The weather here in the Oklahoma City area has been very un-November like. Today it was in the high 60's - low 70's with plenty of sunshine. Decided it was time to get out and enjoy it. With the Thanksgiving holiday this past week most people had a four day weekend. Additionally, most schools have been out since last Wednesday so the kids had a five day weekend. That would mean that youngest son, Alan, and his lady, Cathy, have been cooped up in an apartment for five days with three rambunctious little girls. So, I headed over this afternoon and "kidnapped" the girls and headed out to Stars & Stripes Park on the south side of Lake Hefner. On the way to the park we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a loaf of bread to use in feeding the birds that inhabit the area. The picture is of the ten year old twins, Katlyn and Madison, and five year old Cadence.
Usually there would be a large gaggle of Canadian Geese out here. (These geese have pretty much quit migrating south and seem to live in our area year round.) But, no geese today. There were a bunch of ducks and, of course, the enormous number of gulls that hang out around the lake. The girls had a big time pinching off pieces of bread and tossing it to the birds. In most cases the gulls will swoop down and catch the bits of bread in midair.
Once the bread was gone it was time to move on to the main part of the park and to the large play equipment. The girls had a big time climbing on the equipment and using the slides. This gave Grandpa a chance to sit and relax on the "geezer bench" for awhile. The play equipment in the park is relative new and can handle several kids at a time. This was good because due to the great weather the playground was teeming with little ones today. The girls played until around 5:30 when the sun started going down. At that point the temperature started to drop pretty fast.
On the east side of the lake is a lighthouse replica that I've been meaning to go photograph. Since the girls had never seen it this was a good time to go get a picture. This is located in an area of several upscale restaurants. We drove around to the restaurant parking area and then walked out to the lighthouse. The sun was pretty much down by this time so did not get a good sunset picture of it. We did walk on out behind it to take somewhat of a picture of the sunset. These pictures also show how low a level the lake is right now. Our area has been experiencing a real drought for the past couple of years and the lake levels are drastically down. In the marina just to the south of the lighthouse there is no water and the docks and many sail boats are sitting in mud, with several almost laying on their sides.
The dark area behind the girls (on the right of the picture) is now dry land. In normal times that area would be completely under water. Since this is one of the city's main reservoirs (and the one that we receive water at my house) it is really crucial that we get rain in this part of the country.
1 comment:
Sounds like a lovely day out. The low water levels are disturbing, but that photo is beautiful.
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