Gift of RA

Lately Eddie and I have been doing things we have never done before – that certainly describes yesterday.  Eddie receive an invitations Emirates for the Boeing Golf Classic at Snoqualmie Ridge, just up the hill from the falls.  I am glad it included me, I have never been to a golf tournament before either.  It is the Senior PGA tour, so there were some well know names, such as Hale Irwin and Fred Couples.  They have huge tent skyboxes for all kinds of the sponsors, across the green was Asiana with the whole tent to themselves.  Plus all of them have a small tent on the grounds for advertising and talking to the public.  Apparently they only invited Eddie and the Marketing person Sandy to it.  Eddie has been working with Karen on some things and has become friends with her.

They had  several of the flight crew there, 100 nationalities and they are a family.  We talked to a gal from Australia and she talked about what it is like to work for them – they do things the Emirates way.

When Emirates does things, they do it all first class.   They sent red polo shirts – my XL was quite snug, I had no idea they would sent a Ladies size.  Very snug around the girls, but I wore my pashmina and it was fine.  They had a parking pass and 2 passes to go in, plus red lanyards for the passes.  The schedule show they opened at 8, the tee off was at 10:30, that meant we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to be there at 8.  It was cloudy with the promise of sunshine in the afternoon, they kind of day we have been having a lot,  Since the forecast said 10% chance of rain, I figured we would only get 10% wet.

We left here about 9 and drove over I-90 to Snoqualmie exit, then up Snoqualmie Parkway and over to the course.  Lots of ritzy ditzy houses around the course.  Well, turns out that wasn’t where we were supposed to park – we were in the Spectator parking.  So we drove down the hill and I saw the river and the sharp drop of the falls about 1200 feet away – everything was calm so I don’t think much was water going over the falls.  Then we went off to not just the  back 40, but to the way out in the stick back 60 before we finally found the parking.

It was at a sand and gravel business and for some reason they had a water truck out going over the ground – mad it into mud.  We found a space not too far from the buses and I will say, I was  very concerned about how high off the ground the first step was – buses and I  have a love hate relationship.  I was pleased to find the step was too high, though I had to hold on to the rail with both hands to pull myself up.  I was so surprised when the two men sitting in the row behind the driver gave their seats to me, that was so generous of them. That was how we arrived at the course entrance.

We went in, showed our passes and were directed to a small tent around the putting greens – not exactly a skybox.  This was Emirates tent for the public with a contest to win a seat cushion.  We got in line and then I had to sit because standing is problematic.  As I was sitting, one of the Emirates staff came by and I asked what the drill was for the hospitality suite,  We were directed to near the clubhouse and down the hill – oh, what a hill.  Fortunately they has carts and I had a ride down so it was much easier. Of course Eddie walked, said he needed the exercise.

I am amazed they had  just the picture I wanted – that is the 18th green and we were on the right side about halfway down.  Te clubhouse is to the left and they had their new 777 do a flyover Friday.  Guess it was quite something to see.

From there it wasn’t very far to the tent.  I was amazed I walked and did rather well since walking hasn’t been that easy for a while.  Just need more practice to build stamina and energy.  It was about 10:30 by the time we arrived.  They had a  2 level area, most was rows of chairs at different levels, like bleachers.  The front entrance had some table s and chairs – they were just finishing serving breakfast and setting up lunch.    There were cloth table covers and napkins, crockery and Emirates silverware plus a cushion on each seat.  We found a table off to the side – I needed a sit down – but Eddie was talking with people.  Later we had some lunch and they he was off again.

A bit of an idea where we spent the day – these are the tier seats and up behind are the tables and chairs – wish I remembered the camera.

A couple of guys came by and asked to share the table, when Eddie came back he knew one of them and we were introduced to his friend.  Eddie has been working with Bruce – he has company based here but has an office in Dubai, so he spends a lot of time flying back and forth on Emirates – he is one of their best customers.  After they left, Melanie Jordan came to sit with us and introduced her “new fella”.  I have worked on things for PNAA and now that Melanie is the Executive Director, there should be more work plus not having to deal with the board.  She is such a lovely person, her son just left to start MIT.  She understands about dementia, her stepfather  was ill for quite a while and died in April.  Her mom is now doing better since she was the major caregiver, she was worn out by the time he died.

A little bit closer to show the 18th hole.  As you see, it is definitely uphill.

The tent was  at the 18th hole and after a while, the threesomes started coming.  The hole is in a bowl and has 16 bunkers to navigate.  It was quite interesting to see how each player did.  There are volunteers all around with signs that say Quiet Please” when they are getting close – any noise can distract the players concentration.  We were looking down on the tee, plus to the right we could see down the fairway – it is definitely a hill from the 17th hole.  I found myself getting caught up in it.

This is looking up the 18th hole and the clubhouse.  16 bunkers and uphill.

It had sprinkled a little bit but not enough to really get wet.  The sun started to come out once in a while, but it took a bit longer before it was really serious.  Around 1:30 we decided to leave.  I checked to find restrooms and was directed down a small flight of stairs to a row of Honey Buckets.  I will say, they weren’t smelly, they made sure they were pleasant.  I had trouble stepping up and down from it because there really weren’t any handles on the sides.  But I was glad I decided to take advantage of them.

I found a ride up the hill and Eddie was up to the top very quickly.  There was a guy at the top of the hill asking the guard to take a picture of him and his friend.  I think he is a football star but I couldn’t tell you who he was.  He was very friendly and greeted us, commented that we were dressed alike and asked us how long we had been married.  Many people commented we were dressed alike – not surprising with red polo, black pants and a red Emirates cap.

It had been an enjoyable day and I realized I was tired – all that fresh air, exercise and good food.  We stopped at the store on the way home and Eddie was ambitious enough to do the laundry.  I just needed to relax and unwind – that last walk up to the bus to go back the parking lot bothered my right knee.  So it felt good to relax and rest.  I noticed Eddie fell asleep a couple of times while watching tv.  We’re no spring chickens but we still have spring in our step.

Tags: 18th hole, Boeing Classic, Emirates, Fred Couples, Golf course, Hale Irwin, putting greens, Senior PGA tour, Tent

This entry was posted on August 25, 2013 at 10:09 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.