Happy People

This last week Moose and I were on vacation. We went to Cannon Beach Oregon. I had been to Oregon once before. It was a fast Spring Break with my roommate. We felt like we needed to get out of the Dorm and so hopped in her car are drove in a giant circle for three days. It was a blast, but we really didn’t get out of the car much.

This trip was significantly different. Moose and I still drove quite a bit (one way is close to 13 hours). . . . I am going to toss my cat here in a moment. As I am trying to type she is lounging on my chest with her claws digging into my shoulder. She will stay still for a minute then move, blocking my view of the computer screen. And yet, I still wouldn’t give her up for the world. . . . Back to Oregon. We stopped off in Boise on the way up to break up the drive. We arrived in Boise hours before we had scheduled.v The only plan we had was to visit an old roommate of mine (different from the one who drove to Oregon with me). We had a nice early dinner with her and then headed back to the hotel.

As we were driving back I noticed a little store in a strip mall. Boise Disc Golf (966 S Vista Ave). Our hotel was right next to the Ann Morrison Park which has a disc golf course. Moose and I enjoy disc golf and Moose had been lamenting that we hadn’t brought his discs (although the more we thought about it we came to remember that his brother borrowed them and we think he still has them). Moose collected his discs while he was serving his mission in Texas. On their preparation days they would head over to the course and wander the roughs. He found half a dozen that way.

When we entered the small store I was a little taken aback by the clerk. He looked a little on the punk side and I felt really foolish. When he finished with the other customer he came over. I have never met anyone so excited to explain how the discs work. He asked us if we played much and if we had noticed the discs doing anything consistently that we didn’t like. He went on to explain how the discs were rated and the differences between our playing styles. By the end of the conversation Moose and I had new discs and an appreciation for this fellow. I wish I understood more of what he was saying, but we got enough of it to know what to look for in the future.

We only played 8 holes that night and the new disc didn’t make my game amazing, but I could see a difference. I wasn’t quite as far behind Moose. (We were both playing conservatively because the course had multiple holes over a stream and we didn’t want to have to fish the discs out.) I love finding little stores like this one and it seemed every day we were finding another store with someone who was passionate about what they did and made it that much more enjoyable. The photographer at the studio we went to. The clerk at the candy story. The treasure hunter at the jewelry store. The usher at the zoo for the concert. Overall, Moose and I agreed that this was the best trip we’d taken together. So much fun, and so relaxing.