Coast Trip and Potlatch 2007

Another great coast trip is in the books. Andrew, Tyler, Renee, Marc, Sarah and I had a blast over the last three nights out in Ocean Park, WA. Andrew and I swam in the ocean two afternoons. It was a bit chilly, but warmer than Lake Tahoe, and after running around on the sand, the cool water felt quite good!

We played cards, played some game cube, and generally just had an all-around great time. This was the first time we had a place with a hot tub, and it is pretty sweet to have on the coast, especially in June. June on the Washington coast is no picnic. We had rain the first day, and high winds nearly every day. I don't think it got above 70 degrees. The hot tub was a nice addition. The first year we had a ping-pong table, the second year we had a pool table, and this year we had a hot tub. I think we all agreed that the pool table got the most usage, but the hot tub was a distant second. I think I hopped in four different time in the 3-night trip.

The four guys got a golfing trip in, and we played a little 9-hole course near Ocean Park, the same course we played last year. Tyler and I, versus Andrew and Marc. Last year they won by one stroke in a best-ball competition, and this year they somehow managed to pull off a victory by one stroke again. We were all playing pretty well for not playing in at least six months, not getting above a bogey (granted we were playing best-ball duos) for the first few holes. Tyler and I were up by one stroke until the 7th hole, when Andrew chipped in from the fairway to pull it back to even. We would have gone up two or three strokes on that hole if they had to putt it out. Bad beat! We triple-bogeyed and they double-bogeyed the eighth hole, and we tied the last hole to lose by one stroke again. So we had to be beer-bitches for the night.

The golf trip also had the most amazing moment I've ever been involved in at a golf course. Tyler, who hadn't really hit anything in the air; Marc, who had been slicing every shot; and Andrew, who can actually play, but wasn't playing well--they all stuck their balls on the green on the par-3 5th hole. They were all beautifully perfect shots, and the old guys in front of us watched them all smack their balls on the green. I didn't even shoot, because we needed a Tyler drive on the score card (each team had to take 4 drives from each player, and I was at 3 drives already). The moment is captured forever on the 8th photo down below. Literally one in a million chance of this happening.

Potlatch was amazing as usual. It is great to meet up with all my old ultimate friends every year, and I found pretty much everyone again this year. My old Junior Nationals teammates were playing as the 1st seed in the A pool again this year, on a team called Five-Point Ballas. Apparently their whole team name was longer, and involved ninjas, hence the "five-point" so some of them were dressed up as ballers, and others as ninjas--it was pretty sweet.

I tried to find my old Tacoma team I've been playing with the last four or five years at Potlatch, and ran into Tom White playing on the closest possible field to the cars, so I waved him down and asked about the team. Apparently the team dissolved/melded into another team, which was playing right in front of me--and they had a pretty set team in place. Bummer. A few of the old players had tried to already get in and play a few points, but were basically told "you can't play." Admittedly, they aren't the best players, but me trying to go play with the team didn't make much sense at that point.

Enter the amazing, random meeting with Tracy and Oren! As I was walking around taking pictures and figuring out what to do next, I thought I saw Oren near one of the Port-O-Potties. It was him, and they were playing with a mix of Canadian/Australians. I knew them from Sacramento, and apparently they moved up to Canada in March! After listening to my brief story about the Tacoma team, they suggested I try to play with them, who lost a player to an ankle injury in their first game of the day. Playing with Australians and Canadians sounded like a blast, little did I know, two of those Canadians were Patty and Graham! Woot! And I also knew Steve Lahr and Jack from the Sacramento community (we actually played last weekend in Sacramento against each other), who picked up with the team because they knew Patty, Graham, Oren and Tracy.

So I ended up randomly picking up with a team I knew six players! They were playing in the C pool (the upgraded Tacoma team was playing in the D pool), so I had my work cut out for me. I'm used to playing in the F or G pools with the old Tacoma team. I had a blast, and I think I helped the team more than I hurt the team. I didn't turn over the disc all day, which is always a good thing, but I didn't play stellar defense. Those guys were freaking quick, and I'm a slow bastard.

Stuck around after we lost in the Semi's of the C pool, by one point (ouch), and got to watch Jeremy and crew lose their Semi's A pool game by one point (double-ouch). Got home for some dinner, then headed up to the pool to take a quick dip after running around all day.

Time to wrap this up and let the pictures do the talking. Not too much planned for my next two days up in Seattle, might get a jog in with Tessa tomorrow, and I'll probably get a dinner in at Rosita's. Just planning on relaxing and getting in some quality time with mom and pops!

Pictures!

1)Helping Marc move to his new house
2)Helping Marc move and taking up his whole cul de sac with cars
3)Andrew and I in the hot tub with our beers and backup beers
4)Lounging around playing game cube
5)View from the living room
6)Marc, Andrew, Sarah playing pinnochle
7)Golfing
8)Most amazing golfing experience ever
9)Beers consumed
10)Chase Left-handed sky at Potlatch
11)Cool D #1
12)Cool D #2
13)Some of the old gang