- Chapter Thirteen -
Let's Take a Vacation

My family vacations are about the same every year. We usually leave Saturday morning and we travel until we come to my uncle Greg's house near Tulsa, Oklahoma. We spend the evening and the next morning with his family and leave in the afternoon for Okeene, Oklahoma, where my dad's parents and some of his brothers live.


Me and Dad golfing at Roman Nose State Park
We spend three or four days in Okeene visiting with family and golfing. The Okeene Golf Course isn't much to speak of, but it's cheap and there's never a crowd. Okeene probably has no more than two thousand people residing in it and the nearest town of some size is about a half hour or so away. We go to Roman Nose State Park at least once during the visit, and play its more costly, more crowded, and much more interesting golf course. There are canyons, trees, and hills all over this course. It would be impossible to walk this course in a timely and inexhausting way. On the new part of the front nine, there is a hole-number four-that has a canyon just after the tee box so that the ball must be carried 175 yards to reach the other side. Beyond the landing about thirty yards is the forest; so being short or long results in a lost ball. The next part is harder. From the landing, the ball has to be carried a slightly shorter distance, but if it doesn't land on the green, it rolls to the bottom of the canyon, or it lands in the trees. Despite all this, it is still a very fun course-to anyone who can play decent golf, that is.

Grandma is usually the last person we visit before visiting my mom's relatives in Kansas. Grandma has lived in a nursing home for four or five years-ever since Grandpa was unable to take care of her any more because of her Alzheimer's. Lately the visits have been real short and sad since Grandma can't do anything but lie in her bed.


Cousin AJ Evans
While in Kansas, we stay at my cousin AJ Evan's house. He is two years younger than me and lives in Iola. This past year he got cable internet and the only thing he does while he is home is talk to all of his girlfriends, most of which live in the surrounding towns. He likes to golf also, so Uncle Andy, AJ, my dad and I play golf at the local Cedarbrook Golf Course. This past year we played several rounds with altered rules to allow team play or rules that use various and strange scoring methods.

There is usually a family reunion the weekend before we leave. We go to that with the Evans and take part in the door prizes, and sometimes even win some. We usually play cards to pass the time before the food is served, and it is really quite boring since I hardly know any of the people. I see them at most once a year, so it is almost impossible for me to really know any of them.

After all is done, we leave on Monday morning and ride in the van for fourteen or fifteen hours until we get back to Lafayette. Even though I enjoy our vacations, I would rather have a vacation where we go somewhere neat. A foreign country would be nice, or even going to Florida or California I would like.

Our vacations have become a family tradition since we go to the same place and do basically the same thing each year. But after I move away from home, I wouldn't mind going on more fun vacations.


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