Sunshine, Birdies and Alligators

It's been more than a week since Susan and I returned from our trip to Orlando. It was nice to get away for a few days, but the time went quickly. We arrived on Wed., the 11Th about 5 p.m. The flight was uneventful, except for the fact I was able to sleep for the first time ever, while flying. It's not because I have a fear of flying, I just can never seem to sleep in an airplane, which is strange considering how much I love to sleep, which I have been told by everyone I love and adore many, many times. Susan just happened to have an extra IPod and set of BOSE headphones in her bag of electronics. No surprise there. I tried them and have to admit they worked great. I sat back and listened to Dean Martin all the way. After gathering all of our luggage, which included 2 suitcases, 2 sets of golf clubs and 2 carry on bags we found our car rental. Good thing we were only staying 4 nights or we would of needed a small truck for any more luggage. Susan entered the hotels address in her handy GPS, or as Noreen would say GSP, and off we went into the warm Florida night.

The weather was nice, temps. in the low 80's. Thursday we made the trip to Bushnell National Cemetery, about an hour and half away. Susan drove both ways, I slept both ways, it's great to be me. I wanted to drive but no, I wasn't a listed driver on the rental agreement. Can't break the rules when your married to Dave's daughter. NO PROBLEM, suits me fine. Life is good. The people at Bushnell were very nice. Everything went smooth. Fay Mary and Al are finally together again.
Friday morning after a late breakfast we decided to play golf, the main reason we took this trip to begin with. Or at least the main reason we decided to travel with our own clubs, instead of renting them. It was a warm sunny day, maybe the nicest day of the whole trip. We decided on a local nine hole course, since neither of us had played since Oct. We didn't want to overdue it the first time playing this year. After paying our green fees, getting some cold drinks and a sun visor for Susan we headed for the practice range. We had about 20 minutes before our 12:30 tee time. We don't agree on how much we should warm up before playing, especially after 4 cold months. I would like to do some stretching, hit maybe 50 practice balls, and chip and putt for 10 minutes or so. Susan doesn't need to stretch, after all she still goes to the gym everyday and works out with Wendy 3-4 days a week. She now wants to take a rowing class. I'm impressed everyday by her work ethic. She only needs to hit 8-10 balls. Putting isn't necessary she says because she's good at that. To my surprise and her overwhelming delight she pars the second whole. A short par 3, on in one and a two putt. Amazing! With all my practice, I don't manage a par, the whole round. Unfortunately there weren't any birdies, but definitely an alligator. No kidding. Susan saw it first, on the seventh fairway. She said there were signs saying there were alligators, but I didn't see the signs. Anyway, there it was baking in the sun, on the side of a water hazard on the right side of the fairway. After taking a picture with her blackberry, yes she had it at the ready, right there in the golf cart, she has her best drive of the day. She hits it right down the middle of the fairway on a par 4. There is another swampy hazard between her ball and the green, about 100 yards away. Without hesitation, a quick look at the gator, 50 feet from where her ball is she manages another great shot, over the hazard, just to the fringe of the green. Susan jumps up and down, with a grin on her face like she is playing wheel of fortune, already knows the answer to the puzzle and is next to spin. That is why I enjoy playing golf with her. When she makes shots like that it's nice to see how excited she gets. She just misses her second putt for a par, makes a tap in for bogey. A good hole never the less. I'm looking forward to playing golf this year. Maybe we can continue our Friday foursome, like we did last fall. It was Andrea's idea. The group included Susan, Wendy, Andrea and myself. Andrea never showed up, Susan and Wendy gave up after 2 weeks, and I played another 3 weeks by myself. And they say men can't commit.