Running for the train

Everyday I commute from Washington Union Station to Halethorpe, MD on the MARC commuter rail. I will typically catch the 5:20pm express on the Penn line but this particular day I was running late so I was resigned to take the 5:34pm local.

When I got to the station platforms the 5:20 train was still there so I started heading for it and I heard the conductor said, "All aboard!" I'm not really the running type so I was just going to go catch the later train but as I was about to change my mind the conductor saw me and said "Come on!" and waved his arm beckoning me to make the train.

So I put on a little bit of speed and ran to the end of the first car where the conductor was now standing in the doorway. Right as I was getting there the train began to pull away from the platform. The conductor said, "careful now" and stepped aside to allow me to jump onto the moving train.

I was a little bit out of breath from the sprint but I was pretty excited about what had just occurred. I had just jumped onto a moving train as it pulled away from the station. When in my life will I ever get the chance to jump on a moving train again?

The Chocolate Chipper

More than a century ago on the shores of Scotland a couple of guys in kilts decided to whack a stone with a large stick. It went flying across the sand bouncing and skipping and eventually came to a stop. So they hit it again. Out of this madness was born a game, we call it golf.

Out of a desire for instant gratification someone came up with the idea to remove all the extraneous efforts of getting the ball to the green and created mini-golf. Golf in miniature, what a concept! It is truly golf at its basis, get the ball in the hole.

Sometime in the 80's this fad made its way to the Pacific Northwest. The weather there is not ideal for being outside so when mini-golf came to Portland it was inevitable that it would be indoors.

The popularity of mini-golf exploded, it grew like wildfire on the minds of children all over town. It was only a short time before we all wanted to try our hand at putting a neon pink ball across astro-turf. It was such a huge hit that field trips were organized through the school so all the children could fulfill their weeks-long dream of playing the sport.

The Chocolate Chipper opened up along one of the busiest roads in the area. They couldn't have picked a better location to be in, right next to Burger King and across the street from McDonalds. And to top it all off, the Chocolate Chipper also was an ice cream parlor.

No parent could keep their children from seeing the course in all it's glory, just waiting to be conquered. "Please mom, just one game?! You said that you would take me," would be the cry. "Can I get ice cream too?"

I don't know how long I had to wait to go but it felt like months. It seemed that everyone at school had been, some several times. When we walked in the aroma of waffle cones filling the air pulled me in the direction of the ice cream. But wait, what's that? All of a sudden there it was, challenging me, 18 holes of wonder.

The windmill, the rolling bumps, and of course the 18th hole had a chance to win another game. I don't remember how well I played, it couldn't have been good but when it was all over, I had a double scoop cone of chocolate chocolate-chip ice cream. I remember thinking that it had been the greatest experience of my life.