Pepster and Hopps have arrived, and the group is complete. We have also moved into our rented house in Old Town Scottsdale. No special guests today, just golf, drinking, and nonsense.
As always, all times are local. And Pepster notes that it isn't Pacific time, it is Mountain Standard Time. As Sinickal notes, it is still 3 hours behind real time...
Thursday (March 31st)
06:35 - Wake up and get coffee. Mom is once again cooking bacon and sausage. Find out that once again, the parents are leaving us at the house. So much for spending a couple of days with them.
11:15 - Tony and Sinickal leave the parents’
house to check into the AirBnB we rented in Old Town Scottsdale.
11:19 - Tony and Sinickal realize that they
have forgotten to grab an extra set of golf clubs for Tony. Pull a u-turn in
traffic, on a two lane road, and in front of two police officers investigating
an accident.
11:35 - Back on the road and see that it was
a really bad accident!
11:50 - Now on the highway and five
motorcycle cops traveling together at very high speed pass us. They look like C.H.I.P.S.
12:12 - This. House. Is. Cool…And it has a 4'
tall gun safe. Tony and Sinickal decide that we have to keep Hopps away from
this room.
12:25 – Sinickal and Tony decide to get a
drink and some food before Hopps lands.
12:27 - Hopps texts that his plane has landed.
Damn no time for food.
12:31 - Arrive at Coachman House for a beer. There
is always time for a drink. This place looks so different when it isn't
decorated like a Christmas present.
Today |
Holiday Season |
12:45 - Leave to pick up Hopps at airport.
13:09 - Hopps! He is a little miffed [Ed.
Note: Shocker!] after an apparent mishap with his golf bag. It
took an awful long time to arrive. Tony and Sinickal realize that this is just
American Airlines, and are somewhat angry that they didn’t have another beer.
13:42 – Group arrives at Orange Tree Golf Resort
for a 13:45 tee time. Yeah, we are late.
13:46 – While checking in with the pro shop,
we hear our name being called to the first tee. Of course, Hopps is at some bar
on the wrong side of the resort buying beer.
13:50 – We race to the first tee and meet our
4th player, Mike. He is the golf pro at Talking Stick Golf Resort.
He is in for one hell of a round with us. Mike claims that he will be fine.
Just wants to drink beers and swing the club. We realize that he will fit right
in.
14:45 - Hopps goes birdie - birdie on holes 5
and 6. He appears to be catching fire…and then Hopps shows up to the golf
course
17:00 - Good, non-eventful round going on
when Mike lets us know that we can come out to play Talking Stick as his guests
this weekend. Hook-up!
17:55 – We exchange numbers with Mike.
Sinickal is ecstatic.
18:35 – Group heads back to the house where Hopps
discovers the gun safe. Sinickal and Tony quietly look in. Uh oh.
18:50 – Group heads into Old Town for food, and
decide to start at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. Because we really wanted cold
beers AND cheeseburgers.
19:02 – We meet Rob of Rob's Mini Limos on
the top floor of a parking garage in Old Town. He runs one of the golf cart
services in Old Town. He brags that his cart can go up to 50 mph, so he can
drive pretty much anywhere in the city. He gives us his card, and tells us that
he can pick us up and drop us off any time we need him. Looks like we may have private
limo service for the week…well, golf cart service
19:15 – We are comfortably seated at the bar.
We really DID want cold beers and cheeseburgers!
19:40 – There is an announcement in the bar
that team trivia starts in 20 min. Tony notes that we have 18 minutes to eat and
get the fuck out. Would have been a
different story if Pepster was here.
20:15 - Hopps and Sinickal are watching the
Women's 3-point shootout as if it were the Super Bowl. We have a problem. And no – we did not have money on it.
20:17 – There is a woman named Jessica
January competing. We thought the television had been changed to one of the
Vivid Video channels.
20:28 – Her jumper is wet! She just beat the
dude! He will never play another meaningful minute of basketball in his life.
20:32 – Take a golf cart back to the Coachman
House. We have the golf cart stop at an ATM for Hopps. Standing at an outdoor
ATM on a dark street corner, Hopps turns and screams this one gives out
fifty's! Tony and Sinickal remind him that AZ is an open carry state
20:39 – The first round of Golden Tee begins.
Tony notes that he hasn’t sweat yet today. It must just evaporate. Welcome to
the desert.
20:58 – A Bonnie Raitt song comes on the
jukebox. A blonde woman appears from seemingly nowhere and begins singing to
us. Just weird.
21:40 – This is a workmanlike evening so far.
Not a lot of interaction, just drinks and bar visits. That just ended with our
entering Bottled Blondes. This is going downhill. Fast.
22:02 – A woman walks by with two tiaras.
When asked by Sinickal why she is carrying the tiaras, she responds “I wanted
it to be my birthday, so some random guy bought it for me. Do you want it?”
22:09 - Hopps
"I am deep enough to know how shallow I am."
22:35 – We are trying to work our way back
toward the car and stop at Dierks Bentley. The bar, not the band. Sinickal is
so glad that this is Scottsdale, land of 60-year old children, and not Kansas
City where this bar would just be creepy.
22:59 - Pepe has landed. Now we have to
figure out how to get him.
23:02 - Hopps "I gotta find a way to get
a golf cart street legal in Quincy MA "
23:40 – Pepster is in! We are whole! And, he
looks thirsty.
23:58 – Back to the Coachman House. We are trying
to wake Hopps up and thought that some Golden Tee would help. This is not
working.
00:39 – We decide on one more round of beers,
but Tony is done and Hopps is trying to be done. Pepster is screaming "I
will drink theirs."
00:53 - While watching a Bulls – Cavaliers
rerun, Sinickal realizes that one of the Lopez brothers plays for Chicago. Pepe
notes that it is the bad one.
01:23 – We are going to call it a night. On
to Day 3.