A CRUISE TO REMEMBER
‘What a way to celebrate our 50th!’
“We are here,” announced our guide. Somehow we had overlooked the entrance. Perhaps the course was below the roadway, hidden by a luxurious clubhouse? As we approached a weary building we took note of what appeared to be a field of dormant vines, long ago picked clean of ripe fruit. Upon entering the “clubhouse,” our guide began to converse with the man slouching behind the desk. “How many sticks do you want?” she asked us.
Picking up on the fact that she was referring to golf clubs as sticks we quickly surmised that this would be an adventure. “Can you share six sticks and three balls?” he asked. Wait a minute, I have been known to lose three balls on one hole. Despite my optimism, this was not looking like the beginning of a championship round.
Off we went to the first hole, indeed down the hill from the farmhouse/clubhouse. The tee box was a well-worn mat of artificial turf, followed by a pasture of clover that led to an abandoned patch of scraggly grass. I was the first to tee off and having no idea of the distance, I commenced sending my ball over the green and into a giant-frog pond (the frogs were giant, not the pond). Once my friend composed himself from laughing hysterically, he proceeded to send his ball over a barbed wire fence into the vineyard. Now we only had one ball and still 18 holes to play. I charged back to the clubhouse and pleaded for more balls. Apparently this happens all the time because he promptly pulled out a bucket of balls and allowed me to fill my pockets.
My motto when traveling is—the worse the situation, the better the story. We finished playing the ramshackle course and found beauty in the simplicity of our surroundings. Now, where is that vino?
My husband, Ken, and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in November 2019 by going on 14-day Mediterranean cruise with friends of ours, another couple—gloria and Blair Jensen. We began in Rome, Italy, and then we were off to Greece on a beautiful cruise ship, stopping at different ports of call every day, taking several walking tours and putting on many steps! We used so many forms of transportation it was hard to keep track at times, from flying into Rome and cruising the Mediterranean, we found ourselves pounding the waves in small boats to get to some ports, and riding in buses, private vans, subways and I forget what else while ashore. Everywhere we went, the scenery was beautiful and the history amazing! What a great way to celebrate our 50th, especially with Blair and Gloria as travelling companions! ■