Gloss Mountain State Park

Lacey and I took a trip to Gloss Mountain State Park a few weeks ago. I've been pretty tied up in the office and at home lately, so let me apologize upfront about how late this post is.

That said, Gloss Mountain is easily one of my most favorite spots to visit in the state. Located about two hours from Oklahoma City, a little north of the town of Fairview, Gloss Mountain holds its status as one of Oklahoma's most beautiful, yet most obscure parks.

I'm not exactly sure why more people don't know about this place. Granted this park doesn't offer camping, boating, fishing, cabins, or most of the other kinds of amenities associated with Oklahoma State Parks, but the scenery alone should make this a more sought after destination.

The sights and sounds of the area are pretty much right in line with what most people imagine the wild west to look like. Orange mesa cap the sky while the squawks of hawks and buzzards can be heard echoing down from the sky. The view from the top of Gloss Mountain is breathtaking, laying out miles and miles of prairie floor for as far as the eye can see.

It was pretty hot and sunny the day we visited. Absolutely no one else was at the park, which despite all my complaining above, made for a wonderful afternoon. The stillness of the day must have been hospitable for the local wildlife, because we saw a whole assortment of birds, lizards, deer, insects, and more just within the hour or two we spent walking around.

Like I mentioned earlier, you're not going to find too much in the way of camping and typical outdoor recreation at Gloss Mountain. It's really made more for an afternoon away from home. But trust me, in terms of scenery, and good ol' fashioned peace and quite, its second to none.

-Austin

Treat Your Mom to an Oklahoma Adventure

Mother’s Day 2011 is now a memory but don’t let that stop you from giving your mom special Oklahoma adventures throughout the year.

A couple of years ago our family started a new Mother’s Day tradition and gave my mother and mother-in-law a day trip to a couple of special Oklahoma destinations. To avoid the crowds we chose the Saturday after Mother’s Day for our first adventure and headed to Ponca City, known for its rich, colorful blend of American Indian, Western and oil boom history.

To fuel up for touring the ornate and historical Marland Mansion, we opted to first have lunch at Enrique’s Restaurant, a legendary local eatery self-described as “the hottest jalapeno on the runway,” so named for where it’s sited -- right next to the runway at the Ponca City Airport Municipal Airport. Having visited Enrique’s on previous trips, we knew the delights of the restaurant’s robust menu of fresh, flavorful Mexican food and of watching planes land and passengers debark and saunter into the restaurant like they would from a car.

Enrique’s puffy hand-made corn tortillas are paradoxically both crunchy and chewy, and transcend the genre, especially when paired with the restaurant’s piquant salsa, and the flavorful chicken tortilla soup was another big hit with our family.

Just down the road from Enrique’s lies the Marland Mansion, built between 1925 and 1928 at a cost of $5.5 million as the home of Oklahoma’s 10^th governor, oilman E.W. Marland. Touring the mansion was a fascinating and nostalgic trek for our mothers, who remembered the styles reflected in the historic mansion’s opulent furnishings.

Known as the “Palace on the Prairie” and built by master architect John Duncan Forsyth in Mediterranean Revival style, this palatial National Historic Landmark feels as though it could be the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Lavish embellishments and artifacts glitter and sparkle at every turn in the 43,561-square-foot mansion. We had fun imagining the dinner parties held in the luxurious dining room.

Place settings that would have impressed nobility from any country.

From the imported Waterford crystal chandeliers -- the crowning the glory to the ballroom -- to the 24 karat gold-leaf mosaic domed ceiling worth more than $1.4 million in the gallery level of the mansion, each of the mansion’s four levels revealed luxurious treasures beyond imagining.

Chandelier gazing.

Intricate ceiling.

A grand hallway was stunning as were an elevator lined in buffalo skin, delicate hand-carved details in lime wood and oak paneled walls, rich tapestries and Sheffield plate wall sconces, ornate ceilings.

Everything so beautiful and intricate that at one point we all just sat down and stared at the ceiling for a good long while. The necks tend to get a little sore from all that looking up. 

And then we toured the bedrooms, many of them, ten in all.

And this beauty was one of them.

Grace at every turn.

Marland’s office.

There are 12 bathrooms scattered throughout the mansion. Lydie’s bathroom was particularly lovely. Lydie was Marland’s adopted daughter and after his first wife passed away, he later had the adoption annulled and Lydie became his wife.

So many enticing little details -  note the special shower setting for tepid.

The mansion itself is just a starting point for all there is to see. The grounds are lush and extensive and include an artist studio, oil museum, Lydie's cottage  and Lake White Marsh, named after Marland's yacht.

By all accounts our family had a grand time exploring these two Ponca City destinations, but the greatest treasure of all wasn’t found in the tasty food at Enrique’s or the lavish display of wealth at the Marland Mansion. It was the gift of time spent with our mothers, of seeing the pleasure they took in the sights, of the memories we created in our time together -- altogether totally priceless.

Salty Plains, Rock Star Cows and Mother Nature’s Light Show

Our daughter, Callie, is 13 years old and as teenagers so often do, she has a memory like an elephant. Two weeks before spring break she says, “You’ve been promising for-eee-ver that we’d go on a family camping trip. Now is the time.”

We intuitively realized that if there was to be any peace in the Struby household again, the family camping expedition could no longer be delayed. We sorted through sleeping bags, got the camping gear in order, browsed TravelOK.com for just the right spot, and finally settled on the Great Salt Plains State Park near Jet. Callie was fascinated with seeing plains made of salt, and I knew from researching there were plenty of things, in addition to the Salt Plains, to keep my crew entertained.

By cruising the back roads, our favorite way to travel, we made the drive from Oklahoma City in an easy two and half hours.

We camped for two nights right on the shores of the Great Salt Plains Lake, ate gloriously tasty food cooked up on our handy camp stove, and survived a big rain storm in our tent just fine -- no drips, leaks or miserable, soggy sleeping bags. And by the way, it’s no lie that everything tastes better outdoors.

On a chilly afternoon with storm clouds skittering across the sky we headed out to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, 32,000 acres of open water, wetlands, prairies, woodlands and farm fields that lie just a few miles north of the lake, and one of nine National Wildlife Refuges in Oklahoma. The refuge is a very special and important place, habitat to more 300 species of birds, designated a Globally Important Bird Area, a Member of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and it’s critical habitat for the endangered whooping crane.

On the way to the refuge we happened across this picturesque old farm house resembling a watercolor painting.

Being a hobbyist photographer, I made the whole family stop and while I was clicking away, far in the distance we heard a mooing ruckus, and looked up to see a herd of cows trotting toward us, obviously on a mission. Whether they thought our arrival signaled chow time or they were just curious, by the time they arrived the sun was peeking out and they were ready for their close-up. They posed and posed and posed some more, reminding us a bit of rock stars.

At the refuge headquarters, this pretty sight greeted us. Even though we visited before spring kissed everything green, the beauty of the refuge is reflected in Bonham Pond, where refuge staff offer Wildlife in the Classroom programs to kids from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Bird, birds, birds were at every turn on the Harold F. Miller Auto tour, a 2.5-mile drive that meanders through the refuge by ponds, wetlands and farm fields. There’s ample room to pull over and walk or take photos and we did so several times, serenaded by a symphony of bird songs and calls.

Spring was busting out all over.

Silvery trees made a splash against the dramatic backdrop of storm clouds.

And then it was time to visit the Salt Plains. That white stuff isn’t snow – it’s salt, real salt. After the forested wetlands and throngs of birds at the refuge, the Salt Plains seemed wildly empty, and although we were disappointed we couldn’t dig for the rare hourglass selenite crystals found here (digging time is April 1 through October 15) -- we were suitably impressed by the plains’ grand scale.

Even though it was coolish, cloudy and stormy during some of our visit, the weather didn’t keep Callie from exploring the shoreline. And way out in the lake what looks like an island in the distance is just that. It’s Ralstin Island, a very important part of the refuge. At about six acres, the island is Oklahoma’s largest rookery a.k.a. bird nursery for nesting birds, and hosts more than 30,000 birds during breeding season. Shhhh. Human visitors not allowed – don’t want to wake all those babies – but the refuge office offers live footage of the island via their remote cameras from April through October.

It’s never too cold and you’re never too old to play in the sand.

The sun came out and everything went sparkly.

And then along came dusk and a stunning light show from Mother Nature that beat anything on the movie screen hands down. We pulled our camp chairs to the water’s edge, sipped on a bit of wine, and reveled in the glory.

Museum of Osteology

I've been working for the Tourism Department for quite a while now. I've spent this time meticulously combing over various maps, websites, travel brochures, promotional materials, and just about anything else you could imagine in an attempt to unearth all the cool stuff to do here. It's crazy that after all this time, I'm still discovering things I had no idea existed... sometimes right here in my own city!

That was the case last week when Lacey and I stumbled across the Museum of Osteology in OKC.

I had heard tales from friends about a store named Skulls Unlimited that sold human and animal bones, but never really thought much of it beyond its status as a morbid oddity. It wasn't until doing a little research for an unrelated project at work that I found out this place really does exist, and that it has a museum attached to it.

While I've been curious about the store for while, I always felt a little sheepish about window shopping for human skulls - luckily the museum offered a perfect excuse for me to indulge my curiosity without being judged by the types of people who find the viewing of human remains to be a little weird.

The museum is incredibly well put together, filled to the brim with creatures big and small. Placards help visitors contextualize the miraculous way in which our bones make us function, adapt, and evolve to our surroundings.

As a fairly literate guy, I was surprised to find how little I actually new about the inner construction of the animals we share this planet with.

How many gift shops do you know have this for sale?

The Museum of Osteology was unlike anything I'd ever seen in Oklahoma, and I am being completely honest when I say it made a lasting impression on me. For better or worse, one of those impressions involved an unshakable reminder of the fragility of my own existence.

Luckily there's a cure for having one's mortality prominently on display for an hour: comfort food!

Yes. Anyone who knows me in the slightest has an intimate understanding of my love for the Del Rancho Steak Sandwich Supreme.

For those of you not from here, Del Rancho is a legendary chain of burger joints who's existence is ingrained in the psyche of every true Oklahoman. Del Rancho has ran the same series of television ads since the seventies, and their signature dish, the steak sandwich supreme, should probably be considered for the official meal of Oklahoma.

Anyways, as luck would have it, there's a Del Rancho just a few miles away from the museum...

Greatest meal ever conceived.

-Austin