Adventures at Greensboro National

I woke up early this morning in anticipation of another fun round of golf.  I couldn't remember what time Ralph had set the alarm for, but I was sure it was for around 5:30 so I got myself ready.  When the alarm didn't go off, I wasn't sure what to do, so I crawled back in bed with my golf clothes on and waited patiently.  I had too much sleep and was ready to go.  When the alarm went off (5:45) I jumped out of bed and went in search of a coffee for the two of us.

We arrived early at the course and had a really nice greeting.  We were the first to tee off and it felt like we had the course all to ourselves.  I saw a mother deer and two young ones cross as we were checking in and later at the end of our round we saw another two deers.  It was so nice.  The temperature was lovely first thing but got progressively hotter as the morning went on.  I'm glad we had an early tee time.

After our round of golf we decided to go to "Old Salem" and visit a few of the historic graveyards.  Sadly they have been blocked off from visitors with many "no trespassing" signs posted everywhere.  I would have loved to spend a few hours reading the tombstones as they contain so much history.   We parked the car near the Military College and Ralph stayed nearby while I wondered around but I didn't go too far in as I didn't want to get into any trouble.  It was pretty hot while walking around as the temperature by this time had reached 96F.

We connected with Laura and she has confirmed that they are now enroute to Myrtle Beach.  They will be staying in Pittsburgh tonight and will arrive tomorrow evening.  We're looking forward to a fun time with them.  Tonight we will pack things up and plan to leave early tomorrow.  It's been a fun couple of days.

Grandover Golf Resort

Today we golfed at a course called Grandover.  It was beautiful and very well maintained. It wasn't that busy which the Starter said was very unusual.  It was warm when we started and very hot by the time we finished.

This course is a photographers delight.  I could spend hours here just shooting pictures. Ralph kept us going so that we didn't fall behind.

I love the beautiful bridges all around the course. They are full of bright green moss and a beautiful mix of rocks.

Afterwards it was our plan to go Winston Salem and visit the old graveyards.  Sadly our tire blew while driving on the highway. The vehicle behind us also had a tire blow so we figured there must have been something on the road. We called roadside assistance via the Enterprise Car rental company and we were told the wait was about 90 minutes. Wow, thats a long time to wait when the heat was at 93F.  Luckily there was a AAA roadside assist person just around the corner who came and helped. We then had to exchange our vehicle at the Airport. By the time this was all done most of the afternoon was over.  We still thought to give it a try but ended up turning around after a fierce and heavy rainstorm came up very suddenly. We enjoyed some local BBQ at Prissy Polly (a Christian restaurant) before heading back to the  hotel. It's a quiet night and we'll be going to bed soon as we have an early tee time tomorrow.  Its going to be another hot day.

Kernersville, North Carolina

Today we drove to Kernersville, North Carolina.  It wasn't a long drive (roughly 4 hours) so we took our time and stopped at the New River Gorge.  There is a nice wooden pathway that you can take which brings you down about a quarter of the way.  The views were beautiful.  There are many steps down and it feels like twice as many steps going back up but it is definitely worth the climb.

There are plenty of things to do in this area and we'll have to come back and spend more time here.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at J. Peppers Southern Grill and then spent the evening relaxing by the pool. 

Let the adventure begin

The time has finally arrived for our summer vacation. We’re heading south this year for some rest and relaxation.   It’s been a busy summer with Ralph focusing on renovating the kitchen and I have been busy with work. I wasn’t expecting to work this summer but the project has lasted much longer. It has been very interesting but now I am ready to enjoy some down time. Ralph has booked two rounds of golf for this week in North Carolina. The first course we are playing is Grandover Resort and then Greensboro National. We’re looking forward to that. Today we are taking our time driving down and plan to stay in Summersville, West Virginia. Tomorrow we will drive to Kernersville, North Carolina which is about 3.5 hours away from Summersville. We’ll be meeting up with Laura and Jay and the family on Friday in Myrtle Beach.  It’s going to be so much fun.  We arrived in Summersville around dinner time and spent some time exploring. We never realized how beautiful this area is. Many of the homes have large sprawling properties and are in a very traditional “south” architecture. We really enjoyed seeing this.  We had a nice dinner at Applebee’s after finding out the restaurant of our choice was closed on Monday (Malone’s Bar and Grill). We’ll have to try this another time.   We plan to enjoy a quiet evening and hopefully stop and photograph the gorge on the next leg of our journey.

Jordan Graduates

I'm a little behind in my posts, but would be remiss if I didn't post about Jordan's Graduation.  I still can't believe that our first grandchild is going into Highschool.  It's crazy to think that time has passed by so quickly.  Congratulations Jordan.  You did very well in school this year and we are so happy that you graduated with honours.  That is a wonderful accomplishment.

Also, congratulations to Hailey and Brody who also finished school with top marks in their classes as well.  Hailey - congratulations as you move into Grade 7 and Brody you will love going into Grade 1.  We love you all and look forward to hearing about your next school year.  

Gardens and birds

It's been a long time since I have posted.  Not because of lack of desire, but primarily because of lack of content.  I haven't been out much with work still taking up the majority of my time and the rest of my available time is spent helping Ralph with the kitchen.

I've been missing being being out with my camera.  It's such a relaxing (albeit sometimes frustrating hobby), but I still love it just the same.  The occasional texts (with beautiful photo's of Lake Ontario) that I receive from John, inspire me to get out when I am able.

Lately, the only days I've been able to use my camera has been on Sundays in between church services.  Last week I focused on "macro" photography.  I love doing it, but it is so weather dependant.  The slightest bit of wind can create blur in your pictures.  I was able to capture a few shots that I'm happy with but look forward to a quiet day with no breezes where I can walk around and look for bee's or other critters in the garden.  This time I had to satisfy myself with the flowers.

Today I spent time with the birds.  Oh how I love watching them.  They can be so funny.  Birds can be quite challenging to capture especially with them moving around so much.  I really wanted to capture the cardinals and orioles that have been visiting but when they were here, I wasn't holding my camera "lol".  It figures. I was either in the house filling my water cup or looking at the other feeder and they were sitting directly in front of me.  Even though I didn't capture them,  I was happy with the ones I was able to get of the finches (yellow and purple headed (although it sure does look red) and the glaring eye of the crackle.  I had some fun with a squirrel as well.

Grackle

Juvenile Robbin

Yellow Finch

Purple headed Finch

Purple headed Finch (my favourite of the day)