Author Archive
Weather or Not, National Weather Center is on Alert
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 Weather Center.
“When the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain, the meteorologists at Norman’s National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd. on the University of Oklahoma campus, are on high alert to anticipate Mother Nature’s sometimes-nasty moods.”
American Airlines iPhone App Soars
Posted by: | CommentsA few days before a recent flight to Chicago I received one of those annoying promotional emails from American Airlines encouraging me to download the airline’s free iPhone app. Since I was about to hop an American flight, I thought I’d give it a try.
What I found was pretty standard: flight schedules, a place to view my reservations, a terminal map for a few of AA’s hub airports and online check in. You can even monitor your place on the standby list. What I didn’t expect were mobile boarding passes.
Maybe this is no big deal, but I’m not all that tech savvy (shocking I know) so I thought this was pretty cool stuff. The ability to check in online and print boarding passes from home has been around for awhile, but the AA app allowed me to create a mobile boarding pass on my handy-dandy iPhone which I just showed to the TSA folks and the gate agent. The app actually creates a scannable boarding pass right on my screen. Nothing to print, nothing to keep up with (other than my phone) no paper, no fuss.
Maybe every flier at the airport is already doing this and I’m just late to the party, but I’m glad I finally arrived.
Calling On The Oklahoma Museum of Telephone History
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 Oklahoma Museum of Telephone History.
“Alexander Graham Bell might be surprised by how much his invention has changed since that first telephone call to Mr. Watson. Lucky for him, he could track his machine’s evolution at the Oklahoma Museum of Telephone History.”
Politics Can’t Tarnish Capitol Art and Architecture
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 art and architecture at the Oklahoma State Capitol.
“The Capitol’s art collection serves as a visual textbook of Oklahoma history. Paintings and sculptures scattered about its floors celebrate the people and events that shaped the state. No artistic commemoration is more important than the painting marking the moment President Theodore Roosevelt signed Oklahoma’s statehood proclamation. Visitors can view the original state constitution near the Supreme Court chamber.”
Female Fliers Remembered as Pioneering Pilots
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 Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots.
“They pushed the boundaries of human flight and sometimes pushed the boys out of their way to get there. The female pioneers of aviation still soar at the Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots.”
Martin Park Hidden Among City Hustle and Bustle
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 Martin Park Nature Center.
“Visitors and wildlife share four trails that wind through the tall trees and patches of prairie comprising the 141-acre city park. Guiding attendees to the best vistas, 3.5 miles of trails include several wooden bridges crossing creeks and gullies, leading to an observation tower, sunshine gazebo and meadow trail arbor.
“Wandering the woods and grassy meadows, it’s almost possible to forget that housing additions, retail shops and major traffic routes surround the quiet confines. “
Buffalo Soldiers and German POWs Add to Flavor of Fort Reno
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 Fort Reno.
“Our state’s history is flavored with tales of land runs, cattle drives and Buffalo Soldiers. But the story of Oklahoma’s Fort Reno, 7107 W. Cheyenne, four miles west of El Reno, can’t be told without also talking of German prisoners of war and a renowned Western artist. “
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.”
