Disc Golf Adventures - Tradewinds Park

Last Friday we played our first of two new disc golf courses: Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek in south Florida. It was a gorgeous morning - mid-fifties and sunny with a strong wind, which makes for a fun game.

This is a beautiful park. You can see the lake from the first tee pad!

Luckily that strong wind helped keep us from losing 

our discs in the lake - several of the holes followed the shoreline.

Can you see the basket for this hole? It's to the right

of the three palm trees, out on a little peninsula.

Seriously, it was so lucky that we didn't lose any discs!

Not every hole was a chance to send your disc for a swim.

The park is well cared for; all the grass is mowed

and there wasn't too much brush for your disc to hide in.

Some of the goals were in interesting spots, like this one,

tucked in a little clearing behind tall and short palm trees.

And this one, behind a tree that fell long ago.

(T had fun climbing over it.)

We played all 18 holes and would definitely recommend the park. The course was well-marked and easy to navigate. 

Tradewinds Park

3600 W Sample Rd
Coconut Creek, FL 33066

http://www.broward.org/parks/tradewindspark/Pages/Default.aspx 

Disc Golf Year in Review 2013

T at hole 18 at Tom Brown Park. This is his favorite -
when there's a "moat" around the basket. December 10, 2013

Thomas and I had a great year of disc golf, playing nearly every day. My Garmin records show that we played 269 times in 2013. I don't always have my watch with me so this is a low estimate. (FYI Garmin is my running watch that tracks distance, pace, etc. I wear it during disc golf so I'll know how far we've gone.) Weekday mornings T and I play on our own before school and usually also on weekends. On those 269 disc golf excursions, we covered 312 miles over 196 hours (not counting travel time!).

One of Thomas' goals for this year was to play disc golf in new states (we already had Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky checked off). We ended up playing in two new states in 2013 and on four new courses! In March, we played MacIntyre Park for the first time, in Thomasville, Georgia (I blogged about that here.) In June, we stopped on our way to Ohio and played in Knoxville, Tennessee at Victor Ashe Park. We thought this was a great idea based on this video:


In reality, the disc golf course was not in great shape - mostly it could have used a good mowing... or perhaps a good pass from a hay baler! On some of the fairways the grass was knee to hip high, which made it hard to find your disc. The scenery was picturesque though and the other disc golfers were kind and helped us when we couldn't find the next hole on our own. Eventually we got frustrated enough to quit, but first we played a good dozen holes, and crossed Tennessee off our list!

In addition to hitting our favorite course at Lake Shore Park in Ashtabula, we also played two new courses in Ohio: Glacier Ridge Metro Park in Plain City (near Dublin, outside Columbus), and Veterans Memorial Park in Parma.

Disc Golf in Parma

Glacier Ridge is a challenging course, not because of distance but because the open field fairways are really narrow with tall grass and brush in the rough. It's not the best course to use to introduce friends to the sport, but not knowing that, we took Dawn and her family out to shoot a few holes. The first few are in the woods and beautiful - no brush, open fairways, fully shaded. Definitely playable for all levels. Once out in the fields, though, we spent more time looking for discs than throwing them. It was still fun and good exercise and we appreciated the Petrills being troopers and trying something new!

The course at Veterans Memorial Park in Parma is a fun one. It's well-marked, hilly (not extremely so), wooded but mostly clear of brush. My brother, John, joined us in September and we played the back nine together. The highlight for T was seeing a couple of deer! We really enjoyed this course and will be back for sure.

While we love adventures, we continue to play the majority of our disc golf at our "home course" at Tom Brown Park. Once a week we visit Jack McLean Park (usually on Sundays) and occasionally we drive up to Thomasville and play the 12-hole course at MacIntyre Park. What will 2014 bring? Time will tell but we look forward to more disc golfing fun!

Monday Trip to the Beach

We took Mom for a drive on the beach Monday at Cape San Blas and Indian Pass, in Gulf County, about 100 miles southwest of our house. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, around 80, with a light breeze. First we had a picnic on the beach.

Then we went for a walk. In case you can't tell, Mom walked in the water the whole way!

Next we drove over to Indian Pass and went all the way around the Cape as far as there was space to drive, then walked a little farther. We wondered where all the debris (mostly trees) on the beach comes from. 

We admired the local art - someone had used shells, rocks, sticks and driftwood to make this dragon.

We saw lots of birds. Mom will be sad to learn that none of them were exotic. They are pelicans and other water birds.

Brown pelicans (the tops of their heads looked yellow in the sunlight but on film and in real life they are tan).

On the drive to and from the beach, in Franklin County, there are lots of bear crossing signs. We have yet to see a bear, but we were definitely on the lookout as we drove through the forest and along the coast!

Our Weekend at Villano Beach

We spent Friday-Monday of Memorial Day weekend in Villano Beach / St. Augustine, Florida with friends. We loved the house Kellee picked - a great location, easy to find, close to the water and it had a pool. Here's a synopsis of the weekend in photos:

the view from our second floor deck

sunrise Saturday

 Waves... you forget about waves when you're usually at the Gulf of Mexico. Hello Atlantic Ocean!

 you could drive on the beach near our house - T thought that was pretty cool. Saturday the beach was covered with cars; Sunday it was much less busy (as seen here). 

tire tracks on the beach. you can see the red signs marking the edge of the parking area. our place was just past there. 

 signs at the entrance to drive onto the beach (above and below)

 Kellee and Chase

Chase feeling braver

the pool

Thanks for the Summer Reading with Kids Recommendations! Part 2!!

I'm so grateful to everyone for their suggestions! Love this message Jennifer forwarded me from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP):

TALLAHASSEE – Summer has arrived and the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and DEP are encouraging students to head outdoors with a book from DOE’s 2010 recommended summer reading list. The annual reading list, part of DOE’s Just Read, Florida! mission, is designed to promote nature-based literature while fostering in students an appreciation for the both reading and the outdoors.

“Reading outdoors is a great way to foster environmental stewardship in Florida’s students,” said DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole. “By promoting literature focused on Florida’s diverse natural resources, we hope to harness students’ interest in academic success as well as environmental protection.”

One of the suggested summer reads for 2010 is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Yearling. The Yearling (Aladdin Classics) This story takes readers back in time to Rawlings 1930s farm life. A visit to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park offers a glimpse into the setting that inspired the book. Florida’s 160 state parks, which cover more than 700,000 acres of Florida’s natural environment, also make a perfect backdrop for reading.

Other examples of Florida State Parks and nature-based selections on the 2010 summer reading list include:

• Grades K-3: Pancakes for Breakfast, Tommie DePaola. Pancakes for Breakfast Visit De Leon Springs State Park in De Leon Springs where you can make your own pancakes at the table.
• Grades 4-5: The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich. The Birchbark House Visit Collier-Seminole State Park in Naples on the edge of the Everglades rich with Native American history.  
• Grades 6-8: Forever Forest, Kristin Joy-Pratt Serafini. The Forever Forest: Kids Save a Tropical Treasure (Sharing Nature with Children Books) Visit Homossassa Springs Wildlife State Park to learn about protection and conservation of Florida wildlife.
• Grades 9-12: Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place, Sudye Cauthen. Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place (Center for American Places) (Center Books on the American South) Visit Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, Florida´s first state preserve and a National Natural Landmark.

“Promoting summer reading to students has always been a primary mission of ours, but now the opportunities are right at their fingertips,” said Education Commissioner Dr. Eric J. Smith. “Our recently launched book search offers ease and accessibility in finding that perfect read for a beautiful summer day.”

Research shows that children who continue to read during the summer months are more likely to retain progress made throughout the school year. In addition to theJust Read, Florida! summer reading list, DOE also recently partnered with the Department of State (DOS) and MetaMetrics, Inc. to launch ‘Find a Book,’ a search tool that identifies the appropriate books for each student’s reading level. This technology allows students and their families to personalize their book list according to preference and reading level.

To view all of DOE’s summer reading suggestions, visitwww.justreadfamilies.org/SummerReadingList.pdf. To learn more about ’Find a Book,’ visit www.lexile.com/findabook. For more about Florida State Parks, go towww.FloridaStateParks.org or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FLStateParks.