Whispering Pines Golf and Country Club Resort

Pine Lake, Alberta: We left Calgary this morning, heading north. We decided to stop-in at a lake half-way to Edmonton for the night. Our reservations in Edmonton for The World's are at a highly-rated park, but we know it will be a parking lot and we will be having 10 days of city life, so we wanted a day of "country". We had read about pretty Pine Lake, the golf courses and fancy campgrounds and resorts, etc. We were not disappointed. We are spending the night at Whispering Pines Golf and Country Club Resort.

The view from our window today

We pulled in and seemed to be boxed-in as the parking lot was closed because of re-striping! A woman actually ran across the parking lot to greet us, apologizing profusely for our inconvenience and told us where to turn around and guided us to a campsite, directly on the lake. Canadians are so friendly! I commented on the nice new clubhouse, restaurant, pro-shop, etc. and she said everything was new - new owners, new managers - new lake. I asked for an explanation and she said last year a tornado came through the lake, 12 people died, homes, cars, RV's, debris - you name it, it was in the lake. The lake had to be closed and cleaned! This entire end of the lake had to be rebuilt. The results here are very nice, though still a work in progress - the "lots" are for sale and if the owner is not here, they can rent the space for a reasonable price.

We set up camp and pushed the button for the slide room - it moaned and did not move. I pushed it again and it decided to go out, though slowly! DT ran up to the club house and made a tee time - we had a snack and prepared to go golfing.

But, not before we discovered the reason for our slide-room troubles. DT unlocked the basement storage bin containing our golf clubs and it would not open! He yanked and pulled and lubed the lock. Nothing. Luckily, this bin is a pass-through bin, with the new bikes on the other side. DT opened the opposite door to the bin, pulled-out the bikes and found the reason for all this trouble - one of the motors for the hydraulics to the slide room had FALLEN and was jammed-up against the door! Oh, Goodness! He crawled-over and grabbed the clubs and golf shoes, replaced the bikes, locked it all up and we went golfing! There was nothing we could do to repair it - and as long as the other motors were bringing the slide room in and out... we will have it repaired in Edmonton. It's always something.
 
Anyway, back to golf!
 
The course was fun. I can't golf, but had fun and today I had tons of fun and tons of swings. I hit one fabulous chip shot! (One good shot per nine - that's all I ask!) Let's just say, I get my money's worth when I pay for a green fee and when I pay for it in Canadian dollars, it is absolutely a STEAL! DT didn't have a great day, but he could shoot a sub-par round and find some reason to complain about his game... so his opinion does not count.

The view from the 14th hole


Hazards in a sand trap - Canada Geese

The weather was just perfect! No wind! Warm and sunny. People on the course were friendly. People on the course were also very interesting. Golfers wear cowboy hats in Alberta! The "dress code" at this club is "Shirts must be worn at all times".
 
We came back to our campsite, at about 7 p.m. for cocktails - sitting on chairs lake-side - quite refreshing. The locals came by to chat with the "newcomers" - foreigners at that - and were very friendly and welcoming, telling us about the tornado and all the changes at the campground. We were also welcomed by the sales manager! Not missing a chance for a sales opportunity - he stopped by to say hi. He knew we would not buy a lot when he saw our license plates - but he chatted with us just the same and told us the lake freezes over in the winter and it is busy with skaters, ice fishing and other activities!

He was a most interesting young man, very handsome, and said he was born and raised 10 miles from here on a cattle farm. I can't actually remember the breed (sounded like Anjou), but he claimed the cattle were very fancy, very big and very coveted - especially by Americans. I also asked what they raised to feed the cattle and he said BARLEY! Then I asked why they grew so much mustard around here - the fields are brilliant yellow and he gave me a puzzled look. Mustard? We don't grow mustard here. So, I asked what all the yellow fields were and he said "Rapeseed for Canola oil". (Looks just like mustard when you are screaming down the freeway at 60 mph.)

I stir-fried a lovely mushroom, green pepper and tofu dish, served over Thai rice and we called it a night.