"water off a duck's back http://t.co/ZNbi1yVm" - 2 hours ago
"Distracted in East Hampton Starbucks - Besides me, two women draped in beige designer layered outfits, have... http://t.co/vGg5uYOr" - 8 hours ago
"On a(nother) rainy morning in East Hampton, I turn to Adam Curtis http://t.co/Yk5enb86" - 8 hours ago
Last night was our first in Dodgy (our Dodge Ram van). After finishing up at Pasatiempo we headed down into Santa Cruz, with absolutely no idea of where we were staying. Between the 7/11, Ferrell??s Donuts, McDonalds and Starbucks we found enough wireless connection to send/receive a few emails ?? and to check the news back home on stuff.co.nz! However we still couldn??t (or at least didn??t) find a place to stay, and didn??t fancy parking up in a parking lot. So we boosted through to Silicon Valley. As you do.
Cinnabar Hills is in the Valley, some 20 minutes or so south of San Jose. We found the course at about 11.30pm ?? it??s in the middle of nowhere ?? then parked up as close as we could, which ended up being a spot about 1.5 km up the road. A nice spot it was too. The state trooper that banged his 6 foot long torch on our window just as we??d got to sleep wasn??t too impressed. He probably thought we were glue sniffers. We??re not.
Anyway I did my best ??yes, sir; no, sir? routine, and saw him off within a minute or two. Eventually I got back to sleep and awoke in a totally different position to the one I remembered being in a few hours before. Dodgy Dealings. It was all a very surreal affair.
The good thing about making the trip to the golf course the night before was that there wasn??t far to go in the morning. In fact I could have freewheeled there. Once we checked in we each had a quick shower (much needed after sleeping in an overly thick sleeping bag) and made our way to the starter??s hut. Larry ?? the starter ?? was a tremendous human being; one of those immediately approachable chaps whom you wouldn??t imagine would have a bad word to say about anyone. He loved New Zealand, which got him a big foot in the door in our books.
We hooked up with Brad, a local dude who sells back office information management systems. (Not as boring as it sounds.) He was great company, and hit the ball a country mile. At 32 he??s still young enough to be considered ??our age?, so it was nice to hear a bit about how things work over here from that perspective.
The course was a bit of a slogger??s track, in that it played pretty long and damaged your scorecard through brute force rather than subtle trickery. What you see is what you get. Unless you have bad eyesight, or there??s mist around (as there was for us). Darn it was cold! The golden California weather we??d been promised was nowhere to be seen ?? although as long as it??s OK tomorrow at Cypress I??ll be happy as Larry (pardon the pun).
I??d love to play Cinnabar again on a bluebird day, because I reckon the surrounding views would be spectacular. Almost every tee is elevated, and the track is etched into rolling hills in the Valley. There??s also another 9 we didn??t play (27 would??ve been too much in the conditions...) - a pretty huge property actually.
Despite my rather pathetic golf I managed to find solace in the lemon and cranberry cookies that our pal Andrew (whom we met yesterday at Pasatiempo) had baked for us. Nothing like a bit of home baking to cheer you up in your time of need! Almost as good as my girlfriend??s baking...and she??s pretty good...
From Cinnabar our next stop was Monterey town, on the north side of the eponymous Peninsula of the same name. At 90 minutes down the coast it was a comfortable drive. Although we had a to-do-list we didn??t get much done, so just had a brief look around the place tourist styles. Very nice. Then we met up in Pebble Beach with a chap who has turned out to be one of the most interesting and hospitable people we??ve come across all year.
Liam read about us in the San Fran Chronicle last week and contacted us to offer his help when we were down in his neck of the woods. As you all know we jump at these opportunities ?? given our journey is as much about meeting new people as anything else, and given we??re in a foreign country and need all the help we can get! Anyway Liam met us at the Lodge at Pebble; took us for a beer in the famous Tap Room (the taste of Sierra Nevada pale ale will forever be synonymous with this place for me); drove us up and down 17 Mile Drive, giving us a 6 star tour of this quite phenomenal property; had us into his home for dinner (a beautiful pasta his wife, Courtenay, cooked); and let us park Dodgy in his driveway to rest our heads over night. All this from a guy we met just a few hours ago. He??s an absolute gentleman, and we owe him and his wife a huge debt of gratitude. Indeed I??m even using his wireless to post this blog right now!
Tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off it??ll be time to ready ourselves for the most anticipated day of the year. Day 138 at Cypress Point. The last week has been pretty overwhelming, in terms of the places we??ve seen, the courses we??ve played, and above all the people we??ve met. Tomorrow I expect will be the same ?? although perhaps the excitement levels might crank up a notch or two...it??s not every day you get to play the 2nd ranked golf course in the world.
Let??s hope we get a good sleep!
JP
Posting comments has been disabled.
No one has commented on this page yet.
Chisholm Park
12 holes bart cape kidnappers christchurch christmas doak ed bayley hawke's bay heretaunga jane poole napier golf club new zealand puregolf2010 rangiora rarangi gc royal royal wellington the first tee the interislander waiohiki
