Welcome to Active 55+ Seeking Longevity

I asked the publisher of Senior News and Living if I could have a column for active seniors and he said YES!

To get it started I went to 3 city parks and walked the trails. Below is what I found. Hope you enjoy!

Please feel free to leave me a comment and if you have a park you'd like to see highlighted here let me know.

Metro Area City Parks with Walking Trails

Doctors and researchers across the board agree that walking is the single most beneficial thing we can do to thwart high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and a host of other aliments as we age.

Thirty minutes a day, 5 times a week is recommended. Good news - it doesn’t have to be all at once. Two 15 minute walks or three 10s are just as good.

Fortunately for those of use living in central Oklahoma, the weather is mostly nice (more than it is terrible) allowing us to go outdoors. And we have a plethora of beautiful and safe places to walk.

This month I want to highlight several city parks in the metro area. These are neighborhood parks with paved walking trails designed for fitness and relaxation. And they all have a story to tell!

Ruby Grant Park

Norman • 3110 W Franklin Road • www.normanok.gov

Multi-use trails (trail map online)

To fully appreciate the ambiance of this 148 acre park, one should know a little about Ruby Grant. She was a spinster school teacher who grew up and lived her whole life on the family farm. In 1980, oil was discovered on the farm, providing Ruby with a small fortune. When she died, her estate (including the family farm) went to OU with the stipulation that the farm be turned into a park.

So as one walks these paved trails among the gnarly old black oak and cedar trees, it is not hard to travel back in time. The highlight of my walk in this park is an ancient and huge cedar tree.

This is one of the grandest cedar trees I've ever seen.

Benches and rest areas are available throughout the park. Some serve as public art as well.

Seeing the Ruby Grant Memorial from the trail through the trees you can almost imagine the farm in 1930.

This map at the pavilion gives an indication of the area covered by the park and it's trails.

City Park, Yukon

2200 S Holly Ave • www.yukonok.gov

Featuring a pond and several walking trails, City Park is one of Yukon’s prettiest parks.

I’m tellin’ ya’ll this is a NICE park!

I spent an hour and a half, walked about 2 miles and didn’t come close to seeing it all. Tree covered at times and then open sunny paths with people walking their dogs. There are bridges across the lake, several pieces of public art, fountains and interesting, informative plaques talking about the history of Yukon.

Benches for resting and meditating are abundant in all areas of the park. Pavilions and picnic tables for family outings are close around the pond. Check availability and get more information at yukonok.gov.

Mulvey Pond is one of the centerpieces of the gorgeous park.

Paved walking trails lead around Mulvey Pond.

This beautiful water feature is part of The Chisholm Trail Park adjacent to Mulvey Pond. I had to save this trail for another day.

Also saved for another day - the nature trail. Look for more on that next month!

Tinker Bicentennial Park

Midwest City

7200 SE 29th Street • www.midwestcity.org

This is a small neighborhood park located across the road from Tinker Air Force Base. It’s not a big park - I walked it entirely in 20 minutes - but it has much to see and an even bigger story to tell.

Old and new public art is on display. And there are ducks on the waterway!