SLC Golfers

Of course the first thing Jamie and I did when we got to his house was sit down for some Donkey Konga action. And not just any Donkey Konga- Imported Japanese Donkey Konga. The first reason that this was great was that the songs were like 95% new, albeit in Japanese- which ensured that I spent the rest of the weekend trying to sing songs I didn't really know the words to. Most of them had at least a few English phrases in them. Some of them even had English titles like "Wild Challenger," which was great because the whole song clips along in Japanese but for the last line the guys shouts "WIIIIIILD CHALLEEEEEENGERRRRR!" Therefore I spent the whole weekend yelling "Wild Challenger" every time I thought about it.

Second, apparently Nintendo gives Asian children more credit than American kids (or 27 year olds) because the drum patterns are considerably more involved. Not necessarily more difficult, just that in the US release they stick to good old eighth and sixteenth notes, and this one has lots of sextuplets and half-note triplets. In any case, you earn coins based on how well you play, and I noted that we were making a lot more money than we usually do. Jamie replied "I think it's just that the Yen is really weak right now" and we laughed and laughed. Of course, it was like midnight, which was 2 a.m. to me, so that might've been a factor. Many of the songs sounded like the background music at Chinese restaurants, so it made me hungry and we ended up going to the most gigantic Chinese buffet that I've ever seen. Seriously. We're totally going there again. Throw in the fact that we went and saw Fearless Friday and we had a very Asian-inspired weekend.

The highlight of the trip was probably the frisbee golf we played on Saturday. We usually play at least one round while I'm there at the local course, but this time we trekked up to Solitude, a ski resort in the mountains that maintains a course during the summer (fun because we've skied there before). You can read a description and see a map here, but it doesn't really do it justice. Notice that they recommend taking the lift up to the top- this wasn't available to us because there was too much snow- you can probably guess where this is headed. We asked if we could still hike up, and they said "Uh, I guess." We asked if anyone has done it with this much snow, and they said "I highly doubt it" with an implied "moron" at the end. Well, never ones to back away from a challenge, we set out for the course.

Ski slopes look pretty steep while you're gliding down them, but have you tried to climb up one? The first bit was easy because there wasn't much snow, but it was still steep and muddy. After that we hit the ankle-deep slushy snow. Mind you, I was wearing my jeans, a long sleeve shirt and my running shoes (oh yeah, I had just run 16 miles that morning) that are virtually devoid of traction. Jamie had on shorts for God's sake! The next hour unfolded like a surreal arctic exploration gone bad. Trudging through the snow, getting lost among the trees, looking for markers ("that's hole 8- we must be on the right path!"), stopping to almost puke. I wasn't too scared because my phone had 4 bars, but then Jamie mentioned that we should definitely turn back before it started getting dark. At the sixth tee I did my damnedest to convince Jamie to just start here, because the going was getting pretty rough. Seriously, we were slipping and sliding all over the place and my feet were soaked. But no, we'd come this far by God and Jamie was going to play from the first tee, so we kept going.

We made it to the top, and right as I was about to tee off, a moose walked across the fairway about 30 yards away. Not a little moose- a giant black moose with big old moose antlers. It may have been the biggest mammal I'd ever seen, shy of like, an elephant. It was at least bigger than the Budweiser Clydesdales. Of course it was gone by the time I got my camera phone out, so I have no proof.

Even though most of the course runs perpendicular to the main slope, none of the holes were what you could call "flat." There was always a pretty steep grade to contend with, and we quickly realized that going down was going to be more treacherous than getting up. We both biffed it in the snow once, but luckily it provided some nice cushioning. Plus, what happens when you fling a heavy, flat disc into 6-8 inches of wet snow? Why, it almost disappears entirely! We were okay for the most part, but we did spend a considerable amount of time looking for lost discs (I'm happy to report that we came back with them all). Actually, that was probably the most peaceful part- off the beaten path in the trees with the sun filtering through, listening to the melting snow drip off the branches like rain. At one point I was scrounging through the snow, and I looked up to see two deer staring me down, maybe 10 feet up the slope. They were no giant black moose, but they were still big enough to beat me up. I yelled to Jamie "Deer! Big deer! Okay they ran away!" and Jamie replied that it's probably because I was yelling like a tourettes patient.

All in all, it was a good game. Aside from the cold wet feet, the difficult climbing, the fact that it got cold half way through, and all the snow, mud and slush, it was a really good time and I'm glad we defied common sense and gave it a go. Jamie won by 3 throws, but he always wins because he's actually good at disc golf. I'm bad enough before you factor in my hypothermic loss of motor skills. We'll have to try it again when the conditions are a little better.

By the way, it was a 2 for 3 football weekend because MSU couldn't seal the deal against Notre Dame. Purdue miraculously beat Minnesota, a game I experienced on my cell phone while tempting fate on the ski slope. Hopefully the Boilers will at least put up a good fight next weekend- beating Notre Dame would make my season.