The Mountain -- Alpine and Monument

Thursday -- 10 rounds down with four to go. It's either going to be a good day for us, or a bad one. We're staying close to the condo and playing the Mountain courses -- Alpine and Monument. It takes about 10 minutes to ride the carts up the mountain, and then you play down them. The greens read crazy -- they may look uphill or downhill, but you have to play them "towards the mountain." Won't be a lot of poley pars today.

Game is on. For some reason, my body hasn't completely fallen apart and I play pretty decent. Frank is struggling and cussing up a storm over the greens. Not only are they difficult to read, they are bouncy and slow and bouncy some more. They sure are scenic though with apple trees (not very ripe or good -- the deer like them) and rolling hills.

Finish up with the Alpine course and have lunch at our normal little turnaround spot between the courses. Ray, one of the marshals, comes up and sits down and we begin talking. Ray is from Holland, so he and Frank started dropping names of people that they knew. Tom and I think that before Linda, he and Ray may have dated the same "Susie Creamcheese." Never know.

[Note to readers: I am NOT a professional photographer. If you want to find one in Dallas, Danny Turner, Andy Bennett, Suzanne and Chris Salvo -- et al. They are PROFESSIONALS. I just realized that these photos really are pretty bad, but they aren't meant to be coffee table books, just for reference.]

The Monument course is our second course. I like it, but the holes are kinda "funky" and I don't remember ever playing it well. I don't at first. Ditto for Frank. We need the beverage cart that finally shows up around the seventh hole. We load up. Time for some swing juice. I know it made me play better because I think I parred the next three holes.

After this round, we cleaned up really quickly and went to dinner at the new Lodge. Frank and Tom are going to turn into whitefish they've had so much. Dwain takes care of Frank with a martini -- but no olives. So, there is some negotiating between them and Frank gets olives and a free martini out of the deal. Not bad. Get back around 8 pm and I go in and crash. Two more to play and then Saturday we head back to Dallas.