This is a well known scientific fact.

Maybe I should bring some bird food with me next time I hike the Wichita Bluffs.

I brought goose food with me last time I walked around Sikes Lake. This created a frenzied furor. Most geese are well behaved most of the time. But something about the herd mentality, well, flock mentality, can get them acting a bit crazed when food is involved.

The feeding frenzy starts off semi-polite, then competing flocks join in.

And ducks.

The geese do not seem to like the ducks.

And then seagulls, which usually keep to themselves atop the coffer dam which crosses the lake, join the fray in nosedive mode. The diving gulls are not too intimidating.

But then this goose flock of four. A different breed. Bigger and light colored. And very aggressive, march in like the law arriving, honking and squawking. 

And hissing. 

I threw some bird food at the invading Gang of Four. But, they were not interested in that. The leader of the Gang came right at me, determined to take the box of bird food away from me. Defensive measures on my part did not work. The goose kept coming at me. So, I threw what remained of the bird food towards the better behaved birds, and quickly made my exit.

I seem to have digressed a bit from the Wichita Bluffs. Let us get back to there.

 Above we see the long Shadow of the Wichita Bluff Thin Man, hovering over the only Hoodoo construction currently constructed in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area designated Hoodoo area.

It ain't easy to operate a phone camera whilst wearing gloves. But, I managed, eventually.

I do not know when we are scheduled to warm up at my location. I can not remember when last I felt like riding my bike.

Speaking of riding my bike. Last night sister Michele texted me the phone numbers of the Tacoma Trio, David, Theo and Ruby. I did not know if these phones were text message enabled. I am assuming the Tacoma Trio got phones so as to alleviate some of the social isolation they are experiencing due to being cut off from going to school. 

So, this afternoon I text messaged each number, not knowing if the message was gonna go anywhere. A few minutes passed and the phone made its incoming message noise. It was from Theo. Made my day. 

And the speaking of bikes part relates to my hope that next summer I will be in Tacoma, with my bike, and Theo and I (and maybe David and Ruby) will go mountain bike riding in this cool Tacoma park with miles of mountain bike trails, which Theo and his siblings took me to last time I was in Tacoma...

Hello From Seattle Where The Mountain Is Out

 A time or two previously I may have made mention of the fact that in my old home state of Washington, when the locals say The Mountain is out, it means the sky is clear blue and one can see Mount Rainier.

Now, in the northern Puget Sound zone one is way closer to the Mount Baker volcano, and on a clear blue sky day that mountain is out and visible. But, no one refers to Mount Baker as The Mountain.

Miss Linda Lou, currently of Mount Vernon, Washington, sent me that which you see above, via Facebook, where someone is repeating what I have repeatedly said, that being "When we say 'The Mountain is out,' this is what we mean."

Linda Lou called yesterday, and during that call mention was made regarding when next I may be seeing The Mountain in person. Currently, it is believed summer of 2021 is the earliest that such a thing may occur.

Having Reno/Lake Tahoe Sledding Gambling Fun With Spencer Jack & Jason

A couple days ago I blogged about Spencer Jack and my Favorite Nephew Jason being masked bandits in Seattle.

Jason had emailed me some photos of Spencer and himself on top of the Space Needle and on the Monorail.

I replied back, asking a question or two about a subject or two.

Jason then replied saying he and Spencer Jack were about to leave for a couple days on a Thanksgiving getaway. And that Spencer was getting impatient to leave, and pacing, whilst Jason wrote his reply to me.

So, last night, as in Thanksgiving Evening, incoming email from Jason and Spencer Jack contained multiple photos, with the only text being something like "You can probably guess where we are."

Well, the first photo told me they were at a location with casinos. Vegas? But that photo did not look much like Vegas. Reno? I had no recollection of Jason ever going to Reno. Some other gambling/casino mecca? Of which there are many in the western states.

The next photo confirmed Spencer Jack and Jason were at a gambling mecca.

Jason at a slot machine at an airport. The only airports I have been in which have slot machines are McCarran in Vegas and Reno-Tahoe International.

The next photo narrowed the guessing, eliminating Vegas, with the win going to Reno.

I replied back to Jason, saying I figured the location to be Reno when I saw the above photo and recollected a giant silver mining feature in a Reno casino, the name of which I could not quite remember, other than it having Silver in the name, and that it was attached to Circus Circus.

Jason replied back, clarifying the name as Silver Legacy, and that it also connected to the El Dorado Casino.

That had me trying to remember when last I had been at that location. I think it may have been 1996. I'd been to Moab, mountain biking, then west across Nevada on the World's Loneliest Highway, then a stay in Reno, at Circus Circus. I distinctly remember going to the El Dorado buffet and over eating worse than I have ever over eaten. And then having trouble slowly waddling back to my room at Circus Circus, where I collapsed til I recovered.

Now that you are continuing to make me think about it, my last time in Reno may have been later in the 1990s. We rented a big ol' Cadillac for a roadtrip to Yosemite, with one night's stay in Reno on the way. The route from Reno to Yosemite routed by Lake Tahoe and then Highway 49 to Yosemite. 

That roadtrip, I think, is the last time I was at Lake Tahoe, which is relevant to the next photo.

That would be Spencer Jack standing on a dock, or deck, on Lake Tahoe. If you drive the entire length of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe you come to a spot with incredibly HUGE boulders. I suspect Spencer Jack and Jason did not drive that far, because I doubt they would miss that photo opportunity. Or the opportunity to climb on those HUGE boulders.

I have never been at Lake Tahoe during the skiing/sledding time of the year. Later Thanksgiving evening Jason sent another email. That one had a video attached showing Spencer sliding down the hill you see above.

One would think if it is cold enough for snow to stick in quantities sufficient for sledding that it would be too cold to do any swimming. One would have thought wrong, apparently, if one thought that.

I am guessing that Spencer Jack and Jason are staying at one of the Lake Tahoe casino resorts, and the one they are staying at has a heated outdoor pool, with only Spencer willing to brave the cold air to get in the warm pool.

I have no information as to how long Spencer Jack is keeping his dad in Nevada. If they had consulted me regarding what to see in that area I would have suggested driving the switchback road up the opposite side of the Reno valley to Virginia City. I have always had myself a mighty fine time in the Nevada version of Virginia City.

Upon first seeing these photos from Jason and Spencer, and temporarily thinking they must be in Vegas, my quick impulse was to call Jason to tell him his Favorite Aunt Jackie and her first husband, my Favorite Brother-in-Law, Jack, were in Vegas, celebrating their 40th Anniversary. I figured we could find a way to track down the location of the Arizonans. 

Back when I was Jason's age, and younger and older than Jason's current age, I would often escape a lot of the holiday season by heading south, to Reno and Southern California.

I recollect the last time I did a holiday season escape was Christmas of 1994. That time it was straight down I-5 to Anaheim. Disneyland on Christmas day, then other Los Angeles area fun during the following week, including going to the Nixon Presidential Library, which turned out to be the highlight of that trip.

Then it was on to Vegas for a couple nights, then Flagstaff, with the South Rim of the Grand Canyon a snowy two days before the New Year. Then on to Moab, seeing Mexican Hat and the San Juan Inn whilst crossing the San Juan River from Arizona to Utah, thinking that the San Juan Inn looked like a cool place to stay, not knowing, at the time, that less than a year later I would be staying there after four days of houseboating on Lake Powell.

After Mexican Hat it was one night in Moab, waking up there on New Year's Day. Hiked around Arches National Park in the snow. Then on to Canyonlands National Park where from Islands in the Sky I saw mountain bikers far below. I said then that I was gonna get me a mountain bike when I get back to Washington and return here to mountain bike. It would be two years later I would do so, riding miles of trails with a group called MudSluts.

Weird to remember back to when I used to go places, lots of places, a lot of the time. And now, here I am, in Texas. I have not been out of Texas for over a year. I have not been to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone in over a year. I have not been further than 50 miles from Wichita Falls in over a year.

No wonder I have a constant feeling of being borderline stir crazy...

Tarheel Hunting In Walmart With Spencer Jack & Jason

 

Yesterday, after I blogged about Spencer Jack and his dad having had themselves a mighty fine time Space Needling and Monorailing in Seattle I emailed Spencer Jack and Jason asking a couple questions about a couple subjects.

Such as how is Spencer doing with the ongoing COVID school restrictions? And how was the Fidalgo Drive-In doing with dine in dining still banned in Washington?

Following those couple questions I told Spencer Jack and Jason how bad it is here in Texas, with restaurants packed with dine in diners. And that I am regularly appalled seeing deplorables mask-less in Walmart.

Mask-less with cases and deaths soaring in Wichita Falls and Texas, whilst Washington's and the Skagit Valley's COVID statistics are not nearly as dire.

Jason had texted me election night asking if Texas was gonna stay red, turn purple or actually wise up and turn blue. If I remember right I texted back saying that many are thinking if Tarrant County turns blue it will turn Texas blue. So, in this latest email I made mention of the fact that eventually Biden did win in Tarrant County, but this did not turn Texas blue. It did not even turn Tarrant County blue.

After lamenting Tarrant County still being red I lamented the county I am in now, what with Wichita County going 3 to 1 for Trump. 

Regarding restaurants here being open to interior dining and those mask-less fools in Walmart, and Trumpers being a big majority here, I lamented the extreme high level of ignorance here, saying "you just can not fix stupid by mandate here".

That is four times "here" in one sentence. Here, here, here, here.

So, Jason replied to this morning's email before Spencer Jack drove him out of town for a couple day getaway. The part of Jason's email about his Walmart experience with masks in the Mount Vernon Walmart was amusing...

I've only seen less than a handful of people not wearing masks in the last couple months.   Ironically, one was a grossly obese woman who Spencer and I witnessed walk into Walmart last night without a mask.   But that is rare sight.   Not an obese woman at Walmart, but an unmasked one.   I'm sure she was most likely from "upriver."  She was with her two daughters who also didn't have masks, but wore one of those small chin shields.   The daughters also had the upriver look--pajamas, t-shirts that are too small, no bras, each probably weighing 350 lbs, etc.

Seems like Jason is describing a regular sighting at my closest Walmart.

For those not from the Skagit Valley I must explain what is meant by thinking someone must be from upriver. As long as I can remember there has been an enclave upriver, meaning up the Skagit River, as in east, out of the flatlands, with that enclave being heavily populated by what locals refer to as Tarheels. 

Growing up in the valley I always thought Tarheel was slang for people from the South. But, now that I am older and wiser I think Tarheel is state specific, as in one of the Carolinas. The town of Sedro-Woolley's high school was known to have a lot of Tarheels in attendance, as did the town of Concrete's high school, further up the valley.

The Walmarts in Wichita Falls are each quite different. The one closest to my abode, a mile distant, is the one where I most often see mask-less fools, and Texans looking like slovenly Tarheels.

The Walmart which is about 2.5 miles northwest from my abode, seems to have a much different clientele. I have never seen someone mask-less there, including today. And way fewer Tarheel sorts.

The most distant from my abode Walmart is up north about 8 miles, near Sheppard Air Force base, and thus also has a much different clientele. That Walmart seems to be the most like Walmarts I have been in in non-Southern locations, like Arizona, Oregon and Washington.

During this ongoing COVID nightmare of reduced things to do, one of my entertainments is to go to my closest Walmart on a Sunday. I think this must be the day when people who live out in the country come in to town to do their shopping. I have seen so many disturbing things, and overheard so many disturbing conversations. 

I have said it before, and now I will say it again. Walmart is missing a revenue generating opportuning by not installing an elevated viewing platform, charging admittance and selling adult libations for viewers to imbibe whilst watching the People of Walmart...

1962 Seattle Fun In 2020 With Spencer Jack & Jason

Email arrived Sunday night from Spencer Jack and his paternal parental unit, my Favorite Nephew Jason.

The only text in the email was the subject line of...

"1962 Fun in 2020"

1962 was the year Elvis came to Washington to the Seattle World's Fair. If I remember correctly President Kennedy pushed a button in Washington, D.C. which somehow opened the big event in the west coast version of Washington.

I do not remember if President Kennedy and Jackie got around to visiting the Seattle World's Fair. I do remember that, towards the end of the World's Fair, JFK was preoccupied with this thing which came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Seattle World's Fair dated its origins in the 1950s when the idea was floated of having a 50th anniversary of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, which if memory serves took place in the location of what is now the University of Washington.

By the late 1950s the Space Race was underway with the Soviet Union. Boeing had become part of that race, and Boeing was based in Seattle, which was why Seattle had become known as an aerospace city.

So, something themed to the future was decided needed to be the theme for the Seattle World's Fair, and so, as such, the Seattle Century 21 Exposition was born.

Two of Seattle's movers and shakers, Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham, Jr., who helped bring the Seattle World's Fair to fruition, were discussing the Century 21 World of Tomorrow theme whilst in a Seattle restaurant waiting for the waiter to bring them dinner. One of the pair began to sketch, on a napkin, what he thought might be a good idea for the World Fair's centerpiece. And thus the Space Needle was born.

Seattle actualized the 1962 Century 21 Seattle World's Fair in a very short time frame. It became one of the few such fairs ever to be financially successful.

I think it is having this type thing in my personal memory bank why I am so astounded by how another town in America, Fort Worth, can't seem to get anything done in a timely fashion. What are we in now, year seven, of trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island? 

Years of puzzling over what was wrong with Fort Worth which rendered it so backwards compared to other American cities, like even its neighbor Dallas, I sort of figured out the town's problems come from being run by what is known as the Fort Worth Way. And thus the town lacks visionary leaders like the aforementioned Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham, Jr. and instead has leaders like Betsy Price and Kay Granger, and others, and so the town ends up with ridiculous embarrassments like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, Santa Fe Rail Market, streets without sidewalks, parks without modern facilities, and other embarrassments.

I do not remember how the funding for the Seattle World's Fair came about. Was there a bond issue election? Someone had to have paid for all that stuff that was constructed, much of which remains in use to this day.

Such as the Space Needle, which is what you see Jason and Spencer Jack masked in at the top photo.  

A couple years ago more money was spent renovating the Space Needle than what was spent building it originally. The renovation included adding a glass floor at the observation deck level, which is what you see Spencer Jack sitting on above.

It is making me feel nostalgic about the swift passage of time, seeing these photos. I think the last time I ever rode the elevator to the top of the Space Needle was with Jason and his little brother, my Favorite Nephew Joey. Joey was four or five at that point in time, which would have made Jason seven or eight. Back then it cost about $4 to ride to the top of the Needle. Now it costs closer to $30.

The summer before I moved to Texas, Jason and Joey took me to Las Vegas. The highlight of that trip was getting stuck at the top of the Vegas Space Needle knockoff known as the Stratosphere Tower. Power went out, the elevators rendered dead, no air conditioning, with the temperature way over 100. We were stranded for several hours. It turned out to be one of the most fun Nephews in Danger episodes I ever had with those two.

So, that last time at the top of the Space Needle, we were barely up there when Jason sees the Monorail leaving the Seattle Center station. He asks, "Can we go ride the Monorail now?" "But we just got to the top of the Needle, can we at least walk all the way around first?" asked I.

15 minutes later we were aboard the Monorail heading to Westlake Center. Jason insisting on being at the front of the train, so that is where he headed us, and then he proceeded to lay down on the seat. "But, I thought you wanted to ride the Monorail," I asked. "Oh, I've been on this a million times." was the memorable reply.

Jason had two obsessions when he was a kid. One was the Seattle Monorail. The other was the Washington State Ferry system. Jason built models of each, including the entire fleet of Washington ferry boats.

So, of course, after checking out the renovated Space Needle, Jason next took Spencer Jack to ride the Monorail.

The Monorail does not look much changed since I last saw it. well, the station for sure, but that may be a new train.

And here we see Spencer Jack aboard the Monorail, likely at the front, behind the pilot.

I wish Spencer Jack would drive his dad through the new tunnel under downtown Seattle and take photos or video. I have yet to see any photos of that tunnel in action.

That $4 billion tunnel and waterfront rebuild project began about the same time Fort Worth had a big TNT exploding ceremony to mark the start of construction of those aforementioned three simple bridges stuck in slow motion construction mode.

How can these two towns be in the same country? Perplexing...

Theo & Ruby Say Hi Under Mountain Above Crystal Clear Water

 

That which you see above showed up in my email last night. Theo & Ruby saying Hi.

There was no explanatory text in the email. So, I do not know where big brother, David, was during this photo opportunity. 

I can tell the twins are on Harstine Island, a location in south Puget Sound where the Tacoma trio and their parental units have a getaway cabin to escape to when they want to get away from Tacoma.

That water you see behind Theo & Ruby is a rarity at my current location. First off, it is saltwater. I would need to drive a couple hundred miles to see some saltwater.

Second off, that water behind Theo & Ruby is crystal clear. There is no water anywhere near my current location that is crystal clear, other than bottled water. Even the tap water here is a bit murky most of the time.

And just like it taking a long drive to see some saltwater, an equally long drive could take me to crystal clear water in Texas, such as the water which flows from the San Marcos Spring to make Aquarena Springs and the 75 mile long San Marcos River. I have seen this water one time only and at that point in time I remember thinking I had never ever seen such crystal clear water. The San Marcos River terminates when it joins the Guadalupe River, which I have never seen, but also has a reputation for having clear water.

Also behind Theo & Ruby, in addition to the crystal clear saltwater, is Mount Rainier, which looks to be sporting a fresh coat of snow.

Mount Rainier is known by many names, most frequently simply as The Mountain. Most commonly used in a sentence like "The Mountain is out today". Which means the sky is clear and you can see Mount Rainier, a volcano which one can see from almost all over the state of Washington, hence the reason The Mountain is the prominent feature of Washington state vehicle licenses.

The Puyallup Indian name for Mount Rainier was Tahoma, hence the name of the town David, Theo & Ruby live in.

Mount Rainier is also known as Crystal Mountain, which is why the Mount Rainier ski area is called Crystal Mountain Ski Resort.

I just looked up at the calendar on my computer room wall and saw that this month's calendar photo is the aforementioned Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. Wait a second, I'll find my phone and snap a photo of the calendar...

It is difficult not to take a cockeyed photo of something rectangular using a phone. The caption on the lower right, below the photo, says "Milky Way over the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort".

I do not remember when last I saw the Milky Way the way one sees it where there is little competing light and little air pollution. Houseboating, long ago, on Lake Powell, is my most recent memory of being amazed at gazing at the Milky Way.

I also do not remember when last I was at any sort of ski resort. I do not believe any such thing exists in Texas. Or next door in Oklahoma. A couple hundred miles west and northwest, in New Mexico and Colorado I could find some ski resorts.

I drove through Ruidoso, in New Mexico, the last time I drove back to Texas from Arizona. Ruidoso is known for having a ski area. But, I saw no sign of such as I drove on by.

On this next to last Sunday of the 2020 version of November I am 100% certain I will be doing no skiing today, nor will I be gazing at any crystal clear water. Or a mountain....

Biking Wichita Falls Yellow Brick Road With Dorothy And Toto

The MSU (Midwestern State University) Holiday decorating is nearing completion. Today I rolled my bike's wheels north on the Circle Trail, eventually making it to MSU and the Yellow Brick Road.

The Emerald City, Toto, Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion do not quite look like the Wizard of Oz movie version.

But, the Yellow Brick Road is a dead ringer.

A couple days ago whilst driving by the MSU Holiday decorating in progress, one of the riders in the vehicle wondered if this year the Polar Bear Express would be tramming its way through the Beverley Hills of Wichita Falls light show, what with the COVID nightmare rapidly worsening.

Today I think I have an answer to that Polar Bear Express question.

Soon after leaving Dorothy and Toto I came to that which you see above, sitting on the parking lot at the north end of the MSU campus, near where the Polar Bear Express trams park awaiting passengers.

And then by the time I got to the south end of the MSU campus I saw another indication the trams will be rolling this Holiday season.

Perhaps masks will be required, with social distancing enforced, with only every other row of seats on the trams having occupants.

Maybe I will ride the Polar Bear Express this year. It does look like it might be fun...

Shadow Of Wichita Bluff Thin Man At Trail's End

What with wind gusting at low hurricane strength I opted not to ride my bike today. And instead returned to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to hold on to my hat whilst walking from the Wichita Bluff Nature Area's west parking lot to the east parking lot, and back. This makes for a few miles of hilly hiking.

In the above photo you are looking at the Shadow of the Wichita Bluff Thin, also known as me, standing above the ruins of the Wichita Bluff Hoodoo. I suspect the rock sculpture was blown over by the wind.

And here we are at the high point on the Wichita Bluffs, looking northwest at the Wichita River. Many times at this location I have seen a roadrunner. I assumed it must reside in the neighborhood. But I the little paisano of late. I have never been fast enough to photograph the notorious speed demon.

And now we are the current end of the Circle Trail, looking east, towards downtown Wichita Falls. I thought this new section of the Circle Trail was supposed to be completed by now. It links this current termination point with the Circle Trail in Lucy Park. 

When I was first learning my way around Wichita Falls I came upon an area under stalled construction, which I was soon to learn was a new section of the Circle Trail, which would be known as the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

That project appeared to be stalled. A year or two later I learned the original contractor had not lived up to what was contracted, and so a new contractor had to be found. After that new contractor was hired the project soon resulted in finishing what I think is the best section of the multi-mile Circle Trail.

So, one can not help but wonder what is going on with the new link. Did another dud contractor fizzle out?

I was looking forward to this new link, bike ride wise. This town seems to do a lot better job at getting things done, like building bridges, than that Texas town I used to live in, Fort Worth. But there does seem to be a Fort Worth-like problem with the building of a simple trail in this town...