A Trip to Houston

 

I made a trip to Houston in May for business to meet with an Advisor from one of my top broker/dealer clients.  He is a southern gentleman, born and raised in Texas and he wanted to show us some good 'ol Texan recreation.  After spending an appropriate amount of time in his downtown office discuss business related topics, we headed over to the Greater Houston Gun Club for some clays and skeet. For the uninitiated, that's shotgun shooting at ceramic disks called  "clay pigeons."  In Skeet, targets are thrown in singles and doubles from 2 trap houses (the low house or the high house) situated some 40 metres apart, at opposite ends of a semicircular arc on which there are seven shooting positions.  The closer you move to the center position, the more difficult the shots become.  In Sporting Clays, or clays for short, we moved out into the woods to a series of stands where the clays are released from behind trees and shrubbery and sent over greater distances and at different trajectories. All in an attempt to simulate actual hunting conditions.  It was very loud (even with protection) and the recoil made my shoulder sore, but it was fun.  Even with expert coaching from a Shooting Champion, I only hit a little better than 50% of my targets -- our host hit almost 90% of his.

The next day was much more to my liking -- golf at the Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, TX. WPGC has been rated as the #1 course in all of Texas and it did not disappoint.  The course was fantastic, there was no one there, the staff could not be more helpful and the weather was fantastic!  The coolest part of the day (pun intended as it was 95 degrees out) was the mango dipped iced towels available on every sixth hole.  I had never experienced an iced towel on a golf course before, and a "mango dipped" iced towel is just the best!  The slight citris content of the water provides additional cooling from the towel, leaving the skin tight and refreshed.  In spite of the heat, I played a pretty good first round of the season.  The scenery and company where outstanding -- a good day was had by all.  As we drove back to Houston that afternoon, the skies opened up and we were enveloped into one of the most intense thunderstorms I've ever experienced.  The rain was falling so hard and fast, driving became treacherous.  Fortunately, we didn't have far to go and we arrived at our destination safely.  The next morning, we all caught flights for home.  It was a wonderful trip to Houston and I feel I had a real Texas experience.