Four days of great golf! (and a nice visit with family)

We just got back from a trip visiting the in-laws in Tucson, AZ. The trip was fun as we spent time with Ray and Ursula (Melissa's dad and step-mom) touring around Tucson and enjoying a few dinners out. We took an afternoon trip to Tubac, not to be confused with Tupac Shakur. It's a former artist-driven town just north of the Mexico border. The town is becoming slightly more commercialized and pricier, however still has a unique border-town charm to it. The highway and street signs are in KM rather than miles and the mountains and scenary were beautful and very green.

I probably had more fun than Melissa seeing I got to play a great golf course called Arizona National four days in a row. The first two days included 6am tee times and waking up at 4:45am, which is a bit early on all counts, and 7:30a and 6:30a tee times the following days. However we generally got our rounds finished in less than 3 hours and beat the dreaded Arizona heat. After a near implosion during the first round, I managed to score in the mid-to-upper 80s three days after a first day 97 on easily the toughest course I've ever played. Not hitting the fairway leaves you with a ball in the desert and a penalty stroke (note: I saw a hawk kill a bird right over the fairway and had a few rattlesnake sightings in the desert while playing, amongst various lizards, etc in the desert). I played with the old-man early morning crowd and really enjoyed the company of the people we played with. They are golf obsessed and proved to be some very nice and helpful people. If I had a handicap, it would have dropped a few strokes just based on the advise I received over the four rounds.

It also turns out one guy we played with three days is a part-owner in an Oregon winery that my company banks. He had only the highest compliments on the quality and knowledge of the folks from SVB. When I started at this "smaller bank" I could never have imagined how many random people I would meet that have great things to say about the bank. It may have seemed like a gamble to take the position with SVB, however I am more than happy with how it is turning out.

Overall, it was a fun four day trip. Now I want to figure out how to calculate my handicap...