This summer was an opportunity to return from the Philadelphia area to my roots in California. Since I didn't know what disc golf was when I lived in CA, I was excited to check out the variety of courses that the Golden State has to offer. After playing Orangevale (several times), Humbolt (appropriately called the Redwood Curtain), Ukiah (great hazard - mountain lions!) and some smaller courses, my teenage son Ty and I were ready to tackle the higher elevations such as Bijou (South Lake Tahoe) and Zypher Cove (Nevada).

Bijou Park was more than expected. Oh yes, we knew it was 27 holes, but didn't know it contained a great variety of holes requiring many different shots. The smell of pine needles and the scenic views made it hard to concentrate on my game. Among the many challenges were the trees, not just the trunks, but the branches of the pine trees that form a perfect shelf to park a disc on. About halfway through the course, the boy teed off with a new Cyclone that landed about 60ft. up on one those coniferous shelves. His immediate reaction was to throw another (new Cyclone) disc from under the tree to try to dislodge the previous toss. Of course, the tree sucked in that one also. Now we both started throwing older discs until the score was 3 to 0, tree's favor. Then we switched to rocks and small logs, throwing until we were exhausted. We took a break to get a motel room and some dinner. Unable to bear the thought of giving up 3 discs to one tree, we returned and threw more rocks and logs until nightfall. We managed to change the score to 2 to 1, with the tree still winning and we were unable to finish playing the course.

The next morning, my wife Carolyn thought I was being romantic when I suggested we take a drive up to Zephyr Cove - the site of our outdoor wedding some twenty years ago. Little did she know that there was another disc golf course waiting to be played. The Zephyr Cove course proved to be quite a challenge for other reasons. While I remembered manzanita bush from my childhood, I didn't realize how effective it can be at hiding discs. We managed to stay out of the tall trees, but the manzanita bush was as bad as any tall grass, eventually claiming two discs. But it was a small price to pay for the spectacular vistas of the snow-capped mountains surrounding the deep blue Lake Tahoe. The elevation changes were dramatic, but worth the effort for the view. We didn't finish the whole course here either as Ty and Sandahl's interest changed to chasing lizards and Dad didn't really want to climb up any more mountains.

Thanks to both courses and the people who maintain them for making that part of our trip so memorable. We'll be back again and we'll be looking for the "Lost and Found" discs.