Beachfront house at Roads End. Not enough wind to hold up a kite, which made the beach really pleasant for play and about 10 degrees cooler than the "heat wave" of high 80's in Seattle. Mike has granddaughter Alana on his shoulders.
Summer Solstice = maximum daylight to play golf! Over 2 1/2 days, we played 90 holes of golf and walked 30 miles. (Hey if you play twice in one day, you get a discount!) Bandon Dunes has 3 courses, all of which are in the top 15 courses in the US. The #1 course in the US is Pacific Dunes (my favorite). It's on the bluffs overlooking the ocean, where the salt breezes can provide many credible excuses for why your ball didn't go where you thought it should go.
Bandon is golf as it was meant to be originally - like the original Scottish course. No power carts, no asphalt, no drink carts. Paths are cobblestone or railroad ties. It's really ZEN golf. Benny Moore was our ace caddy - what a great help he was with trick shots, reading greens and mediating bets!
They grow up fast, don't they? That's grandbaby Madeline on the left and Alana on the right. Our high activity adventure this weekend was the teeter totter (it's been a few years!)
Sunriver is at at a 4,000 ft. elevation in central Oregon, which made for beautiful clear skies. Lots of stars, too!! We mostly golfed, but also took in a bike ride next to the horse pasture.
This course can be just brutally hard. In the morning we were surrounded by thick fog - sometimes we couldn't even see where to hit unless Benny the caddy pointed us in the right direction. The sand bunkers are so big that they have stairways. Having said all that, Mike shot a great 75 and I shot an all time personal best of 96, followed the next day by another personal best of 95 (net 63). So I won a couple of bets :) Mike complained that even Tiger doesn't shoot net 63, and that my handicap has gotta come DOWN!
Bandon Dunes is mecca for golfers. It's in a little town on the remote Oregon coast, rated #1 nationally, followed by Pebble Beach. Bandon is about golf as it was originally designed - no carts, no asphalt cart paths, no surrounding homes. The two main courses have a dozen holes perched on bluffs above 23 miles of pristine shoreline. Your only option is to walk the course, but you can hire a caddy (our ace caddy and new buddy Benny More is pictured) to carry your bags. Each course measures about 7 miles, and we played them twice. That's 14 miles a day two days in a row!
We had a great weekend with our daughters and all grandbabies. Here is Madeline (left) and Alana (right) getting a tickle from Grandpa. Between this and the US Open, Father's Day doesn't get any better for Mike :)
In a 2 horse open sleigh! The weather was crisp, the snow was clean and the horse bells jingled. What a beautiful sight at My Hood, OR. Merry Christmas, everyone!!
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...and it was indeed snowing at Mt Hood, OR with (from the left) Sue, Mike, Christina, Alana, Joel and Madeline. We did do some snow tubing...pretty fun!
At the beautiful Rose Garden park, Christina and Joel treated us to a fantastic picnic lunch in honor of Mike's pending birthday. Alana had a blast flipping upside down. Mike and Joel even threw her up with a blanket... to which her response was "AGAIN!"
Family photo for Sue's clan - that's Mom on the left, then sister Kathy, neice Megan and me. Megan graduated with high honors from Centenial High School in Gresham, OR (smart AND beautiful).
Madeline was trying her best to wiggle into the water - she might be a swimmer, you never know! Christina (Mike's daughter) is relishing motherhood...but keeping up with two little ones is a lot of work!
Here they are - that's Madeline on the left and Alana on the right. Although Madeline is still pretty bald, Alana is now growing some beautiful strawberry blond curls. And both have their Dad's blue eyes...cute, huh?
Sunriver is at at a 4,000 ft. elevation in central Oregon, which made for beautiful clear skies. Lots of stars, too!! We mostly golfed, but also took in a bike ride next to the horse pasture.
