Arg's Travel Log

[DavePelz4]

2 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Hmmm. So used to eating ribs, brisket, and hotlinks with my hands. Force of habit? Lol. 

 

 

We'll let you slide this one time. What was the adult beverage for this delicious appearing dining experience?

[StoutKing]

5 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

We'll let you slide this one time. What was the adult beverage for this delicious appearing dining experience?

Old Style?

[Argonne69]

9 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

We'll let you slide this one time. What was the adult beverage for this delicious appearing dining experience?

 

Under the weather, so waffling on the drink. Might have a glass of red wine, or maybe a hot toddy. 

 

[Argonne69]

Oof. That was another grind. Second move today. Not as bad as Monday's move, though. I got smart and hired two movers to help with the loading, in addition to having three family members help with the unloading. I was pleasantly surprised that everything fit in the new storage locker. I downsized from a 10x20 to a 10x15, figuring that I could stack boxes a little better. Barely made it. Lol. 

 

Busy day tomorrow. Going to take the train to the Loop to meet with some old friends for lunch and a few beers. 

 

[ZephyrS4]

Sounds like a good day…. Get some work done, enjoy time with friends……the elusive 10 cow…..😂😂

[StoutKing]

Looking forward to a Chicago winter course review Arg.

[ssp]

Changed my profile to honor this awesome thread Arg!

[Argonne69]

33 minutes ago, StoutKing said:

Looking forward to a Chicago winter course review Arg.

 

Plenty of frozen sand. Greens were rock hard and bumpy. Pace was good, though. 3 cows. 

 

[CDM]

On 12/29/2024 at 2:14 PM, GasmanThe said:

I can't believe it was $US570 to play such an ordinary course surrounded by houses! 

 

I just paid $US75 to play this course in Australia for contrast.  https://www.lonsdalelinks.com.au/cms/course/hole-1/  

 

And $US120 to play this course https://www.barwonheads.golf/cms/golf/the-course/course-tour/

 

Time for a tour around Australia hey Arg?

 

Hands down AUS is a bucket list place for golf......!  Ireland / Scotland are always noted as must do, but not putting AUS on the top any list is a crime if you love golf. All three are great of course but AUS does not get enough credit.  Now the flight, yea that is not so fun but worth it once there. 

 

We hit up 10 courses in 12 days.  Public and top tier and it did not matter, ALL were excellent.   We hit NZL for a couple days and it was crazy to be just driving through areas you would come up on golf courses in the middle of nowhere that you just put your name on a ticket/envelope, with some cash in the envelope / dropbox and then go play.   No one around, just us and the course. 

 

Meet some amazing people to playing.  Of all the places I have played AUS stuck with me the most. Will be going back for sure.  Issue is going there you really have to go for 10-14 days becuase of the flight aspects and that can be hard for many.

 

@Argonne69 you really should look into it, having played with you I know you would love the courses there.

[Argonne69]

19 minutes ago, CDM said:

 

Hands down AUS is a bucket list place for golf......!  Ireland / Scotland are always noted as must do, but not putting AUS on the top any list is a crime if you love golf. All three are great of course but AUS does not get enough credit.  Now the flight, yea that is not so fun but worth it once there. 

 

We hit up 10 courses in 12 days.  Public and top tier and it did not matter, ALL were excellent.   We hit NZL for a couple days and it was crazy to be just driving through areas you would come up on golf courses in the middle of nowhere that you just put your name on a ticket/envelope, with some cash in the envelope / dropbox and then go play.   No one around, just us and the course. 

 

Meet some amazing people to playing.  Of all the places I have played AUS stuck with me the most. Will be going back for sure.  Issue is going there you really have to go for 10-14 days becuase of the flight aspects and that can be hard for many.

 

@Argonne69 you really should look into it, having played with you I know you would love the courses there.

 

I bet they need more sand. Lol. 

 

[cassel191919]

40 minutes ago, CDM said:

 

Hands down AUS is a bucket list place for golf......!  Ireland / Scotland are always noted as must do, but not putting AUS on the top any list is a crime if you love golf. All three are great of course but AUS does not get enough credit.  Now the flight, yea that is not so fun but worth it once there. 

 

We hit up 10 courses in 12 days.  Public and top tier and it did not matter, ALL were excellent.   We hit NZL for a couple days and it was crazy to be just driving through areas you would come up on golf courses in the middle of nowhere that you just put your name on a ticket/envelope, with some cash in the envelope / dropbox and then go play.   No one around, just us and the course. 

 

Meet some amazing people to playing.  Of all the places I have played AUS stuck with me the most. Will be going back for sure.  Issue is going there you really have to go for 10-14 days becuase of the flight aspects and that can be hard for many.

 

@Argonne69 you really should look into it, having played with you I know you would love the courses there.

Stupid questions but how was the spider situation on your trip, hate to say that is what is preventing me from pulling the trigger lol.

[StoutKing]

55 minutes ago, CDM said:

 

Hands down AUS is a bucket list place for golf......!  Ireland / Scotland are always noted as must do, but not putting AUS on the top any list is a crime if you love golf. All three are great of course but AUS does not get enough credit.  Now the flight, yea that is not so fun but worth it once there. 

 

We hit up 10 courses in 12 days.  Public and top tier and it did not matter, ALL were excellent.   We hit NZL for a couple days and it was crazy to be just driving through areas you would come up on golf courses in the middle of nowhere that you just put your name on a ticket/envelope, with some cash in the envelope / dropbox and then go play.   No one around, just us and the course. 

 

Meet some amazing people to playing.  Of all the places I have played AUS stuck with me the most. Will be going back for sure.  Issue is going there you really have to go for 10-14 days becuase of the flight aspects and that can be hard for many.

 

@Argonne69 you really should look into it, having played with you I know you would love the courses there.

Please stop advertising.  Americans have already ruined Scotland and Ireland.  Stop stop stop

[StoutKing]

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Plenty of frozen sand. Greens were rock hard and bumpy. Pace was good, though. 3 cows. 

 

Needs a risk reward par 5 too

[Argonne69]

8 minutes ago, StoutKing said:

Needs a risk reward par 5 too

 

The ponds are all frozen, so not much risk bouncing the ball across the frozen pond. Hard to judge distance, though. 

 

[Argonne69]

Always fun to ride the train downtown. After 3 trips driving into the city over the past 5 days, it's nice to sit back and look out the window. 

 

I lived a few blocks from the Illinois Central on this street when I was 3 to 6 years old. The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad ran behind our apartment. Definitely a factor in my lifelong love of trains. 

 

 

Been a while... 

 

 

 

Edited January 9 by Argonne69

[mci711]

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Plenty of frozen sand. Greens were rock hard and bumpy. Pace was good, though. 3 cows. 

 

 

Every winter review ever of St Andrews (West Chicago, not Scotland for those not from the area 😂)

[CDM]

5 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I bet they need more sand. Lol. 

 

 

🤣

[CDM]

4 hours ago, cassel191919 said:

Stupid questions but how was the spider situation on your trip, hate to say that is what is preventing me from pulling the trigger lol.

 

No issues at all when we went.  honestly I dont recall seeing any.   We went late summer / early fall in mid March.  Honestly we figured the fly situation would be the issue but it was not a problem either   We saw a few snakes which we just stayed away from them...

[CDM]

4 hours ago, StoutKing said:

Please stop advertising.  Americans have already ruined Scotland and Ireland.  Stop stop stop

 

Ooooo sorry, yes your right its a horrid place to play golf, no one should ever go...ever 😉  

 

..........I would never look up flights in April today either.....

[Argonne69]

A very enjoyable lunch with friends at Franklin Tap in the south Loop. It used to be my regular hangout after work. Small taplist, but always something good for us non-IPA drinkers. Had a nice Allagash Belgian Dark Strong, and a split cans of Revolution Deth's Tar Cafe and Brulee. 

 

The pub food is better than most. The fish and chips are very good, but their rueben is very good. Fries are OK, but their soups are outstanding. Today's soup of the day was a dark corn chowder. 

 

 

[StoutKing]

5 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Always fun to ride the train downtown. After 3 trips driving into the city over the past 5 days, it's nice to sit back and look out the window. 

 

I lived a few blocks from the Illinois Central on this street when I was 3 to 6 years old. The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad ran behind our apartment. Definitely a factor in my lifelong love of trains. 

 

 

Been a while... 

 

 

 

As someone who likes skyscrapers I always enjoyed visiting Chicago as a youth.  So many cool buildings

[Chanceman]

7 hours ago, CDM said:

 

Hands down AUS is a bucket list place for golf......!  Ireland / Scotland are always noted as must do, but not putting AUS on the top any list is a crime if you love golf. All three are great of course but AUS does not get enough credit.  Now the flight, yea that is not so fun but worth it once there. 

 

We hit up 10 courses in 12 days.  Public and top tier and it did not matter, ALL were excellent.   We hit NZL for a couple days and it was crazy to be just driving through areas you would come up on golf courses in the middle of nowhere that you just put your name on a ticket/envelope, with some cash in the envelope / dropbox and then go play.   No one around, just us and the course. 

 

Meet some amazing people to playing.  Of all the places I have played AUS stuck with me the most. Will be going back for sure.  Issue is going there you really have to go for 10-14 days becuase of the flight aspects and that can be hard for many.

 

@Argonne69 you really should look into it, having played with you I know you would love the courses there.

Given the length of the flight from the US to Aus (14hrs) you would appreciate what it takes for us to do that and the even longer trip to Europe (24hrs) for a trip. I try to do it every year but it’s tough. Fortunately we have such great courses here so I can go play Royal Melbourne/Kingston Heath etc every year.. Sometimes I wonder why bother? But I guess you guys have such amazing variety. And for every Barnbougle the US has 10 like Arcadia Bluffs or Bandon. 

[TheBear95]

8 hours ago, mci711 said:

 

Every winter review ever of St Andrews (West Chicago, not Scotland for those not from the area 😂)

 

The Home of Winter Golf

[CDM]

15 hours ago, Chanceman said:

Given the length of the flight from the US to Aus (14hrs) you would appreciate what it takes for us to do that and the even longer trip to Europe (24hrs) for a trip. I try to do it every year but it’s tough. Fortunately we have such great courses here so I can go play Royal Melbourne/Kingston Heath etc every year.. Sometimes I wonder why bother? But I guess you guys have such amazing variety. And for every Barnbougle the US has 10 like Arcadia Bluffs or Bandon. 

 

You could not list better courses.  Loved all of them and we do have more like you note, but having played the ones you note and over in AUS there is a difference for sure.

 

Sent you a PM to not bog down @Argonne69 thread.  

[Argonne69]

"Fun" day. Three inches of fresh snow fell, so it was another day to stay in and get some work done. With a few days to kill I decided to pick up a new laptop. My old HP Envy was 5 years old, and other than needing a new battery it gave me good service. However, it's running Windows 10, and it will be out of support this year. Didn't want to risk having it go bad on the road, so while I can transfer files between it and a new one I went ahead and and pulled the trigger. Always a royal pain to set up a new computer. Bought a new high speed external SSD drive that helped speed the file transfers. 

 

My that hit the spot. Lou Malnati's twice in a five week span? A rarity these days. I picked it up just as it was coming out of the oven, so it was piping got when I got it home. 

 

 

[ZephyrS4]

I see you got it un-cut…..a buddy ordered deep dish once and had it delivered that way. Made sense, so as to not have everything leak out.

[Argonne69]

3 hours ago, ZephyrS4 said:

I see you got it un-cut…..a buddy ordered deep dish once and had it delivered that way. Made sense, so as to not have everything leak out.

 

Yeah, a cut deep dish pizza is going to be a mess when it finally gets home. 

 

[touch]

On 12/31/2024 at 4:50 PM, Argonne69 said:

Well, that was one heck of a year. Played a record 246 rounds. Previous best was 239 rounds in 2022. 'Probably would have hit the 250 mark if I hadn't fallen off the ladder and sprained my wrist. Oh well.

 

I played 243 different courses, with 226 new courses added to the list. Currently sitting at 1391 courses played.

 

Traveled ~9,000 miles in the RV, and another 13,000 in the Honda through a dozen states and two provinces, and tossed in Alaska and Hawaii for good measure.

 

Golf highlight was my day at Pebble Beach back in early April, but the sixteen other Top 100 Public courses were also a treat.

 

Visited 13 national parks and monuments. Highlight was the 13 mile hike to Grinnell Glacier at Glacier National Park, but the four parks in Utah were no slouches.

 

Managed to stay relatively healthy minus a few nagging ache and pains. With the golf and hiking I probably walked 1500 miles this year. My annual CT scan came back clean, so my kidney appears to be holding up.

 

Heading to Mineola tomorrow to drop off Bessie for service, and then I'll be off visiting family in Chicago for 11 or 12 days. 'Probably going to be off the courses for a couple of weeks. Next week's forecast here looks grim anyway with morning lows in the 20s. It should be back in the 40s by the time I return.

 

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well my Lord photos #1 and #4 are off the charts beautiful. The last one ain't too shabby either. Happy New Year Arg. I'm a new fan of your travel tales thread. Glad I found it. Better late than never.

I'll have to take a look back. 

Edited January 11 by touch

[mci711]

18 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Yeah, a cut deep dish pizza is going to be a mess when it finally gets home. 

 

 

I got it uncut in Scottsdale out of habit. When I got to my hotel, I remembered I didn't have anything to cut it with. Ended up just picking the whole thing up and eating it like a caveman. 

[ZephyrS4]

1 hour ago, mci711 said:

 

I got it uncut in Scottsdale out of habit. When I got to my hotel, I remembered I didn't have anything to cut it with. Ended up just picking the whole thing up and eating it like a caveman. 

Lol…..that must’ve been quite the sight! Sort of like getting a bottle of wine and no way to get the cork out when you get to your room….just did that in Vegas.