Bittersweet. - last week.

Hello from Longmont, CO! (Kirsten – just in case you’re reading… it’s beautiful here) And my very last week as an AJGA intern.  I have a couple weeks to update on so here it goes again..

Kansas City came and went like nothing.  We got to each quite a few delicious meals! The last night we were there Brunie and I’s host family took us to a nice little Italian place before we left the next morning.  We also went out with the rest of the team for a few drinks afterward.  I’m not sure we were quite ready to leave, but at 7 am the next morning we were rolling out of Mission Hills Country Club.  We had a very short 3-hour drive to Springfield, MO for the Bass Pro Shops/Payne Stewart Junior Championship.  Thinking back, the week flew by – just like every other I suppose.  Friday and Saturday were spent doing set-up like usual.  It was my week as ODP (Ops Development Program) so I spent most of my time with Greeny during the set-up days.  We striped tees (tournament yardage is what I really wanted to learn about) and made a couple drop zones.  Sunday we had our qualifier and Big Monday rolled around.  The Junior-Am went off smoothly after bag loading and registration.  As ODP I got to do the practice round send-off!  That may have been my favorite thing that I got to do!  On my day off I’m pretty sure all I did was shop, eat lunch, and lay around in my hotel room, which was incredibly nice and relaxing.  Wednesday was uneventful, and Thursday was trailer-packing day – as usual!  Thursday was also my birthday J  so I even got to pick out where we ate that night.  My first choice was Waffle House, but I could tell that not everyone was a huge fan of that, so I found the Springfield Brewing Company.  It turned out to be delicious!  I think the best part of Thursday was when Curt told me I had a birthday present in HQ.  My parents had arranged with Sarah to bring my cupcakes and a card at work – the best surprise ever.  Thanks Sarah!!  Curt, Kyle, Brunie and I all went to get a drink at Houlihan’s that night, and by 10:30 we were ready to go to sleep.  Seems so lame.

Friday morning, 7am came once again and we were on the road to Denver, CO.  The 13 hour trip was super nice compared to our last couple short ones.  The highlight of my day was definitely stopping in Hays and seeing my momma and puppies – it’s crazy how much I miss my family, Hays, and western Kansas in general.  This week has been insanely easy so far.  I had Saturday off, and we didn’t have to be to work until 11:30 both today and yesterday – tomorrow is going to be rough.  Good news is that we have a 96-player field and a one-tee start, so breakdown after the round should be nearly done by the time the last group finishes. 

I’m pretty sure this post makes very little sense.  Somehow I am super tired at 10pm.  So here’s the rest in pictures and captions – just because it seems so much easier!

6,339 miles,

Kiley

Swassiest week ever. 

Gorgonzola cheese stuffed filet - yes please.

HOT ROLLS!

We went to the Ozark Empire Fair!

My Birthday morning - so beautiful.

On Brunie's last day we let her load one thing in the trailer - and then she got soaked!

Team Pictures!

Fizz Face?

We <3 Bass Pro!

Big Al!

HAYS, KS!!

Now we're in CO!

Lunch.

Supper.

Goodnight for now :)

There's no place like home..

Clearly I have not done very well at this blog thing, but for those of you who continue to read.. here it goes!


Overall the Columbus trip went very well! We had two courses which wasn't very much fun, especially because our qualifier course STUNK! It smelled like rotten eggs - grossest thing ever.  There was even a wedding there on our set-up day right in the middle of all the stink.  I definitely would not pick to get married there!  Regardless of the smell we spent the day there and the rest of the week at Kinsale.  Kinsale was also a very interesting place.  It was a fitness and golf club, and in the clubhouse they played top 40 music - including "Toot it and boot it." I know our comms got pretty tired of all the popular songs right now.  As I'm writing this I'm already have trouble remembering things even through it was only two weeks ago.  The days this summer are so long, but it goes by SO fast!  However, I do remember the drive from Columbus to Omaha. Eventful. 
The 13 hour trek including a nice long lunch at Culver's and a blown out tire. Cool.  The girls were all following the boys with the trailer and thought that the right tire of the trailer looked awful low.  Well we were right, we called them to pull of the road so we could check it out and as they were pulling off - POP - there goes the tire, smoking and shredding and all that.  In all our tire adventure probably took a good 45 minutes, and guess what, we didn't make it to Omaha.  We stayed in a sketchy hotel just off the interstate for the night and headed into Omaha the next morning to start working.  

We finally made it to Omaha and Brunie and I had the BEST host home! Sharon and her dog Lizzie were amazing to stay with.  She had dinner in the oven waiting for us before we had even met her.  Funny story - Brunie had been texting Sharon throughout the day and sharing it with me.  We were discussing at the dinner table what we imagined Sharon as.  I said, "I picture Sharon as middle aged, with dark reddish hair and just spunky."  Maybe two minutes later Sharon walks in and is EXACTLY as I had pictured her.  We nearly laughed out loud! 

Lizzie HUGS!! Cutest thing ever. 

The week in Omaha went super smooth that I don't even think I have any good stories from it! We were at Quarry Oaks - the #1 ranked public course in Nebraska.  My dad, Si, and I went up to play it a few years ago so it was nice being somewhere I recognized.  Quite possibly the most exciting part of the trip besides Wednesday was seeing my parents!! I had Monday off so my parents drove up to see me! They picked me up on Sunday night and we went to Lincoln to stay the night.  We even got to see my sister's new house!  The day went entirely too fast, but it was so nice to see my family :)  Wednesday we got to do our VERY FIRST FUN THING of the summer!! After seeing other teams going to music festivals, the US Women's Open, baseball games, etc etc etc (we had done none of these things) we finally got to go to a minor league baseball game! Go Stormchasers!!   

Nutritious and Delicious

Downdraft beer!

 Our last night in Omaha we went to eat a Champion's Run and had a ribeye buffet.  SO good!!

I also realized that I don't really post much of what I do on a daily basis.  So Camille had this idea to take pictures of daily tasks - I haven't done a very good job at this, but I did want to take a picture of what my Thursday afternoons look like.  My job is Inventory.  So every Thursday I make sure that we have EVERYTHING before we leave the golf course.  Everything from tents with their stakes to trash wraps and envelopes and paint and all sorts of other things that we take everywhere.  So here's before the trailer is packed...

and after all the sweat...

 This week we are in Kansas City, KS/MO.  Literally on the state line.  Brunie and I live in Missouri and the golf course is two minutes away in Kansas!! I love being back in Kansas :)  We spent the first couple days marking Mission Hills CC and Meadowbrook (the qualifier course) and today was the first round, as well as my day off!!  Saturday (I think) we had a comp meal at EBT.  It was a nice restaurant and we even got to shower before dinner, and I got to wear my Polo dress finally!  I started with a caesar side salad, and then had the special for my meal - filet with shrimp, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Then the waitress brings out dessert menus - so of course I had dessert! Creme Brulee - delicious.  

Steak + Shrimp + Mascato = happiness.

Sunday was a much busier day.  We had the qualifier at 1:30 and still worked an 11 hour day.  We ate Taco Bell around 10:30 and went home for bed!

For my day off today, I went to the Plaza for a little bit, and then spent too much money at Target! After I relaxed and did laundry all afternoon I joined the team for supper at Oklahoma Joe's! Best ribs on the face of the earth. period. Then Camille, Brunie, and I enjoyed Yogurtini :)

I'll end with a few pictures from the week...

Camille and I's rebar farm

Home for the week - with three dogs!!

hot.

Goodnight from Missouri!

3960 miles,

Kiley

 

Columbus, OH

Well I thought I'd make it two posts a week for once!  Today we went to the tournament course and started marking it.  Talk about tons of OB - wowzers.  I think I donuted 100 OB stakes today, or it seemed like it anyways.  We got the front nine finished and we'll finish the back nine and qualifier course tomorrow.  

But more interesting than what I did today is what did we eat!  Last night we went to the Winking Lizard.  It was real good!  I had a gyro and a delicious draft beer, but I don't remember what it was called :(  They even had an iguana in the restaurant.  The most exciting thing about our dinner was that the U.S. Women's Open was on the TV.  This may not sound exciting, but as we watched we saw Jaye, Samantha, Shannon, and maybe a couple of other girls that we know from the last few weeks!  I was especially excited when I saw Jaye because she won Rolex Tournament of Champions and I got to pick her up from the airport for TOC.  We had nice little girl chat on the way to Mr. Hamblin's house where she was staying for the week.  I so hope they all do well this weekend!! 
Today we ate Noodles and Company for lunch, which was very nice for a change, and Pei Wei for dinner - always yummy!


Tomorrow we are leaving the hotel at 5:55am - yikes.  I guess I really shouldn't be surprised though - we've got a long day ahead of us.  


Goodnight for now!
-Kiley