"The Drive" - Part II

Well..we did it! We have officially arrived back in Braselton, GA - where we started our adventure just a few (12), short weeks ago!

Our morning started at an early 7 am when we hit the road and headed into St. Louis to begin our trip. We were able to drive past the Arch, Busch Stadium, and a couple of other landmarks before we crossed the river and headed into Illinois!

We spent the next 3 hours or so travelling through Illinois before we headed into Kentucky and made our first stop of the day. Not long after that, about 11:45 to be exact, we headed into Tennessee....our 4th state in about 4 and a half hours....not bad for a morning of work! haha

Overall, the drive was a ton of fun today and it was great to spend some quality time with Kiley and Camille before we head separate ways tomorrow.

We arrived in Braselton just before 7 tonight and came to check in at our home away from home! I don't think I have ever been so excited to see a particular hotel again! lol The girls decided that we were up for a trip to Waffle House for dinner since we have been trying to go there since we left here just under 11 weeks ago! It was a great experience and I was actually quite impressed with their dinner selections as well. :)

After Waffle House, Kiley, Camille and I spent the rest of the night just hanging out in our hotel room...it was kinda nice to not have to worry about anything and just relax! :) The best part of the night was the fact that Brunie came to visit us from school after her practice for the night!!! It was great to see her again and catch up about everything that has happened in the last week....but, it was hard to say good bye once again! :( It has definitely becoming real that we are going to be parting ways tomorrow...I know it is going to be hard....but I can't wait to see everyone at home as well! This couldn't be a more bittersweet ending to what was an awesome summer!!!

But....Augie....HERE I COME!!! :)

"The Drive" - Part I

Well....today was the first 15 hours of our drive back to Atlanta and we have made it basically to St. Louis!!

Today was fairly uneventful as we covered 3 states and sat in a car....haha

We did have the opportunity to eat lunch with Kiley's parents in Hays....that was fun!!

Other than that, we are planning to hit the road at 7 am once again and hopefully we will be in Atlanta by dinnertime or shortly thereafter!!! :)

Night all!

We Made It!

It is hard to believe, but we are headed out on the road bright and early tomorrow to begin our trip back to Atlanta! The last 10 weeks of travelling have flown by and I can't believe we are already at the end of the summer!

Today was our final round of the summer and it was just as nerve-wracking as all the other ones this summer..it came down to the final putt and only then could we officially declare a winner!

After all of the fun involved with post round, it was time to breakdown the course and pack up the trailer one last time! We were able to get it all done pretty quickly...especially since we had a bunch of additional tasks this time around. After packing up, we headed out to our last dinner with Adam and Curt before heading home to pack up and get ready for our early departure in the morning!

I am sad that the summer has come to an end, but it makes me just that much more excited to know that I am less than 3 days away from seeing all of my family and friends again! Love you all and can't wait to see you very soon! :D

Here We GO!!

Well...this is it! Tomorrow is our last day of work for the summer and our last tournament round as well!

I have no idea where the time has gone and as bittersweet as it is, I can't decide if I am more excited to see everyone at home, or more disappointed that my time on the road has come to an end. The bright side is that we still have 3 travel days before we have to say goodbye to one another....

However, as I start to look forward, I am sooo excited to see what this next year brings! Not only will there be plenty of new memories with friends, teammates, family, and staff members, but I will also be taking on new responsibilities and experiences all year long!

Come Sunday, I will be flying back to Chicago, getting to move into my first house, starting golf for the season, catching up with my amazing friends and fellow staff members....then Monday, I will get to join in with CA training, go to golf practice, have my first Student Teaching meeting...and then, Wednesday, I will have my first Student Teaching experience at Moline High School! I am sooo excited to see what all of this brings and to just enjoy my senior year!

But, as I look ahead to tomorrow, it is amazing how many "lasts" will be occurring...our last "team dinner," the last tournament round, the last time we pack the trailer, the last time we put out coolers, the last tent tops, the last time we score the juniors...the list could go on forever!

But, most importantly I hope that this will all be "lasts" for the summer...but not forever! There is always next summer....and hopefully there will be many new opportunities there and that....that makes me very excited! :)

Saved the Best for Last!

Wow! That is all I can say!

For all of those that have asked what my favorite location has been this summer, I officially have an answer for you...COLORADO!

Today was my day off for the week and I took advantage of the area and went to explore the Rocky Mountains for the day.

I left about 11 and started by heading to Estes Park, the entryway to Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive through the mountains and upon arriving to Estes Park was absolutely amazing! Just the drive alone was enough to make the trip worth it. When I arrived in Estes Park, I drove to the entrance of Rocky Mountain NP and then decided to go hike to the top of Prospect Mountain instead. I rode a gondola to the platform and I would say we were about 100 feet or so below the summit at that point. The ride up was amazing and it was really cool to see the town below as well as all of the towns in the valleys of the Rockies. Once I reached the top, I hiked pretty much the rest of the way to the summit...it was gorgeous!! Here is a panoramic view from the top of the gondola ride.

After heading back down on the gondola, it was time to head back towards Boulder and check out one more location before calling it a day. From this hiking trail, this is what I could see:

As well as the campus of CU-Boulder...

Overall, today was a day filled with amazing views and unforgettable experiences! I am going to have to find a way to get back here soon and spend a bunch more time exploring and getting the full experience of the mountains!

I can't believe that we just have two more tournament rounds left for the summer and then we begin our journey back to Atlanta and then back to Augie on Sunday! It is going to be a great last couple of days and I can't wait to see everyone at home!! Miss you all!!!

"Little Monday"

So, most Mondays are referred to as "Big Monday" due to the large number of activities and their importance within the week.

However, this week we we only had a practice round on taps for Monday, and it was scheduled for the afternoon. Because of this, we had yet another sleep in day today and began working at a lovely 11:30 am!

We started off our day by putting out some coolers, setting up the golf course and making sure that the juniors were prepared to hit the course for their practice round. We then spent the rest of the afternoon staking and roping, checking coolers, driving around the course, and completing completely random tasks. After their round, we had Player Registration and Player/Parent Meetings.

Overall, it was a really chill day and a great way to prepare for my day off tomorrow! I am so excited to go check out the mountains and enjoy the lovely scenery and weather here!!!!! Night all! :)

Last, Last, Last....

I feel like this is what I have been/will be saying all week!

Today we hosted our last qualifier for the summer and it went really well! We arrived at the course about 11:30 this morning to get to work and were able to leave about 7 or so this evening.

I impressed myself this morning by getting up about 9 even though I didn't have to be ready until just after 11. It was kinda nice to relax and watch the Olympics while getting some e-mails sent, books ordered, and other fun stuff like that!

The day went by really quickly and before I knew it my housemates and I were walking back home for the evening. We arrived back at the house to find a large dinner prepared for us and we were able to hang out with our host family for most of the week. This week, I am staying with the same host family as the three boys - Drew, Kyle and Jake. They have a sweet set-up in the basement of the house and I have my own room up on the main floor. It has been a blast to have a chance to hang out with them and play some Ping Pong and Foosball, watch the Olympics, and just relax a little. I'm not sure that I have actually stayed in the same location as them all summer, so it is a nice change in pace!

Other than that, it was a typical day here in Colorado! Tomorrow we get to sleep in again as we don't have to be at the course until 11:30! :)

And...finally, a quick shout out to everyone headed back to Augie today! CA training started tonight so I know that a lot of my friends are back on campus and I can't wait to join you all in less than a week!! Time is going to fly by at this point and it is hard to believe that I will be writing my final post from my room in just ONE week! Who would have guessed the summer would come to a close this quickly?!

Miss you all and I can't wait to see you soon!!!!!!!! :)

Set-Up and Rockies!

Today was our set-up day to prepare for the tournament rounds that will be occurring the rest of the week. We started off at 6 am this morning by hitting the course and setting some hole locations out in front of the member play. After completing the hole locations, we unpacked our trailer and began setting up Headquarters and Ops HQ.

To round out our morning tasks, Camille and I prepped all of the banners and put them up while the boys filled all of the sand bottles, buckets, and tent bags. While they delivered all of these items around the course, Camille and I cleaned coolers so that we could head to lunch. After a quick lunch, we were back to work putting out POP frames, trash/recycling bins, and staking/roping off areas. After a hard day of work and really pushing to get things done, we were able to leave about 3:30 this afternoon and heading back to our host families to get ready for our big adventure this evening!

We headed out about 4:45 or so to catch the Colorado Rockies v. San Francisco Giants game in Denver this evening. We had seats that were in the outfield, just off of the left field line, and 22 rows up! It was a great view of the game and it was a BEAUTIFUL night for baseball! :) Here is our view:

Our schedule for the rest of the week is pretty relaxing compared to a lot of other tournaments and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my teammates before we all head for home at the end of the week. Tomorrow starts our relaxation time as we will begin our day at the course at 11:30 am! Time to get some sleep and take advantage of our sleep-in day! Night all!!

We Have Arrived...

After an approximately 13 hour drive through the heart of the Midwest, we have arrived in Longmont, Colorado, just outside of Denver. This was quite an impressive trip as Team 3 was able to make it to a destination without getting lost, having car troubles, and avoiding any delays whatsoever! Glad it only took us 10 times to get it right! haha

There wasn't too much excitement today other than our arrival and a wonderful car ride with plenty of jam sessions and naps along the way! I promise to get some pictures up of the mountains tomorrow...they were absolutely gorgeous with the sun setting as we drove in tonight! :)

But, we are back to work at 6 am so I had better get some sleep! So, from Colorado, have a great night! :) 

9 down....1 to go!

Who would have ever guessed that we would make it to this point?!

After 11 weeks of traveling, it is almost time to depart on our roadtrip to our final tournament site. But, before that happens in the morning, we had to say goodbye to two of our teammates this evening....Sydnee and Sydney are headed home after this week and today was their last day! :( We are definitely going to miss them this next week....Team 3 just won't be complete! Here is our team picture that we took this evening... apparently the boys are just too embarrassed to be around us....oh well! haha

Well, we hit the road bright and early tomorrow and I suppose I had better start packing! Next time you hear from me, it will be from good ole' COLORADO!!! Sooo excited for this one!! :)

Lambert's...

"The Home of the Throwed Roll!"

That was the location of our wonderful dinner tonight! :) I know that the majority of my blog posts have included food recently...but that is because we have had some AWESOME meals!

The location of our dinner tonight was a building that resembled both a Cracker Barrel and a restaurant that I talked about when we were in Weston - Jackson's. The restaurant was adorned in old-fashioned/rustic things and the food was in a typical 'homemade' style. I had a delicious piece of meatloaf, a baked potato, some green beans, some tomato/macaroni mix, and - the most important part - a couple of throwed rolls!

This was honestly the best part of the meal. The employees walked around with a bunch of different sides that you could choose from, on top of the sides that come with your meal. There was black eyed peas, fried okra, the tomato/macaroni mix, some fried potatoes, and then...the rolls! They would walk out of the kitchen every couple of minutes and let out a yell of "HOOOOT ROLLLLSSS!" Out of nowhere, everyone's hands would shoot in the air and the server would start chucking rolls across the dining room! It was the hit of the night and I am pretty sure that we saved every roll that came our way! Can't waste pure goodness! :)

Other than dinner, today was a pretty typical day on the course....nothing too exciting to report. As for my evening, it is time to get off the computer and lay in bed and catch up on my Olympic coverage! :)

Hope everyone has a great night!!! :)

OLYMPICS!!!!!

Today was the first round of our tournament here in Springfield, Missouri. I was lucky enough to get to start half of the field today and it was a blast getting to know a lot of the juniors and talk about their summer and their plans for the fall. It is crazy to think that I first worked with some of these golfers almost 10 weeks ago at Steelwood! Where has time gone?!

In addition, today we hosted our social activity for the week and played SNAG Golf once again. It is so much fun to see how much the juniors enjoy hitting tennis balls at our staff members in velcro suits! Definitely makes the job worth it! We also played Quick Golf, where the players work in teams of two to play three "short" holes as fast as possible. The catch is that the players must alternate who takes the shot and we were using rubber "golf balls." We had an odd number of juniors show up, so I joined one of the golfers who has been at our tournaments the last 3 weeks. It was a blast to team up with her as we literally ran around the golf course trying to get the ball in the hula hoops as fast as possible! I have been saying that I want to start running and hitting golf balls throughout this week and next week. Who knew that the first time I either ran or hit balls would be at the same time! haha I have never had so much fun sprinting in 100 degree temperatures! Props to the juniors for helping the staff members feel like kids all over again! :)

After we were done for the day, we headed back to the hotel and I was able to shower and get packed up for tomorrow before we even went to dinner. After grabbing a quick dinner, I headed back to the hotel just in time to catch the start of the gymnastics team competition and their awesome routines!!

It was a great to have a night to just hang out and watch some Olympics and chat with friends! Thanks Katie for the phone conversation --- it is great to catch up with everyone and it is making me sooooooooooo excited to head home in just a week or so!! Miss everyone and can't wait to see you all VERY soon!!!! :)

Night all!!!

Well Then...

So today was 'Big Monday' - one of the more hectic days in the AJGA schedule. We had a Junior-Am this morning, a practice round this afternoon, and then wrapped up the day with Player Registration and Player/Parent meetings this evening. It was a long day as we left the hotel at 5:40 this morning and then got back about 10 tonight, after grabbing a great dinner!

Even with all of that, I am comfortable saying that this was one of the most enjoyable and fun days that I have experienced this summer! I can't pinpoint why I say that as most of them have been absolutely amazing...but I am going to venture and say that it was due to the impressive teamwork that occurred throughout the day. We were able to knock out some tasks in mere minutes that would have taken us over an hour just a couple of weeks ago. It is amazing to see how far we have come, and I think that makes this last week and a half that much more special.

In addition, dinner tonight was a hoot and it was great to just sit and laugh at complete ridiculousness after a long day on the course. I am beginning to realize how much I am going to miss everyone when the summer is over. It is hard to believe that there are just 4 short days left with Brunie and SydMack before they head home, and just another week or so with everyone else. I can honestly say that each of my teammates have taught me a whole lot about myself...crazy what one summer of 12 weeks can teach you!

With that, it is off to bed to prepare for another hot day tomorrow! I get to start the players off of the first tee...better rest up before trying to tackle some of these pronunciations! :)

100 and What?!?!

Today was our first round of golf here in Springfield and it took place on one HOT afternoon! We started the round about 1:30 this afternoon and by 2:45 we had reached the high temperature for the day - a whopping 107 degrees! Holy Crap!

Luckily, we all survived and we were able to get the round in just before 7 pm. After a 6 hole playoff and prepping banners and other signage for our early morning tomorrow, it was time to leave the course and grab some dinner.

We pulled into Arby's about 9:40 and thank goodness they had some really nice employees working who even delivered our food to our table! (It's the little things that count...right?! haha) We arrived back to the hotel about 10 or so, and after a quick chat with the one and only Krystal Marquez, it is time for bed!! Hope everyone had a great day!!! :)

County Fair Time!

Today was my day off and it was rather uneventful until after dinner.

As a short summary, I spent most of the day laying in bed and watching the Olympics. I had planned on working out and getting a couple of other tasks done, but I wasn't feeling well after lunch and decided that a nap would be much more beneficial!

After grabbing a quick dinner, I met up with the rest of the team and we headed down to the Ozark Empire Fair to check out the events and enjoy a little time away from the course. The girls took a nice ride on the Ferris Wheel and walked around to play some games and check out what all was going on.

After that, we met up with the guys and enjoyed some talented - and some not so talented - karaoke acts before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night!

A Little Bit of Driving and Working....And a Whole Lot of Eating!

Today was our last "short" travel day of the summer!

We started out from Kansas City this morning about 8 am and arrived in Springfield, Missouri just before lunchtime. Once we arrived, we took a quick tour of headquarters and then headed to Jimmy Johns for a "quick" lunch before starting to unpack the trailer and set up the course for the week.

After we returned from lunch, I headed to the airport to pick up our Assistant Tournament Director for the week - who we have also worked with 2 other times this summer. It was great to catch up with him a bit as we drove back and hear about the most recent tournament he was a part of. Once we returned to the course, it was down to work! Three of the girls had left to pick up some courtesy cars that we will get to use throughout the week...but they returned shortly after I did.

Our goal today was to move all of the hazard and out of bounds stakes onto the lines that our Tournament Director had painted on the course. This may sounds like a really easy task, but when you are trying to pound PVC pipe into ground that hasn't had rain in over 50-some odd days.....things can get interesting! After spending a couple of hours driving around the golf course with Drew and checking out of bounds stakes, it was time to call it a day and head to dinner.

We went to Famous Dave's tonight and I can honestly say that I ate way more than I ever should! haha My meal included 4 BBQ ribs, BBQ pulled pork, corn on the cob, cornbread, and chips. While I couldn't quite finish it all...it was REALLY good!! Something I will definitely have to eat again! :)

Other than that, we got all checked into our hotel tonight and I completed my to-do list before my day off even started! :) The plan for tomorrow is a whole lot of sleeping, watching the Olympics, working out, and maybe hitting some golf balls! Looking forward to a little relaxation time and then it will be time to hit the ground running on Sunday! Night all!

Another One Down?!

Well, with that....our time in Kansas City is over....

Hard to believe that at this time in just two short weeks we will be preparing for our journey from Colorado back to Atlanta....and then the summer will be over! This has been quite the experience and I am looking forward to making the best of the next two weeks!

As for today, we had quite the turn around in both the girls and boys divisions. There were some awesome scores posted and it was a pleasure to watch these amazing juniors finish out their tournament. In other important news, we were able to pack up the trailer in record time once again and we were ready to leave the course about 5 or so this afternoon....that's pretty darn successful!! :)

After we left the course, Camille and I headed back to our house and cleaned up a bit before we went to grab some dinner. It was nice to just sit down and chat and not worry about having to converse with 10 other people as well. After dinner, it turned into quite the crazy night. Long story short, we ended up driving around for quite awhile trying to run a couple of errands and meet up with the team once again. And, with that, it is off to bed! Tomorrow's greeting will be coming from Springfield, Missouri! Talk to you then!

Here's the Secret....

So today was the second round of our tournament this week and it was a scorcher out there once again! These crazy temperatures have made for some long days outside, yet they have been some of our shortest days this summer! For the second day in a row, we have left the course before 4:30...kinda nice to have our "chill" tournaments at the end of the summer!

But you might ask, "why are you able to get out of there so much earlier than the other weeks?" I have to be honest and give some of the credit to the awesome staff at Mission Hills Country Club. We have worked with GREAT staffs all summer, but this one has done more than I could ever imagine for us. I think some of their enthusiasm and willingness to help out could be based upon the fact that they are bored as their regular members are not playing due to our tournament. But still, the cart staff and golf shop staff have gone out of their way to make our job as easy as possible!

Here are a couple of examples from today alone....

• We have had a bunch of loose water bottles in the bed of our truck for a couple of days as they were left over from the qualifier and we just didn't have the opportunity to get them out/use them yet. The same goes for a bunch of Gatorade that we were going to use today. The cart staff not only boxed up the product for us, but also brought it to the cart barn and organized it by color for us!
• This same product needed to be added to all of the coolers this afternoon in order to prep for tomorrow's round. Before we even had a chance to start prepping the coolers, the cart staff had placed all of the product in the coolers and ready to go for tomorrow!
• During this same time, we were working to break down both the scoring and starting tents out on the course. I brought in a cart that was FULL of stuff that needed to be unloaded and put away before I could head back out. I pulled into the cart barn as we are storing most of our equipment there this week and, before I could even get out of my cart, they unloaded everything and started putting it away in all of the correct places! haha
• The final example is in two parts. But one of the break down tasks is to place a massive piece of plastic over the scoreboard so that none of the papers get wet due to humidity, dew, rain, etc. Drew was working to put this up and here walks up one of the staff members who proceeded to help him and learn more about what we do and how they can help tomorrow! At this same time, another member of the MHCC staff was preparing our standards that will display the scores in our final four groups tomorrow. 

Whether it was boredom or anything else that encouraged them to help us this much....we appreciate it! It makes for such a fun week when we can work so closely with the other staff members and have a chance to interact with those who work at the club that we are "overtaking" for a week! 

The moral of this story is that we couldn't do it alone! The number of volunteers that we have had this summer is completely mind-blowing and we owe a whole lot of our success to them....and because we can never say it enough....THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us in any way this summer - timing stations, water roving, housing staff members, spotting, shuttling, you name it...they have done it! And we couldn't have done it without them!! :) 

Rest and Relaxation

I think that today was the first time that I actually pulled through with doing a whole lot of nothing on my day off! :) 

This morning began at a lovely 10 am. After picking up Kiley and doing a little rearranging of vehicles, I was off to California Pizza Kitchen with Melissa, Aaron, Lindsey, and Riley! I have learned to love the coincidences that come along with travelling throughout the country. By the luck of the draw, this was the second time that I was able to see Melissa this summer....that is a record by a long shot!! And, it was so nice to hang out with such a good friend (and her friends) while out on the road! Thank you guys for allowing me to join in on your vacation.....I had a blast and I hope that it can happen again sometime! :) 

After lunch, and rearranging cars once again, I headed back to the house and decided that today was my day to watch some TV, catch up on my to-do list, and enjoy some air conditioning! It was great to just sit and relax and my to-do list has officially been accomplished! Can't believe how close I am to heading back to school and everything that is associated with it! These last two tournaments are going to fly by - only 2 more days off this summer! Holey Moley!!

Hope everyone else had a great day and was able to avoid the crazy heat as much as possible! Night!

BIG MONDAY!

Today was an early morning as we had to be ready to work at the course by 5:45 since Junior-Am registration started at 6:30. When we got to the course, Kiley and I were responsible for prepping and getting all of the coolers distributed to the holes. Thank goodness for some awesome volunteers as this would have been quite the task in the amount of time that we had! After getting all of the coolers ready and getting the Junior-Am out on the course, we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast as a team. The rest of the day was very busy as we worked to finish up the little projects that needed to be ready for either the afternoon or tomorrow. Once the Junior Am was over (and I got to play photographer at the reception), it was time to send the juniors out on the course for their practice round. Once they finished out about 6 or so, it was time for us to host registration and the Parent/Player meetings. These went on for about an hour or so. Once that was over it was all hands on deck to get everything done and get out as early as possible! We were able to get everything done and be on the road by 8:45 or so! Love it!!

As for the most exciting part of this post…it is about tomorrow! It is my day off here in Kansas City and I am going to be able to see a super-awesome friend from Wichita!! J I am so excited to see her, catch up, grab lunch, and then do a whole lot of nothing the rest of the day!!