Laundry, Disc Golf and The Ocean

 Saturday, June 19

Hard to believe it was only a week ago that we rolled out of our lane at 5 in the morning! Home seems far, far away and that 5 o'clock morning seems long, long ago. We arrived in San Jose, CA Friday, and will be here for three nights. It's nice to not have to pack everything up every morning for a change.

Today was laundry day. After dropping Isaac off at a disc golf course, the rest of us tackled our family's pile of laundry at a nearby laundromat. 

Months ago, when Chris asked the children what places they want to see on our trip, Isaac's first response was to look up disc golf courses in the west! Disc golf has been a huge hobby of his over the last couple of years and he loves nothing more than the chance to try out a new course. 

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Isaac: The course I played today wasn't just any old course. This was DeLaveaga, a 27 hole disc golf course in Santa Cruz, CA -- probably the most historic course in the USA.

DeLaveaga was built in the mid 1980s, and for the past 30+ years has been a stop on the disc golf national tour. It still manages to challenge professionals, which is a testament to how great it is, considering that none of its contemporaries are still sites on tour. As the game grew and players became more skilled, new courses had to be built to challenge players, as the older ones simply became too easy. In fact, almost all courses on tour today were constructed in the early 2000s or later. DeLaveaga still holds its own. It's unique, in that it doesn't have great distance like other pro courses, but still demands focus. It requires shaping, understanding of ground play, scrambling, and so much more. The coolest thing, it's free! (Well, unless you're going to count the two bucks you pay for parking.) You get to play a piece of disc golf history for a bargain. It's like a golfer getting to play Pebble Beach -- an amazing experience, as you realize you're playing the same course as the pros, standing on the same holes where so many incredible moments have happened. 

As for my personal experience, I enjoyed it immensely and was pretty pleased with my performance. I was jittery on the first couple holes, and shot 6 over through the first 7 holes. I settled down, and managed to go 4 over through the last 20, including two birdies (one of them thrown in from 100+ feet!) My favorite moment had to be standing on top of the hill on hole 27's tee box. Nicknamed "top of the world", it's straight downhill 500 feet or so to the basket. The throw flies for ages, and the view of the surrounding countryside is majestic. Overall a great day. Great weather, a lot of bogeys, but a few great par putts and two birdies. 

"Top Of The World"

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After the laundry was done, we picked Isaac up and headed for Lighthouse Point to see the ocean. The weather here has been gorgeous, and there by the ocean we were almost wishing for our jackets. 

Then it was back to our motel to cook supper and relax. 

My "kitchen", all cleaned up...