Photo: View of Wichita, KANSAS from my room at the Wichita Hyatt Hotel.Ah, the joys of simple DOMESTIC (in country) travel! I was thankfully blessed with a trouble free trip last week as part of a three-stop lecture tour in the central USA that took me to Ft. Worth, Texas (my fist visit to Fort Worth!!), Duncan, Oklahoma (my previous visit to Duncan was about 25 years ago) and Wichita, KANSAS (my first ever visit to the state of Kansas!). I am pleased to report that all my flights and associated flight connections were ON TIME and the weather was most pleasant (generally fair weather - albeit cold - without any snow storms to disrupt the flight schedules as would have no doubt been the case had I travelled the week prior when Ft. Worth had over a foot of snow!).
A side benefit: A total of 94 people showed up for my lecture in Fort Worth, the second best attendance of all my presentations to date (about 120 people attended my lecture when I was in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia last month).
Some lasting impressions: (a) downtown Fort Worth was surprisingly pleasant; I walked around at night and did not feel threatened; (b) Duncan, Oklahoma was next door to Fort Sill - one of the largest military bases in the USA. As a result, there were many Army and Air Force personnel on my flight to/from Lawton, OK; (c) although I was in Kansas for only about 19 hours, the people in Wichita were most friendly and hospitable - always a welcome treat on any trip! (A pleasant contrast to the rude people I once ran across in Vienna, Austria during my visit there in the mid-1990's!) A sampling of the photos I managed to capture follow:
I never did find out what this building was but it sure figures prominently in downtown, Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bass Performance Hall (built by the Bass brothers who reportedly own most of the real estate in Fort Worth, Texas).
A nice contrast of old and new buildings in Forth Worth.
A restored area in downtown Fort Worth. Many shops, restaurants and cafes make for a most pleasant stroll.
OKLAHOMA ..... from the air. I was surprised by how makes lakes dot the land!!!
NAPOLI's Italian restaurant in Duncan, Oklahoma. I nice, simple, unpretentious place for dinner.
Main Street in Duncan, Oklahoma. Not much to brag about here .....
Apparently this boat, located across the street from the Wichita Hyatt Hotel where I was staying, once raced in the Americas Cup???
The Wichita Petroleum Club where I gave my lecture. A small turnout greeted me: only 19 people attended. :-(
3 comments:
Did you know that Oklahomans once used "swamp" coolers to cool there houses but it's now too humid with all the lakes--they're manmade by damming up the rivers.
I love Ft. Worth and not surprised you got a good turnout for your lecture.
Traveling Chemist, I have some questions I would like to ask you if you dont mind about your Wichita trip. Can you email me? matt@adastraoilcorporation.com
I live in Duncan. That's not main street. That is Highway 81.
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