Jutta’s Back

I admit it……I have been a bad little blogger, and missed a day without telling you, but I am sure you understand I was quite distracted with Jutta arriving from Victoria, and another long drive day to get to Bandon.

Connecting with Jutta in Seattle couldn’t have gone any smoother, although there were some nervous moments the day before her flight, banking on that negative covid test so she could actually get on the plane. No worries after all…….negative. I was hooked up and out of the RV Park in plenty of time to jump right into Monday morning rush hour traffic, but made it to the cell phone lot at the airport in plenty of time…….when Jutta called and I headed down the road past all the arrival gates, I received more than a few odd looks, and some finger pointing, but had her loaded in no time and we were on the road heading south to Bandon. Great to have my co-pilot back.

If it wasn’t for the time factor we would have scooted over and made the run down the coast road, but we had 400+ miles to cover, and our best bet was boring and uninteresting Interstate 5. We couldn’t have been happier to get off that piece of crap and start heading west towards the coast. Lots of great little towns along Hwy 101……..we might drive back up to Coos Bay one day…….actually just so we can visit the German Seafood Restaurant we passed……..what?…….never heard of a German Restaurant that specializes in seafood…….usually schnitzel, Sauerbraten, Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, and Spätzle……could be very interesting.

We arrived at our camp, Bullard’s Beach State Park, too late to check in, but were pre registered so our spot was ready and waiting……..managed with no problem to do the back-in thing once again, with only 3 jiggy jiggy’s (it was a tight spot and tough angle). No time to explore the beach tonight, as we have to figure out how to use our convection/microwave oven to make dinner……….YouTube is such a wonderful tool most of the time. Betty Joe, had posted her little video on how to make chocolate chip cookies in the very same oven we have in Plan B……..and gave step by step instructions on how to set your temperature and time……..cannelloni will be ready in 30. BTW, if you haven’t been, the fresh pasta shop in Cranberry Mews is great. Bottle of red opened, salad made, this is how we camp baby. Early night as we have 36 to play tomorrow, and hence no blog. Sorry.

The alarm goes off way to early, but we throw a coffee down our throats, jump into the truck, and we are off……..Plan B will stay at the park while we stay for a night at the Inn on the Bandon Dunes property………we had to book a nights lodging in order to pre-book two days worth of tee times. Our booking agent at Bandon was awesome, and made sure we will play all five courses here over the next three days. Checked into the Inn, but obviously our room wasn’t ready at 7:30am, however we opened our account, good for charging things all over the property at all the clubhouses/restaurants/pro shops………jumped the shuttle and headed for Sheep Ranch.

Sheep Ranch is the newest of the 5 courses at Bandon, and we are immediately impressed with the setting and the views. Heading inside, the pro shop has some great gear for sale, and I was tempted, but resisted. The sandwich bar made us a breakfast sandwich that was to die for………I’m going back tomorrow to start my day the same way…….it was that good! Our caddie for the day, Dave, met us outside, and before you knew it, we were on the first tee. A really good test of golf…….not shy on length…..true links style…….very interesting there are no sand bunkers on this course……..9 of the greens are directly exposed to the ocean, and a number of holes actually play along the ridge overlooking the beach. Gorse is everywhere……reminded me so much of Scotland. Jutta was the star of the day playing really well…….yours truly was pretty good off the tee, but couldn’t hit an iron to save himself……..not that some of my misses didn’t end up working really well……I must have scuffed a half dozen 7 irons that made it onto the green for birdie tries (never made one). Awesome round and great course…..would like to play this one again.

Sheep Ranch won’t be the newest course at Bandon Dunes for long……..we were told that two more courses are planned for a location south of the town of Bandon and they will be working on those soon. I guess if you build it they will come.

We had two hours between rounds, so we made our way to the original Bandon Dunes course, the first one built, to grab some lunch before the start of round #2. This course opened to rave reviews in 1999, and it is easy to see what after just playing the first few holes. Another really nice round of golf, but have to tell you it became almost painful after a while……….6 days of driving across, then playing 36 on your first day without having hit a ball since last November……..OUCH……..I’m hurting, but will be back out there tomorrow……drugs will be needed, but I’m ok with that.

Received some bad advice from the staff at the Inn, that we wouldn’t need reservations at the restaurants on the property…….apparently you do dickweed…..so screw that we went to town for dinner. Neither dish we ordered were culinary masterpieces, but they were tasty and were gone in a hurry.

Signing off now as I need to get some shut eye……..