Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth, TX came as a surprise to us. I think we were expecting a bigger city like Dallas, but we were pleasantly surprised with a small downtown with lots of character. It felt like we were truly in Texas. It seemed like everyone drove huge trucks, and it was very common to share the elevator with people their wrangler jeans, cowboy hat, and boots. We loved it! Not far from where we were staying were the Stockyards. On one of the first nights we headed over there and went to a place called Billy Bobs, it is apparently the world's largest Honky Tonk. I am still not really sure what that truly means, but it was this huge indoor facility with music, food, bull riding,and more. That night we saw Travis Tritt in concert and tried some local food (and were even served calf fries)... I didn't eat it and neither did Parker. We will try pretty much anything, but that went beyond our limits!

Later that week we went to dinner with some friends at a place called Lonesome Dove. www.lonesomedovebistro.com. It was an awesome experience. They had quite a bit of game on their menu which was a little intimidating at first but we decided to try it out and had appetizers which included kangaroo nachos! The food was phenomenal! The chef and owner Tim Love, was actually a winner on Iron Chef America. He is know for his signature desert...Warm Ancho Chile Chocolate Cake. WOW it was amazing!

This was the first year that Parker had the privilege of playing at the Colonial. I know that it was a special tournament for him because of the history with Ben Hogan. Looking back, we called this week his Cruise Control week. I think that both his body and mind were pretty exhausted after the excitement from Atlanta. Yet, he managed to play well enough to successfully play all 4 days. I am sure that the heat didn't help with the energy level. It was close to 95 degrees with humidity!!!! (Which made it nearly unbearable to walk the course, and I am sure even more difficult to play.)

We have already made it to Dublin, OH. Parker snuck into this tournament just before the cut off. You had to be top 70 after the week of Atlanta and because of his great play there, Parker was 69th on the Fed Ex List. This morning Parker had the privilege of meeting Jack Nicklaus. Parker saw him when he was at the course registering for the tournament. Parker was in his street clothes because we had sent his luggage through the luggage transporting service (to avoid all of these extra charges & hassle at the airlines). Well Parker introduced himself to Mr. Nicklaus and thanked him for the invitation this week. Parker told me that Mr. Nicklaus shook his hand and politely said "Your welcome, thank you for being here"... with this extremely blank stare on his face. I am sure he thought... now who is this???? Parker and I got a little laugh because we thought, with some more hard work on the golf course, maybe one day soon Mr. Nicklaus might get the chance to know who this guy from Hawaii really is.