Scott and his good friend, Butch Parker, are so excited that their wives are attempting to play golf that they planned a couples golf trip. The original plan was that we go to Bandon Dunes, but I gently reminded Scott that Bandon was is happy place - not mine. While Bandon is beautiful (and I did have my best round yet at Bandon), I don't like cold wind and there is no guarantee that you won't have intense cold winds there at anytime of the year, but especially in October. And not all of us are fans of playing two days in a row without power carts, which you can't do at Bandon. So I suggested we go to Black Butte/Bend, Oregon for our retreat and that turned out to be a great choice! We were blessed with wonderful weather and really enjoyed our time together.
Day one we played 18 holes at Bend Golf Club for free! It was free to us because we had both recently joined our local private golf club (Royal Oaks) in Vancouver, WA. One of the perks of our membership is that there is a small list of other clubs that offer reciprocity with our membership and Bend Golf Club was one of them.
Day two we played 18 holes at Glaze Meadows in Black Butte. Our rental house backed right up to the green of hole #3 on Big Meadows course, but that course was closed. We took advantage of it though to practice chipping each morning. Wish I could say it helped me but no, I am still struggling with my wedges and curse the moment I have to use them! I had a very frustrating round that day - good thing we were with good friends to make it still enjoyable.
To give you an idea of how bad I struggle this day - those deer didn't even have to move off the fairway when I hit my driver!
Day three was check out day and Sunday so no golf for us. Heidi Parker and I welcomed the break! After checkout - we decided to hike up Black Butte. We see it every year from the resort but have never climbed it. The weather turned much cloudier and cooler but I managed ok with my asthma thanks to wearing my mask the entire hike.
Unfortunately we missed out on the great views of the Ranch and golf courses due to the cloud cover. This was the best picture I could get on our way up before the clouds completely blew in.
By the time we submitted, we felt a few drops of rain, the wind was freezing and we couldn't see a thing. But hey, we could say we hit the summit! It is about a 4 mile hike up and back and took us about one hour and 45 minutes to hike - not too steep but still a challenge.
Oregon had some terrible fires that raged for weeks in late September/early October. The route to Black Butte was caught in the fires. It was sad to see all the destruction left in the fire's wake. Much of the forrest was burned as well as many many homes and structures. It was crazy to see how home after home was burned to rumble and then right next to those, was a house that was standing without any damage at all. We saw that pattern over and over again all along the highway. It was particularly sad to see our regular stopping spot where Scott would charge his Tesla both on the way to and back from Black Butte. Only one of the restaurants we would eat at and the post office was left standing.
But all in all, the trip was a blast. Lots of good food, lots of golf, lots of snoring on the couch while others watched movies, lots of laughs and a good lesson on how to pronounce "reciprocity"(see Day One)! Hoping this might be another annual trip to Black Butte!
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