matt.heitto

Eagles Landing’s sister course (if you will), Evergreen is also located in Dryden.  Not something I usually frequent, this par 32 is the location of my dad’s men’s league and I was fortunate enough to partake in the festivities.   Even as I described Eagles Landing as being pretty open and “simple”, this is one that takes it simple a bit further.

It’s something you would commonly refer to as a “pitch and putt” course.  Pitching with your driver of that is.  You’re able to bomb it off the tee without too much worry that trouble will rear it’s head.  However, I must admit, hitting your target isn’t all that easy.  One of the biggest challenges at this executive course is it’s greens.  Most of them are mounded (like a turtle shell) and sloping front to back or back to front (most of the time).   It also doesn’t help that they are quite small, somewhere in the 1200 sq feet range if we’re lucky.  It’s not often a matter of hitting the green, it’s where you hit the green.

That’s it in a nutshell and I think it serves its purpose quite well.  It’s a nice course to get started on, and in fact was the first course I ever played.   So, even though it holds some sentimental value, it’s not something I often get excited about visiting.  Maybe I should have referred it to as the red headed step-child of Eagles Landing?

Well, this is a little past due, but here it is.

Despite having some last second thoughts about a last minute seat sale WestJet started, Laura and I still drove our butts up to Dryden.  When it comes down to it, the drive wasn’t actually all that bad.  Heading up, we stopped in Longlac for the first night, which was about an 11 hour drive.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle, who invited us over to some of their friends for a party, which ended up going into the early hours of the morning.

Our second day was delayed a bit by our ensuing hangovers, but we eventually made the rest of the 7′ish hour drive to Dryden.  The next few days were spent visiting friends and family.  I was also able to sneak in a couple rounds with friends and my dad and his crew of friends.  I’ll be sure to post the course reviews separately.  The last day we were there, Laura and I also went fishing at “government dock”.  Fortunately, we had some luck catching some walleye keepers, which we had for lunch later that day.  Laura seemed to have caught a trophy pike, even though she originally mistook it as a snag.  Unfortunately the Ugly Stick and 6lbs test was no match and it was only a matter of time before it snapped the line.  For anyone who was interested, we were using pink jigs and medium sized minnows.

We soon embarked on our 2nd leg of the trip, back east to Thunder Bay, where we went to see my college buddy Josh and Christine get married.  It was great to catch up with everyone there and meet another couple who actually lives close to us in Barrie.  The day of the wedding, I was also able to fit in a quick 9 holes at Thunder Bay Golf and Curling Club with the guys in the wedding party.  We were also able to spend some time with my grandmother (Mummu) as she made us some Finn pancakes for breakfast after the reception.  It’s tough to get in and try all of those homemade delicacies, but we made the best of it.

Saturday night was also intended to be a party night, however Laura and I just seemed partied out.  We ended up convoying back to southern Ontario with the Barrie couple.   Initially hoping to make the trip in one attempt was an afterthought when bouts of pouring rain west of Sault Ste Marie ended our night.   Luckily, it wasn’t hard finding a little motel to crash for a few hours before concluding our journey.

Even though we found ourselves home a day early, it wasn’t all that bad.  Within an hour of getting home, I found myself playing in the semi-finals and eventually winning the finals of the Slo Pitch league I play in throughout the summer.  So the vacation ended on a bit of a high note!

The drive is nice every once in awhile, but not something you want to do on a regular basis.  It’s just too long, and too boring.  However, it’s hard to argue considering the convenience of having all of the luggage, clubs and misc crap with you.

It was a relatively busy summer, and it went by very fast. I was fortunate enough to take some off some extra long weekends here and there. One thing that was effectively left out was an actual vacation. Laura and I are heading to my hometown of Dryden this weekend and also taking in a wedding of one of my friends from college. It should be fun, but I suppose it doesn’t really constitute as a real vacation.

We’ve decided to make the drive this time, opposed to flying that is. Since the domestic flights are now charging an extensive fuel surcharge, it made us think twice about flying. Although, approximately 1600km’s and 20 hours one way makes the decision a little harder. [sarcasm]But, who can resist the opportunity to visit our proud country from one side to the other???[/sarcasm] At least it will give us a chance to visit some family along the way.