Back to the Blog - Finishing Up the Minnesota Trip

I'm back!

My desk top at home had a bad hard drive so it put me in techno-purgatory for a little while.  We have 3 lap tops at the house but I just hate doing things on them.  I'm a little behind on blogging, so I'll start catching up by going back to where I left off for tonight's entry.

Tying up a few loose ends from our Minnesota trip:

On Sunday we hit the water in the afternoon for a little fishing competition.  In the Boston Whaler (Boat #2) we had Nel and her dad.  In the Glastron (Boat #1) we had me and the Twinkies.  They weren't fishing (no current licenses) but we figured it would be fair since boat #2 would have 2 lines in the water while I would only have 1, but I would have a professional crew (the girls had spent the previous summer in Alaska working on a tourist fishing boat).  It was hot (for Minnesota anyway) but the fish were biting like crazy.  Boat #2 took an early lead because they headed out first.  Once we headed out over the lake and anchored up near their position, we immediately started closing the gap.  Using leeches I was basically catching fish about as fast as I could get my line in the water.  I would sink my line to the bottom - feel a nibble - set the hook - reel in the fish (all perch today) - remove the hook - have one of my crew "leech me"  - drop my line back in the water - REPEAT!  Our boat won on volume, but Nel did catch a 1-pound perch - pretty big by their standards.

The little guys can be hard to unhook.

Ari was doing most of the baiting so I had Andrea take a break from sunbathing to heckle boat #2.

Exhausted from catching too many fish, I took a well deserved break and let my "crew" put the boat away.

On Monday I got kicked out of the house.  Nel and her mom and sisters joined up with her grandmother and aunt for some girls only time.  While I didn't appreciate getting booted, I understood.  My punishment - banished to golf all day (I imagine a collective sigh from the readers).  I decided to head north of town, first stopping at the nicest Wendy's I've ever seen for a quick bite.

The first course of the day was Emily Greens in Emily, Minnesota.  I'd never played there before, but I was expecting it to be a pretty decent course with OK facilities.  It wasn't.  Their brochures say they have "18 scenic holes" and the "largest green in Minnesota".  What they have are 9 scenic holes (the back 9) and a 9-hole par 3 course (the front 9).  Their aren't really any cart paths (although that's not uncommon for Minnesota) and the "clubhouse" was little more than a trailer.  Regardless, the conditions were good and the guy working there was very nice and it costs basically nothing to play.  I played with a member named Tim who was walking.  He was a very nice retired gentleman and we had a lot in common career wise so it was interesting.  I got off to a very rough start and shot a 41.

Teeing off at Emily Greens.

 

After finishing up at Emily Greens I headed to the course closest to my location, Golden Eagle.  I was expecting a fairly nice course from the brochure - it turned out to be FANTASTIC!  Cut out of an area that was a few miles from the highway and kind of in the middle of nowhere, the course was perfect and had fantastic elevation changes and an intriguing layout.  The first two holes are par 5's, but neither is a picnic.  I hit a fairly long drive and a very long 3-wood to be just below the green on the 1st hole.  When I pulled up to the green and went to grab my wedge, I was very upset to discover that I had left both my pitching wedge and 8-iron at the last course.  I knew exactly where too - the 18th green.  I called Emily Greens and they had my clubs in the clubhouse.  With my 9-iron already broken, my entire short game was basically gone.  I managed to par the 1st, but it definitely caused some issues throughout the round.  Still, I was very pleased with an 81 on an extremely challenging course with an improvised short game.  I played the 1st few holes by myself, but ultimately joined a kid who worked at the course who was playing with his visiting uncle.  This may be my favorite course in the area, and that's saying a lot.  Brainerd is FULL of very nice golf options, but Golden Eagle is definitely near the top.

An "attempt" at a picture from Golden Eagle Golf Club.

 

We headed back to Texas on Tuesday.  Our flight was cancelled but we'd been booked on a slightly later flight before they even called to tell us.  All in all it was an uneventful trip home…..except that we forgot my backpack which had every important item in it.  Andrea called us to let us know we had forgotten it but we were already close to Minneapolis and it was too late to turn back.  No problem - Mrs. C would just overnight it to Houston for us (which she did).  Unfortunately, one item that was in the bag did create a bit of a problem - the key to the lock on my gun case.  When you check a firearm at the airport you have to lock it in a case, and not with one of those little TSA locks that they can open.  When you declare it they usually want you to open it and show them that everything is good.  We realized we wouldn't be able to do that so we found a Home Depot on the way to the airport and bought a new lock and some bolt cutters.  We sliced the old lock off and replaced it with the new one.  Problem solved.  We flew back to Dallas and my mom picked us up and drove us back to Wichita Falls.  We visited a little the next day before kidnapping George (my mother tried to hide him) and driving back to Houston.  All in all another very enjoyable trip to Minnesota with the bonus of visiting my folks in Wichita Falls on both ends.

One more loose end - the rental car.  I would usually sort of "review" the rental car I had (sort of acting out my secret dream of being an automotive journalist or Top Gear presenter).  In Portland the rental car was a Chevy Impala.  It sucked so there wasn't really any point in reviewing it - just don't buy one.  Our car this time in Minnesota was a Cadillac STS - much nicer, but equally pointless to review because they have been discontinued.  It will be replaced (as well as the DTS) by the XTS when it arrives in late 2012.  I'll repeat what I said to Nel about the STS while we were up there: "I wouldn't buy one, but it's a great car to cruise around in while we're here".  The STS is kind of an enigma to me.  It's kind of sporty and kind of luxurious, but not really a sports or luxury car.  I also think it's kind of ugly.  Ours was a 3.6-liter V-6 (they did away with the V-8 last year) but it moves OK.  The STS has kind of lived in no man's land and has sold slowly since the CTS (only slightly smaller) took off.  I think the interior is fairly attractive and comfortable, but the car suffers from being big on the outside but not so big on the inside.  All in all it's way too expensive for what you get.

Our STS in front of the coolest Wendy's I've ever seen.