Archive for June, 2010
Beautiful and Bizarre Combine at Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
Posted by: | CommentsEach Wednesday this summer, TravelBlur is teaming with The Oklahoma Gazette to feature an Oklahoma City metro-area travel attraction.
This week’s article highlights the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art.
“With Egyptian pottery dating from 6000 B.C. sharing the spotlight with modern art from Pablo Picasso, the museum boasts that its eclectic accumulation of art and artifacts spans a greater breadth of time and human culture than any other Oklahoma museum.”
Sick on a Stick – Eating Bugs in Beijing?
Posted by: | CommentsThe following is an excerpt from an article published in the July 8, 2009, edition of the Oklahoma Gazette.
I jumped on the plane to Beijing, China, not only looking for a cultural adventure, but in search of a culinary one as well. You bet I was excited about walking atop the Great Wall and exploring the Forbidden City, but I was equally interested in chop sticks and chop suey, egg rolls and egg foo young.
My target for real Beijing cuisine was the famous Wangfujing Night Market and its infamous assortment of crazy street eats.
Not far from Tiananmen Square, the market is a hodgepodge of street vendors with skillets and stew pots cooking up a menu of sauteed serpents, roasted reptiles, grilled gills, fried fungi and crispy, crunchy creepy crawlies. The market is a must-see attraction for any visitor to Beijing and a perfect study of how tastes can differ halfway around the world.
This is the place for sick on a stick, and I was planning to man up and chow down.
I saw stalls offering silk worms, sea snake, sheep penis (seriously), sea horse, centipede and scorpions complete with claws and stingers. There were cups full to the brim with some mysterious smoking liquid, and huge, boiling pots of who-knows-what.
This ain’t Pei Wei folks.
There were even deep-fried starfish but no ranch dressing. Really now, who eats a fried starfish without dipping it ranch?
I walked the market down and back and found nothing remotely appetizing, and it wasn’t just the look of the food that freaked me out. If it’s true that half of taste is smell, then this stuff, I deduced, must taste like crap. The market was permeated by a severely unflattering stench, which, for me, was more off-putting than anything I saw stuck on a skewer or stewing in pots.
I quickly discovered that the palate may be willing, but the stomach is weak.
Softball Hall of Fame a Home Run for Game’s Fans
Posted by: | CommentsEach Wednesday this summer, TravelBlur is teaming with The Oklahoma Gazette to feature an Oklahoma City metro-area travel attraction.
This week’s article highlights the National Softball Hall of Fame and Museum.
“From Sunday softball heros to Olympic gold medalists, the museum’s collection includes memorabilia from generations of players at all levels, whether big time or beer league.”
NatGeo Traveler Names Europe’s Top 10 Train Trips
Posted by: | CommentsI’m a huge fan of riding the rails and the July/August issue of National Geographic Traveler has a neat article highlighting Europe’s top 10 train trips.
Jim Thorpe Museum Honors the World’s Greatest Athlete
Posted by: | CommentsEach Wednesday this summer, TravelBlur is teaming with The Oklahoma Gazette to feature an Oklahoma City metro-area travel attraction.
This week’s article highlights the Jim Thorpe Museum and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
“After Jim Thorpe captured gold medals at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Sweden’s King Gustav V proclaimed the Oklahoman as the greatest athlete in the world.
Chronicling the sports legend’s athletic career from school days to his sports’ highest accolades, the Jim Thorpe Museum and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, 4040 N. Lincoln, honors him and other Oklahoma athletes with an impressive collection of history and memorabilia.”
Old Span is Mostar’s Bridge to the Future
Posted by: | CommentsWe often hear stories about war-torn countries struggling to rebuild, or in some cases create, a tourist base after years of conflict. I have only limited experience traveling in such regions but I have found that what’s left after the fighting can make for an interesting and informative travel trip.
I’ve been thinking recently about a journey I took a few years ago to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city saw intense fighting during Yugoslavia’s civil war and witnessed much destruction to its people, infrastructure and heritage.
Mostar is famous for its Ottoman bridge which stood for more than 400 years before it was destroyed in the Balkan war. While many buildings in Mostar still show the wounds of war, the bridge has been rebuilt.
My Mostar trip was one of my earliest travels into a region that had only recently experienced armed conflict. At first I was uncomfortable, especially with the ever-present signs of war, but that unease quickly disappeared and was replaced with a fascination at the city’s resilience and recovery.
Standing at bridge’s peak, tourists are surrounded by evidence of the physical toll war can levy on a city. Buildings wear the pockmark wounds of machine gun fire. The ancient bridge that carries today’s tourists across the river laid in ruins in the waters below. While the brick and mortar damage is extensive, it must pale in comparison to the unimaginable human tragedy suffered by the people who call Mostar home.
Take a look at a Mostar article I put together for The Oklahoman following my trip.
Gaylord-Pickens Museum Tells Story of Oklahoma
Posted by: | CommentsEach Wednesday this summer, TravelBlur is teaming with The Oklahoma Gazette to feature an Oklahoma City metro-area travel attraction.
This week’s article highlights the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum.
“Mixing modern technology with yesterday’s charm, the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum celebrates Oklahoma through the men and women who molded a young state and those guiding its future.”
She’s the Greatest Gal in the Whole Entire World
Posted by: | CommentsToday is my anniversary. Eleven years ago today the most beautiful gal in the whole entire world became my lovely wife.
We set out not to conquer the world, but to explore it. All of it. The whole entire world.
Our honeymoon was our first trip to Europe. After more than a decade of travel together, we look back on that journey, shake our heads and laugh. What were we thinking? The stunts we pulled would make Clark W. Griswold look like Rick Steves.
London was the first stop on our first journey. It was cold and rainy (not that unusual for London, you know) and I was freezing because I was wearing shorts. Probably the only guy in the whole entire United Kingdom wearing shorts that day. I’m sure most people were asking themselves, “What the bloody hell is that twit thinking?”
We managed to get from the airport to Victoria Station without any trouble, but couldn’t figure out how to get to our hotel from the busy train station.
After standing around in the rain we decided to hail a cab, nervous that we didn’t have enough cash on us to get where we needed to go.
How did we solve that problem? We just hopped in the black cab and asked the cabby, “We only have 40 pounds, is that enough?” Luckily, he just grinned, drove us to our hotel and didn’t take us for every pence.
Thus began a great 11 years of life, love and adventure.
I’ve seen countless wonders in 38 countries on four continents over those 11 years, and I did it all with the most wonderful gal in the whole entire world.
Overholser Mansion a Pioneer in Heritage Hills
Posted by: | CommentsEach Wednesday this summer, TravelBlur is teaming with The Oklahoma Gazette to feature an Oklahoma City metro-area travel attraction.
This week’s article highlights the Overholser Mansion.
“Built in 1903 at a cost of $38,000, no expense was spared in constructing and decorating the home. The canvas walls and ceilings still show their original, hand-painted artistry and are lit by elegant Italian light fixtures. The original English carpets cover floors accented by lavish Belgian woodwork. The home’s two exquisite stained glass windows distract visitors from the expansive views of surrounding Heritage Hills homes.”
