Oh Yah, Hey Der Guy
We have embarked on our first out of the country disc golf tournament when we made it up to Kamloops, British Columbia last week for the International Women’s Cup and The Rage in the Sage events. This year will see us play in three outside of the country tournaments with a trip to the Japan Open anxiously arriving next week. Traveling to Japan will be an incredible experience to say the least and you all will be able to enjoy the trip with postings from the Japan Open on:
www.japanopen.org and www.japanopen.info
One of the many waterfalls making up the Cascade Region in Washington along little traveled Highway 20.
After the Beaver State Fling we decided to visit Iowan turned desert rat now turned snow monkey, Ken Peterson up in the Seattle back forty. It was a good place to chill while the “Blue Schmoo” S10 we travel in got a replacement radiator. This makes two repairs in the last year after 168,000 on our little buddy. It might be time to start searching for a new touring wagon. It is tough to get a Jones for tacos in the great northwest. Most places now have some authentic Mexican food if you dig around, but Taco Time was about it for us up here. We now know why they call it Taco Time as well. It won’t take much time before you see your taco again if you know what I mean.
Apparently your only renting the tacos at Taco Time for a short time, ugh!
Glad not to be leaking toxic coolant fluids throughout the country any more, we took Ken’s suggestion and took the road less traveled up into Canadia. A little stop and go Q&A from the Canadian officials and we were cleared for a week on the footsteps of the Canadian Rockies. Luckily, most merchants gladly accept Dollars Americano since the dollar is still at least .08 stronger than the Canadian version. Almost all minor purchases are done with coins up there. They have the Loonie coin worth one dollar and the Toonie coin worth two. If you hate carrying change you would be in trouble. The US seeemingly has voted this concept down with the near death of both the Susan B and the Sacagawea dollar coins. I will say one cool thing about the coins is that at the end of the day you still may end up with twelve bucks in your pocket compared to the .56 often found in mine at the end of the day. I guess that means I just spent more in the first place and you will in Canada. Foods we often take for granted in the states come with a high price tag up here, eh. Take beers for instance. I was glad to see I was at least purchasing five point or stronger for my twelve dollar six-packs. Even the domestics carried the high price tag, but that purchase also comes with free nationwide healthcare. It’s like free stitches with every twelve pack. Canada is a very cool country though and reminds me a bit of how I view the United States back in the seventies. How did we become so uptight and self-centered as a country?
The International Women’s Cup was an awesome first year endeavor in a place that will be holding many large disc golf events in the near future. The East Course was scattered throughout federal crown land that boasts sweeping downhill views of the Kamloops valley. Clint Anderson with the park & recreation department has secured $80,000 and designer John Houck to carve out three more courses in this soon to be disc golf destination locale. “The IWC was a huge success if the women came away smiling about the weekend”, according to first time TD, Carrie Neal. Laughter and smiles were present all weekend. There might have been the most laughter present at the Saturday night player party that featured a male caddy raffle for Sunday, great food and a raucous mini-putt game. More sponsorship is guaranteed from Crickets Bar & Restaurant next year as the informal party quote became, “Sorry the bar is out of that”.
IWC winner, Val Jenkins, rips one on one of the many spectacular tees in Kamloops
After an incredible stay in Kamloops we ventured into the Canadian Rockies for a next level experience. The American Rockies are awesome to behold, but can’t quite compare to the glacially covered jagged peaks that dominate the skyline in 360 degree rotations throughout the Banff region. When you throw in a massive grizzly bear sighting and a trophy rack elk amongst bountiful bright blue hued lakes, you have a slice of heaven on earth. The scenic memories alone made the 27 hour drive back to the Midwest all worth while. Once you get east of the Rockies, however, Canada starts to take on much more of a Kansas feel down the Trans Canadian Highway. This part of the trip was long and boring besides Des being pulled over in Medicine Hat, Alberta for going the 80km speed limit just as it turned to 100km. Pulled over for going too slow? Maybe he really just wanted to see what an Iowan looked like. He stated we did nothing wrong, but thought we might be lost or needed something. Since he was unprepared to change the oil and rotate the tires we thanked him for the concern and moved on the down the road.
Beautiful Banff National Park, that’s Canada, eh!
With blood shot eyes and veins of caffeine, we made it just in time for the Minnesota Majestic hosted for the first time by ESPN superstar, Timmy Gill and the MFA. This was the best Majestic of memory according to the many accolades heard throughout the weekend. The weekend finale was played out at the Hyland Ski complex just south of Minneapolis. Players were treated to a beautiful venue complete with a full-service ski chalet and a challenging elevation style 24-hole course. The Reading’s both shot well enough throughout the weekend to share the spotlight in the Final Nine showcase round. A sweet gallery was able to watch most shots up close or from the chalet where sponsored Summit EPA flowed on the party deck. The battle was tight on the Men’s Open side with all four players within three strokes of the lead. Local young-gun, Cale Leiviska showed why he opted to skip playing amateur all together for learning against the best. His steady play all weekend was capped with a tournament win sealed on the 580 ft straight up the ski hill hole #6 of the finals. His second shot saw him precariously stuck on the chair lift ramp giving him a 60 foot blind and over the ledge putt. He drained it to much ovation heard down the ski hill. I had a lackluster final 9 compared to my play the rest of the weekend. After hitting basket after basket from several fifty foot putts, I finally canned a sweet putt for the two on the 800 foot downhill final hole. If you haven’t checked out the crew from Minneapolis bringing you weekly disc golf coverage on Disc Golf TV you should check it out.
Was it fate Cale is the only one looking off into the distance while standing in front of the #1 sign? Hmmmmmm……..
How many final 9’s get to chairlift players and their caddys up a ski hill twice so they may throw down 800 foot hills?
On to the land of the rising sun……………..kom pie! (cheers)