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Note: For this entry, the BLACK text is Aaron speaking. The PINK text is Aunt Peg speaking. The BLUE text is Mom (Barb) speaking. Also, as usual, you can click on the embedded photos to enlarge them.
Dear Aunt Peg,
Here we are in Estes Park, Colorado.
OK, we have played this course every year since I was 10 years old. Every night that we stayed in Estes Park. Mr. Mitchell has become a family friend. You know, he bought this course in 1955. And it still only costs $3.00 to play. Before he bought this course, he owned one in Cody, Wyoming. He bought the one in Cody for $5,000, and he made $8,000 on it the first year he owned it. (1952). That Cody course is still in existence - it’s run by the city now.
I love Mr. Mitchell’s signs. That side room used to have arcade games in it (Ms. Pac-Man and one other, if I remember correctly), but now Mr. Mitchell has turned it into a sort of a miniature Estes Park museum.
I love the place where the people who win free games get to sign their names.
Mr. Mitchell always had the most interesting selection of golf balls to choose from. This is the only photo I’ve got of Mr. Mitchell, as he doesn’t like to be photographed. I played with a red ball, and a ball that was painted to look like the globe of planet Earth!
They let you pick your own club, which is excellent. This was a crowded day, so there were a lot of clubs in use. There were people on almost every hole.
Luckily the scenery is WONDERFUL!!!
This was a felt course. It was a little wrinkly. That happens with his course. But he does just replace the carpets from time to time.
Mom likes how he has well-placed boards with clips and pencils for your score card.
Every hole has either a bench or plastic chairs. Mr. Mitchell understands that the elderly may need to be able to sit between holes. Grandpa loves that.
LOOK at those flowers!!! You know, when Mrs. Mitchell was still alive there were a LOT of columbines and lobelias.
The alligator's mouth used to open and close, but it doesn't work anymore. It also doesn’t give an automatic hole-in-one if you putt through it anymore.
I know. It hasn’t for years. But when we were little, it always worked. Sigh.
LOOK!!! The windmill has made a propeller on Aaron’s head!!!
The infamous 4th hole that taught me to putt straight.
Mr. Mitchell’s kids own the gas station.
Look how many older people there are on this course!!
Well, there are so many people who have been coming here for years. Everyone comes there and talks to Mr. Mitchell for 5 or 10 minutes before they play. Plus, it’s cheap. It’s cash-only. But, where can you get that amount of entertainment for that price?? Plus, Mr. Mitchell gives away a lot of free games to people who have been coming there for years.
He changed this hole since we last saw it. He added a piece of wood on the left-side barrier so you couldn’t cheat by hitting your ball really hard, bouncing off the backstop and over the side.
Yeah, when we were kids we used to just whack our balls really hard to try to bounce over the left side!!
I love how he’s got hand-painted backgrounds on so many of the holes. I wonder if Mrs. Mitchell painted them?? In any case, they’ve been continually re-touched - they always look fresh.
This windmill is still a guaranteed hole-in-one, as he’s maintained this ditch that directs your ball. When I was younger, I thought the ditch had just been worn in by years of play, but mom recently told me that it's actually how the hole is designed.
Man, we looked forward to this hole when we were kids!!!
Dad missed the entrance to the windmill, however. Mom says, “It happens.” Dad blew a raspberry at us.
Another painting, and a fun picture of the aforementioned beautiful scenery.
I love the foxes. I love the moon.
Unfortunately, the back plank on this hole is completely dead. Mom says it used to bounce back a little bit. You used to be able to hit it off the back and roll in, but not anymore.
There was an elk just outside the fence. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, that was due to my having to take the photo over he chain-link fence at the edge of the property. There was a sign on the fence, saying to be sure to keep the gate closed so the elk don’t come in and eat the flowers on the golf course.
Man, I love Estes Park!! I remember one year, the elk all just came to the park next to the library and just sat in the park!! Like, a whole herd of them!!! Apparently they hung out there for a couple of days!!
The whole front range is painted here. Long’s Peak is on the left, Hallett’s is near the middle, and the Mummy Range is on the right.
Here’s the free game hole.
Uncle Dave’s family won FIVE free games one night!! Look!! It’s Michael’s signature!! He’s our illustrator!!!
You know, when we started playing minigolf here, Dave was too young to play on the course near our home in Nebraska. But Mr. Mitchell will let children of any age play - with adult supervision. It was such a treat for Dave to get to play, instead of just watch. That’s one of the reasons this course is so beloved by us. And probably gazillions of others.
Statistics (from four nights of golf):
Par: 51
Aaron: 41/40/47/41
Barb: 39/39/44/42
Paul: 48/47/44/44
Difficulty (1-6 putts, 6 putts being the most difficult): 1 putt. Partly because he’s set the par so high, which really makes children feel encouraged. On the scorecards, he even prints "Keep your score and watch your game improve."
Rating (1-10 balls, 10 being the most wondrous): 10 balls according to Aaron.
You know, this is a rating that takes into account familiarity, and other intangibles like, owner friendliness, adjacent elk, and fabulous mountain aromas.
Coming next: Cascade Creek Mini-Golf
Dear Aunt Peg:
We left DeKalb really early today, and got to Kearney, Nebraska at around 4:00. So, we had an early dinner and then went to The Big Apple Fun Center - a big entertainment complex.
It had bowling - like, 40 lanes worth - indoor miniature golf (Pirate themed. We didn’t play this course because we’d played Pirate golf in Dollywood), video games and food, outdoor volleyball, go-carts, billiards, darts, a kids’ ball-pit . . .
OK, what on EARTH is a kids’ ball pit?? Aaron just showed me a little clip from the web-site - OMG!!! It looks like a bizarre place where small children are PELTED with multi-colored plastic balls!!!!!! In the clip the children seem to enjoy this activity. I wonder, will it leave them psychologically scarred??
. . . plus outdoor miniature golf. Which is what we chose to play. The black-light golf and the outdoor golf were the same price. We thought these prices were a little high for such a small town in a remote area. These prices displayed right here are the before 6 p.m. prices. We considered doing “infinite bowling” which isn’t on this chart, but sounded like a great idea. But we just golfed.
This first hole was the most broken of all the holes. I hit my ball into the red receptacle, which was a rotating wheel, and look where it came out! Argh! This began to remind me of that horrifying Wii Golf that we played!!
Mom’s ball came out here! What was she supposed to do with that?!
Dad’s ball actually got stuck in the wheel! So, um, do you use a 5 iron for that, or what?
By this time “Guantanamera" was firmly lodged in my head!!!
Oh, wait, look at this score card. See the upper portion? That’s the layout of the whole course! We thought it was supposed to be a message, but then we realized it was just the layout and nothing more.
HA!!! It’s communication from an alien race!!! That same alien race that created that minigolf course with the decorations that weren’t QUITE normal - and the ALIEN PIG!!!!!! Why are aliens so attracted to minigolf, that’s what I want to know?????
After that first hole, the course really settled down. The turf was slow, the sides were cement, and the cups were a little shallow. But, basically everything worked.
LOOK at this cigarette butt (in the bottom of the second of the above two photos, boxed in red)!!! Oh, man, they are in the WEST!!!! When I asked about it, Barb said, “we went walking around Kearney, and there was a water fountain in the chemistry department at the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus, and there was a sign at the fountain that said, “don’t spit chaw in this fountain!” SHEESH!!!!
These were the next three holes.
DIG that shadow!!! That’s cool!!
See the artificial stream? That's probably why this course was called “Brookside Mini-Golf”.
Are these buckets ASH TRAYS?!?!? And look, the water is normal- colored!!
Look at this photo!!!! I THOUGHT it was Barb’s ball lying on the ground next to obstacles, and I couldn’t figure out how her ball could’ve gotten there, but in fact, Aaron caught her ball in mid-air flying from ramp to ramp!!! Isn’t that amazing!!! Perhaps he should consider a career as a sports photographer!!!
Mom got a hole-in-one on that hole.
Get OUT!!!!
On this hole you could go to the left, which was safe, or you could go over the bridge, which would send you anywhere BUT the hole because the steel has all kinds of texture on it! Look at Dad’s ball flying off the bridge!
Look!!! I love this hole!!!
I actually went up this ramp perfectly, and didn’t get a hole-in-one. But Mom DID get a hole-in-one. What’s up with that?
See this fountain? The water may not have been blue, but it smelled like a swimming pool. But, they made the end of the course - the last two holes - so that you could be sprayed by this fountain. I didn't appreciate this feature.
But you NEED that in Nebraska!! Man, the heat there is TERRIBLE!!
This hole is an uphill ramp, and this is where Dad got frustrated with the course and adopted a policy of just smacking the ball hard to see what would happen, which is a bad idea on this course, when you need to get into the holes on the bottom of the lighthouse. His ball flew up, banked off the lighthouse, and nearly hit the couple who was playing two holes behind us!
I hope he yelled, “FORE!!!!!!"
This is by far the longest hole I’ve ever played. It kind of reminded me of a go-kart track. Here’s Mom, encouraging her ball to go a little bit farther so she wouldn't be stuck under the bridge. It didn’t. Luckily she could still kind of reach it with her putter.
Hole 17 is where we had to actually take a trick shot. Dad got his ball stuck in the tunnel, and had to use a pool shot to get out!
The photo of the pool shot.
HA!!!!!
Hole 18 is the free game. None of us won one, though as it was really difficult. You had to hit the ball up the ramp, and then you’d get bonked around by all these pegs. I couldn't get a great picture because the sun was at a bad angle and the whole thing was enclosed by this chain-link fence housing.
Statistics:
Par: 42
Aaron: 45
Barb: 43
Paul: 54
Difficulty (1-6 putts, 6 putts being the most difficult): 3 putts.
Rating (1-10 balls, 10 being the most wondrous): 7.5 The holes are rather long, and some of the obstacles don’t work the way they should. And if you’re allergic to chlorine you’ll have trouble with the last couple of holes.
Coming next: Mr. Mitchell’s Tiny Town - Estes Park, Colorado
