Bucket List: Zip Lining in Minnesota's Treetops

Apparently, 2013 is the year I'm checking items off my bucket list. This weekend, I traveled to Minnesota for a weekend adventure with my good friend, Marlyn. We ventured to Kerfoot Canopy Tours, the zip line tour had just been open a month. Located just outside the Twin Cities, the zip line canopy tour features not one, but nine zip lines including some that are 150 feet above the ground! The sky guides--Jeff and Dan in particular--were great. Plus, you can rent a action video camera and mount it to your helmet! Check it out!

 

A Unique View of the U.S. Senior Open

The Omaha Country Club recently drew in more than 157,000 through its iron gates for the U.S. Senior Open. For many, the love of the game or the opportunity to see Funk, Couples, Watson or Allen tee off, make par or shoot a birdie was what drew them to the event. But for me, it was the chance to see an entirely new view of an area I'm very familiar with.

That's because I grew up across from the Omaha Country Club. In fact, the house where I was born and raised and where my parents still reside, faces the first hole. I learned that on Saturday, the first time I've ever stepped foot on the course. Sure, professionally, I've been to lunch, attended meetings and took a tennis lesson or two at the club, but I've never been invited to golf there. Much less walk on the greens. 

As a kid, I scouted every inch of our neighborhood with my siblings. When you grow up with horses, a fearless, older brother and lack of a cell phone, it's no big deal to pack a lunch and ride your horse all day miles from where you live. 

Thinking back to those days when I was like 10 or 12, as we made our way up Country Club to 72nd Street, sure, you'd pass by golfers and the young caddies waiting for a ride home. But we never talked to those guys and gals, much less stepped inside the grounds. I do remember a couple of times after a big snow, climbing across the wooden fence to go sledding down the fairway. It was only after consulting the hand-dandy map they give you when you enter the grounds, it's the ninth fairway we always sled down. And had I know then what I know now, we should have traveled the distance to the back nine, where the steeper hills are located. 

While walking the course twice on Saturday, I noticed all kinds of things. Like fairway two is the entire length of Fairway Drive. In grade and middle school, I'd run up and down Fairway to get to my piano lessons at Mrs. Hart's house, who lived at the top of the street. Or that fairways three and five sit just behind Country Club Oaks where we used to trick or treat. And there's a new house being built that faces State Street.

It was fun to see old neighbors, reminisce about our days growing up and soak in the atmosphere during the U.S. Senior Open. More importantly, with my VIP passes and special parking pass, it was fun to be able to literally park across the street and walk to and from the event. 

To date, I've only golfed twice and both times happened to be the coldest days of spring with a howling wind. So needless to say, golf is not a game I'm good at. But being the pros and the fans, it was awesome to see real golf in action. I have a new respect for the game, the skill and the luck involved. And while I've always been proud to grow up across the street from the Omaha Country Club, now I have an even greater appreciation to be where I'm from.