My Dad's new thing is disc golf. When I was a baby he was all about Karate. Then we spent tons of hours on the tennis court. And there was a golf phase that I didn't mind too much because he let me drive the cart - I had no interest in playing. I don't even like mini golf. Then basketball (which he still hosts every Wednesday night at the middle school). But lately it's become disc golf.
Andrew loved disc golf so it was also something that they got to do together. Well, I have no interest in it. I don't like things that take patience or that are slow paced. And I'm really not even good at frisbee. Well, I called Dad up to see if he wanted to play some tennis. I haven't played in about 10 years but was really in the mood for it that day. I guess being back in Dalhart makes me want to do things from my childhood. He said he didn't even know where his rackets were but that we could play disc golf instead. Great. Since I hadn't seen Dad in 8 months, and he did fly me here, how could I say no?
As we pulled up to the course on the lovely greens of Rita Blanca Lake (sarcasm, the lake is low, and the grass dessert like) and he grabbed the putters, he said, "The first thing you need to know about disc golf..." I cut in, "is that you don't talk about disc golf." "No, it's patience." Crap. I'm doomed. But then he told me that since I'm his daughter I should be naturally good at anything athletic. Uhhh, does he even know me? I didn't play sports growing up for a reason: I don't have good eye hand coordination. He showed me my putter options and asked which one I wanted. I chose the clear red one. He figured I'd pick that one because it was prettier than the others. Ok, so he does know me after all.
We got out to practice putting and he taught me the basic techniques of holding the disc and throwing form. I missed the first one, but then got the next 4 in a row in. Once Michelle, Chris, and Marlanie showed up it was time to get started.
I had a few decent holes. On most I was one over par, but whatever. I accidentally threw my disc over the side of a small cliff. Luckily Dad fetched it instead of making me since he had just told me he saw rattle snakes out there before.
We did 15 out of 18 holes because it was 8p and we were hungry! I decided that over the next four years we will strive to get disc golf into the Olympics, become a father/daughter team, and win America's hearts.
After golf we headed over to Pizza hut to get the worst service ever. At least the food was good...after the way too long wait. Overall it was a good time, and I told him I'd play again...but he has to find his rackets by my next visit.
Being around the lake brought back a lot of memories of my childhood (I lived in dalhart until 4th grade).
- I remember mom taking Andrew & I out for picnics. We would have sandwiches, sugar wafers, and wheat thins with cheese whiz. yumm! And then we'd get to play on the play ground. The biggest slide in Dalhart is there.
- There was a small man made catch and release pond (not sure if it's survived) that Papa used to take me & Andrew to. I was terrible at fishing but Andrew loved it.
- On weekends with Dad we would always end up at the lake since there isn't much to do in Dalhart. It's like population 6,000. There is a road that runs right into the lake because in the 80s the water was high enough for boats. Anyway, Dad would drive down the road and as we got closer he would act like his breaks and steering wheel had stopped working so we were going to crash! I hated that. Even though he did this about every other weekend I always thought that maybe that time was the time he was telling the truth. At one point I was almost convinced that I would have to break the window to jump out (because the door & windows had conveniently jammed).
- A few times we even hiked the trails (I would never do that now that I'm aware of the rattle snakes) would skip rocks. I wasn't very good at the rock skipping thing.
