June 15-18, 2017 Ruidoso, New Mexico

Since it's too hot in the summer here, there are no pickleball tournaments pretty much after March in the Phoenix area.  There are some up in Prescott in the summer but other then that you have to go other places to find a tournament.  Kev was looking up some different ones and came across this one in New Mexico.  It really wasn't a very far drive so we decided to go.  We were going to camp for a few days on the way there and then the nights of the tournament we had a little cabin rented close to where the tournament was.  It was a fun time and got us out of the heat for a few days.  We found a great little place to camp and that always makes it easier. 

 As always we like to go out and look for elk.  Well instead of finding elk, we found this little black bear strolling through the forest and we followed him for a while and then he started climbing a tree.  It was just a cute little bear and thankfully was going away from our camp and not towards it. 

 For the first time ever, Kev played singles in a tournament.  He did great, but boy was he dying.  He would turn around during timeouts and in between games and say to me, "don't ever let me do this again."  It was pretty funny.   He actually did great.  He ended up playing this young kid that he lost to but then came back through the losers bracket to play the kid for the silver/gold match.  Well by then Kev had figured out more of how to play strategically and he ended up beating this kid.  He was shocked and never saw it coming.  So then when they were giving out the medals, the kid was nowhere to be found.  After Kev beat him, he took off. 

 Then Kev and I played mixed doubles together.  We had a long day and played quite a few games, I can't remember how many now, but we ended up winning Gold.  It was a fun day and a good tournament.  I think we would drive and do that one again some summer, just to get away.