The Masters

Jeremy and Brittany came to visit and to go to a practice round at the Masters.  The place is unbelievable.  They make sure that the azaleas bloom at the right time and every blade of grass is in its proper place.  We went to the practice round on Tuesday which was lucky since it was rained out on Monday.  We arrived at 7:00 AM and did some shopping and then hit the course at 8:00.


The practice facility (much more than a driving range) is a work of art in itself.  This is Webb Simpson practicing bunker shots.

 

Sergio Garcia putting.

 

Jeremy and Brittany by the big scoreboard.

 

We followed Phil Mickelsen, Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler and Jason Dufner for awhile.

 

 

Jeremy on #15.

 

Mom and Brittany on #15 also.

 

Here I am on # 13.

 

Here are the four of us on #12 (Amen Corner).

 

Also on #12.

 

Phil chipping on #11.

 

 

Dustin Johnson hitting his tee shot on #12.

 

Phil hitting his tee shot on #12.

 

 

 

Vijay Singh hitting his 2nd shot on #13.

 

 

Bernhard Langer hitting his 2nd shot on #13.

 

 

 

 

Vijay chipping from the back side of #15.

 

During practice rounds and after the players hit their tee shots on #16 (a par three), they then go to the edge of the pond and try to skip a ball on the pond and onto the green.  About half of them do get it across the pond and it really gets the crowd going when they succeed.  Above is Vijay hitting his skip ball.

 

Sergio chipping from behind #15.

 

Sergio and Luke Donald hitting their skip shots.

 

This is #16 green across the pond.  Notice the three turtles on the edge of the pond.  While we were watching, two of them got knocked into the water.

 

 

Another shot of the pond showing the edge of the tee and green on the other side.

 

 

Jim Furyk.

 

Ben Crenshaw on #6 tee.

 

Tom Watson on # 6 tee.

 

 

Matt Kuchar hitting his tee shot on #10.

 

Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland walking down # 10.

 

 

Looking back down #13 to #12 green.

 

Another shot at #12.

 

The little white flag in front of the gray box is where Phil hit his famous 2nd shot on #13 (a par five).

 

Jeremy and I in front of #11 green.

 

#11 and #12 in the background.

 

Ernie Els teeing off on #17.

 

Mowers moving up #14.

 

#6 green.

 

A tall Georgia pine.  The tallest trees in a group have lightning rods installed on them so that lightning doesn't ruin them.  If you look on the back side of the tree, you can see the wire running down it.

 

What a day!! It was everything we expected.  One thing that doesn't show on television is much up and down there is on the course.  Almost every hole has a lot of elevation change.  It was a once in a lifetime day and it sure was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors

We were fortunate to have many of our family come to visit us.  Jeremy and his boys came between Christmas and New Years.  Kim came in late March and Jason and his boys came around the first of April.  It was so much fun to see them and to be able to show them where we live and where we have served.

Of course, we took Jeremy and the boys to the Redcliffe Plantation.  The first two photos are in the slave quarters.

 

 

 

The boys had to climb in the weird shaped tree.

 

The plantation house.

 

Pictures by the stable.

 

And in the cotton field.

 

We then went down to the river walk.  Boston and Jackson are standing on the railroad tracks that 

come through the levee that protects Augusta from the Savannah River.

 

 

And to the Augusta Museum.

 

This is a Petersburg boat that they used to haul cotton down the Savannah River to Savannah.

 

Old steam engine.

 

Native American dugout canoe.

 

And don't forget the War of Northern Aggression.

 

 

We visited the boyhood home of Woodrow Wilson.

And the home of George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

And the Signers Monument which commemorates the 3 signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia.

 

And, of course, another Georgia institution, the Waffle House.  Our granddaughter, Addy, wouldn't even go in the place when she was here.

 

Jeremy got a picture of the boys with Sam Tevi who plays for the U.  His sister served with us in Augusta so we got a picture of her with the boys also.

 

 

 

 

 

Kim came to visit in late March and we took her to all of the same places that we took everyone else.  These two photos were on the river walk.

 

 

Here is the train crossing the bridge where Boston and Jackson stood on the tracks.

 

 

 

We were also able to see 'Big Boy' who is an alligator that hangs out in a pond over in Evans.  He was out sunning himself that day.

 

 

 

This photo was taken when we took Jeremy and Brittany over to see him.  After we watched for awhile, he just sank out of sight.  We backed away from the edge of the pond because we weren't sure where he was going to go.

 

 

 

We went to dinner at Sconyer's which is a well known barbeque restaurant.  The good barbeque restaurants are only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

 

 

Jason and boys came to visit during their spring break.  We also took them to the river walk.

 

Brooks is standing on the tracks that come across the river from South Carolina.  The bridge comes through a low spot in the levee as you can see it is higher on both sides.

 

 

 

Behind us you can see the levee again.  They have marks on the opening showing how high the water came in some years.  In 1929, before the levee was built, the water came higher than the second level of concrete you can see on the right side of the opening so you can see the reason for the levee.

 

We then went on a canal boat ride on the Augusta Canal which was built in 1845 using manual labor.  It supplied water power for different factories along the canal and was a real boon to Augusta.

 

We passed the old Confederate powder works which made most of the gunpowder for the South during the Civil War.  All that remains is the chimney you can see in the foreground.  The building behind it is the Sibley Mill which was built in 1880.

 

You can see all of the turtles lined up on the log sunning themselves.

 

This is an old steam engine that used water from the canal to power a factory.

 

The boys got to go feed the ducks at the pond in our apartment complex.  The ducks are quite aggressive so it was fun to watch them go after the boys to get the bread.

 

 

Back to Redcliffe plantation again. 

 

Big prickly pear.

 

 

Out in the cotton field again.  The cotton had been harvested since the picture with Jeremy and his boys was taken but there was a lot of it laying on the ground.