Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The train set you wish you had

They have an unbelievable outdoor model train setup at Valle Del Oro RV park in Mesa, AZ.

Look at all the tracks!  Even a roundhouse!


And the buildings




And people, animals, vehicles!


It's HUGE!  More pictures.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Discovery Bay

The first 9 holes of Discovery Bay GC were built in 1925.  The course is owned today by Mike Asmundson, who designed the back 9 in 1996, and has done some changes to the front.  He also did a redesign of Las Colinas, and lives in Scottsdale, says the Internet.  But, he also seems to have been a local here.  As you can see in this story, the course has had some financial troubles.  The 2007 plans for a residential development never came to fruition.  



I played the front 9 with two of the members.  He had been playing there since 1947, and she was chair of the Rules committee.  He complained about a poor lie one time, and she commented on the recent rains.  I said he didn't want to hear about the rain, he wanted her to say "Don't worry, honey just move it."  That's when she told me she was the Rules Chairperson.

I see this guy on Facebook all the time, he must have played here once



There was an interesting tree



I expected more scenic vistas of the bay, but there were only a couple




And the obligatory (it's starting to seem like) tree in the middle of the fairway.  Most of them are just a nuisance, but this one is so tall and wide that it blocks the whole fairway, so the only strategy is to hit your drive past it, which I was able to do, and made par.


More pictures.

Troll Haven

They said a rich guy had more money than things to do with it, so he started this place.





There's also a castle where you can stay overnight.



And a farm, with goats and chickens.




And lots of trolls




More pictures.