Argonne69

Booked Inniscrone for Friday, and Honeybrook for Saturday. With Wyncote on Thursday it should be a good start to the Downingtown stay. Probably going to take the day off on Sunday.

If you're keeping your calendar by my dining plans, you're in for another shock. Lol. Tomorrow is a travel day, so I decided to grab a bite a day early. Gotta tip about Taqueria Habanero in College Park. Thought I might be downing street tacos, but I was surprised to see mole pablano on the menu at this counter served taqueria. The chorizo taco was very good, but at $4.50 each I'd pass next time. The kitchen was very busy with take out orders, so they comped me a small serving of guac while I waited. Excellent guac. The mole was excellent. Thick with a nice kick. The chicken breast was a nice size, but a tad dry. Still, the mole was worth the trip. Unfortunately no liquor license, so no margarita.

Traveling around this part of Maryland is simply nuts. I thought the Beltway was goofy, but the hinterlands are no better. 45 minutes to travel 18 miles with light traffic. Seems every town has 30 mph speed limits with photo radar. Traffic should be flowing at 35 to 40, but it's at a crawl.

Thought about it, but I have other plans today.

The weather is so nice that I'm actually sitting outside enjoying a beer. Brookeville Beer Farm has a very nice beer garden and 30 taps with a decent mix. Their 16 Bar Stools Belgian Tripel is tasty.

Blue Mash GC, Laytonsville, MD Full photo set: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/kb8q2gwgdqzkqvq7do24z/ACwFb6Gep74RyBVVuMXJ9G0?rlkey=tnc2riu00mh0rm1r5k753ujnw&st=09ijhppx&dl=0

I wasn't planning to play Blue Mash given that it's fairly open and the heat index has been off the charts recently, but it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Very pleasant morning with cooler temps, lower humidity, and a nice breeze. Joined an interesting group consisting of two brothers and three of their kids. Only one of the juniors was playing, hitting driver off the tees, so we pretty much played as a threesome. Pace was excellent at 3:20. Blue Mash today. The prairie/parkland hybrid was designed by Arthur Hills. Nice rolling piece of property out in farm country. Half the holes nearest the clubhouse are prairie style with thick native areas. The holes furthest from the clubhouse are parkland holes. Fairway bunkering was very light. Greenside was much better. Water in play on 5 holes, but again, most of the native areas should have red stakes. Six holes with gentle left/right movement. While the overall property is fairly flat, there was some nice mounding that produced more than a few uneven lies and squirrely bounces. Fairly easy off the tee with generous fairways and a couple of short forced carries. A few of the shorter par 4s were more pinched off the tee. Minor misses would catch the thick, penal rough. Big misses were generally lost in the junk, but a handful of holes had parallel fairways that could be utilized. Lol. Approaches were moderately difficult with solid bunkering on many holes. Seemed to be quite a few pins tucked behind them. Greens had a good amount of contouring and slope. Nice to have to think about a few putts. Up and downs were a mixed bag. Many holes had closely mown areas where an easy chip or Texas wedge were the play. Hitting out of the thick rough was much tougher, especially if one had to carry a bunker to a short sided pin. The five par 3s were OK with sufficient trouble. The long 11th was the best with all carry over a pond. The 17th also had all carry with a long, narrow green. Variety of length was good playing 9i to FW with three playing long. Par 5s were OK. The short 12th was a bit of a risk/reward hole with water near the green. Two of the longer ones had a little trouble in play on the layup. The sole short par 4 8th was decent. The right to left sweeper was driveable with a solid teeshot. Conditions were generally good. Teeboxes had a few sketchy areas. Fairways were fine. Rough was thick. Bunkers had plenty of wet sand that needed grooming. Greens were disappointing. Sanded and slow. Don't think they reached 9. Played the Blue/White combo at 6294 yds on the par 71 layout (69.6/124). Good day off the tee, but got a couple of weird bounces that found the rough. Irons were OK, but a couple of right misses. Short game was spot on saving quite a few strokes. Putter struggled to get to the hole too many times. One birdie and five bogies. Shot of the day was my 9w off the tee on the long par 3 11th. Nice low draw that landed in the front of the green and rolled past the back pin to 12'. Made the birdie putt. Highlight of the round was my interesting group of playing partners. The dads were letting the young ones drive the carts, and they were having a great time. Also nice to finally have a lower humidity day. I don't feel shagged out. Lol. I think this one squeaks out 6 cows. Nice looking course with expansive views. Plenty of trouble if you're wild, but needs more fairway bunkering. No walking rate, but the $69 senior weekday rate was fine. Don't consider it a must play, but it's not a bad option on a cloudy and/or cool day.

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of a companion star in a tight orbit around Betelgeuse, resolving a long-standing mystery about the star’s varying brightness. The companion star has a mass ~1.5 times that of the Sun. Image: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani

Meet the new boss Same as the old boss - The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again

Ah. Enjoying an extremely tasty full pour of a Revolution Thundertaker BBA imperial rye stout. Nice to have it in a glass. Lol. That could be the finest imperial stout I've had. Booked an RV park in Hershey for mid-August. I have a round at Blue Mash tomorrow morning. Also booked a round at Wyncote for Thursday.

Minus the drive back to the RV park, it was an enjoyable day off. Still no idea why drivers insist on crashing into each other in the middle of the afternoon in light traffic. The Beltway is nuts. Slept in a bit, enjoyed my morning coffee, and then drove down to George Washington's Mount Vernon. I think Thomas Jefferson’s pad is nicer, but those views of the Potomac are to die for. Walked around the estate, stopped at his tomb, and had a very brief tour of the mansion. Unfortunately the mansion is undergoing renovation, so only the New Room is finished. His gardens are nice. Probably should have spent a little time in the museum, but traffic was getting heavier on the dreaded Beltway. Quite the view from the back porch Full photo set: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/buoggly3sb9qpnreosc63/ANnsmVL9nojuefgSyrv1J_w?rlkey=rq28qpzfhu7jklp3ii2pw8idu&st=0ikphe95&dl=0

Should be an enjoyable round: https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/1842161-args-travel-log/?do=findComment&comment=24889263

Bah. The final two rounds will be live on streaming only. The edited coverage will be available later in the day. Looks like good weather for the first two rounds, and then a little morning rain on the weekend.

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points Format: 72 holes Purse: $2,000,000 Location: Dundonald Links, Gailes, Ayrshire, Scotland Par: 72 Yardage: 6,538 yds History: This is the 9th year for the event. In 2024, Lauren Coughlin shot a final round 69 to win by four strokes over Esther Henseleit, and secure her second LPGA Tour victory. Coverage: Jul 24: The Golf Channel 4:30 am - 8:30 am (EDT) Jul 24: The Golf Channel Encore 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT) Jul 25: The Golf Channel 4:30 am - 8:30 am (EDT) Jul 25: The Golf Channel Encore 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT) Jul 26: NBC Sports App 8:00 am - 12:00 pm (EDT) Jul 26: The Golf Channel Encore 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm (EDT) Jul 27: NBC Sports App 7:00 am - 11:00 am (EDT) Jul 27: The Golf Channel Encore 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm (EDT)

Wow, that was a long drive. Decided to skip the hotel tonight and drove the entire 750+ miles back to DC in one shot. Eleven and a half hours with a half dozen stops to get gas and stretch my back. I believe my longest previous drive was 9 hours (Chicago to Pigeon Forge). 'Hope I won't be doing this again soon. Heavy rain for the first hour heading south on I-65 to Indy, and a few showers near the Ohio River on I-470. Otherwise the weather wasn't bad. Had a 10 minute gapers delay near Frederick. Westbound I-70 was closed down due to an accident. Feel sorry for the folks stuck in the 5 mile backup heading west. Stopped at a rest stop just west of Cumberland to grab a small bite to eat. Enjoyed a nice slice of leftover Lou Malnati's deep dish while looking out at the beautiful western Maryland scenery. No golf tomorrow. Going to sleep in a bit, and then I might drive down to Mount Vernon. I was going to visit the place on Tuesday after a morning round, but I might take advantage of the bonus day and head down there in the mid morning after the rush has died down. Going to crack open a fresh can of Deth's Tar here in a minute

In the center of many galaxies, giant balloon-like structures of high-energy radiation extend thousands of light-years above and below the galaxy's plane. Known as the Fermi bubbles, the massive lobes may have been the result of a violent outburst in the galaxy’s recent past. Each lobe of the Fermi bubbles is ~25,000 light-years tall. Image: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Saganaki (flaming Greek cheese) was invented in Chicago. The appetizer is made with fried kasseri cheese. The ritual of adding brandy and flambéing the cheese was started by restaurateurs in Chicago, who encouraged customers to yell "Opa!" as the plate was being ignited. Wouldn't be a visit to Greektown without a glass of dry Apelia Roditis Greek Rose. Entree was the Greek Stuffed Chicken, a chicken breast filled with spinach, feta cheese, and Mediterranean herbs, topped with mozzarella cheese and egg-lemon sauce, served on a bed of rice. Heavenly.

In Allentown I was looking at Architects Club, Great Bear, Burkleigh, Golden Oaks, Butter Valley, Macoby Run, Shepherd Hills, Twin Lakes, Turtle Creek, Fox Hollow, Hickory Valley Presidential, Blue Shamrock, and Willow Brook. Probably looking at 4 or 5 rounds.

Tough call for lunch today. Being a big BBQ fan, I considered stopping at Carson's Ribs. It's a bit of an institution in the city. Don't think it stacks up to some of the southside joints, but it's a decent rack of ribs. Their original sauce is still one of my favorites, a sweet and tangy sauce. They don't do brisket, but the ribs are very good, and they do a mean porkchop. However, I decided that I eat enough barbecue, and settled on Greek. Don't think I've run across a proper Greek restaurant outside of Chicago. Athena's in Greektown has been my go-to restaurant for 25+ years. Their atrium used to have wonderful views of downtown Chicago, but a few years ago they built a high rise across the street.

Lol. Picked a good day to sample new bourbon barrel aged brews.

Been quite a while since I stopped at my favorite place in the city, the Revolution Brewing Taproom. It's my lucky day because it's release weekend for a few of their brews, including the wickedly good Thundertaker Bourbon Barrel Aged Rye Stout (16% ABV). Definitely picking up a few four packs to go. It's "reasonably" priced at $30 for four 12 ounce cans. Only nit is that the $8 samplers are served in plastic cups during the release party. Boo! Where the magic happens. Lol. On deck is the Thundertaker Espresso, and the Quinze Double BBA barleywine and ryewine. I do love a 5 ounce pour, even if it's pricey. 🙂

Did I say that Chicago is a great tourist town? Lol. Getting very pricey for the locals given that the city sold it's soul for $5. They sold the rights to the parking meters for a dime on the dollar. The streets are also littered with photo speed cameras with the speed limit set to 30 mph. Gas prices? Oy.