The par 71 Championship golf course, designed by Carlton Gipson, is one of the longest in East Texas, featuring a distance of 6,977 yards from the back tees.  The course runs through one of the most beautiful neighborhoods around, and is lined by dogwoods, mature hardwoods, and azaleas.

My personal experience of the golf course is limited, as I’ve only played a couple of rounds, but what I can attest to is the fabulousness which is the clubhouse.  The grounds are beautiful, and the clubhouse itself is nothing short of magnificent.  The French Country style facility hosts formal and casual dining, player lounges, and a full service golf pro shop.   I had my wedding reception in one of the banquet rooms, and all my guests were blown away not only by the location, but by the friendly and attentive people who work at Eagle’s Bluff.  I worked with an event coordinator, and she made sure that everything was perfectly taken care of so my night would be everything I could have ever imagined.

My husband and I also enjoyed our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple last year at Eagle’s Bluff for their spectacular five course menu created especially for that occasion.  It was beyond wonderful and we both enjoyed every minute (and bite) of it.  I liked it so much that when I was put in charge of planning my company Christmas party, I immediately knew it HAD to be at Eagle’s Bluff.  Once again, all our guests loved it, and everyone had a wonderful time.  We had a private room and a special menu, and everything about it was perfect.  I’d definitely do it again next year.

In addition to the restaurant and golf course, Eagle’s Bluff also offers their members swimming, a fitness center, and tennis.  Each year they host a Fourth of July fireworks show on the course and last year they opened it up to the public and it drew quite a crowd.  For anyone planning a romantic evening, a special event, or a round of golf, Eagle’s Bluff is definitely worth a look.

Eagle’s Bluff
465 Eagles Bluff Boulevard
Bullard, TX 75757-9826
(903) 825-2999

This past summer I found myself faced with the task of coming up with the perfect first anniversary gift for my husband.  I racked my brain for days and days and finally I was struck with an idea for the perfect gift….  Cowboys tickets in the new stadium.  This idea was especially good, I thought, because it met the traditional guidelines that the first anniversary gift should be paper.  So, after much internal debating and back and forth and so on, I finally decided on (with much help from my football-informed friends) the October 25th duel between the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons.

Now, back to dispelling myths.  Let’s start with parking.  The tales I had heard about parking at or even near the stadium were almost enough to be a deal breaker for me.  I heard rumors that parking was going for anywhere from $75 to $150 for parking a mile away!  I am happy to report, that this is one rumor you can completely dismiss.  It may be true that parking is this much in certain areas, but affordable parking is available – if not plentiful – just a short walk from the stadium.  We were cruising in on Collins wondering which way to go.  My husband pointed to a glimpse of a satellite tower far, far away, just barely visible on the horizon.  There, he claimed, was the $50 parking section.  If we drove there now and walked straight back to the stadium, we should be there just in time to catch the end of the halftime show.  Um, no thanks.  We decided to push our luck and keep going toward the stadium when all of a sudden we saw it.  Parking for $35.  The stadium is not only within walking distance, it is visible, and practically right there!  I wish I could remember the name of the place…  My memory fails me.  But, I can tell you that it was a small, privately owned parking lot just down the road from the stadium, and the parking was only $35.00 If you just had to be closer, the next block up parking was going for $50.  Myth dispelled.

Next, let me tell you about my impressions approaching and entering Cowboys Stadium.  Walking up to the stadium was incredible.  I wanted to hang out with the tailgaters more than I wanted to go inside!  Now, forgive me if this is common knowledge, but I had never seen anything like it.  Motorized cooler scooters, vans equipped with flat screens and surround sound, grills that attach to your trucks, people dressed up in costumes, I could go on and on.  It was SO cool.  Too bad we had to go inside. Once I was able to pry my eyes away from the tailgaters and all their fun setups did I take a moment to actually look at the building itself.  I don’t really like using the word building for it because it is so much more.  It is really a feat of architecture and engineering.  Oh, and it looks like a giant spaceship with crab legs.

The course is easy to find, but it was First Monday so the traffic was terrible.  To get there, just take Hwy 64 west to Canton, take a right on Hwy 19, and it’s on the right.  You can see the zip lines and towers from the highway.  The course is situated on a beautiful piece of property.  We were asked to fill out a brief info sheet, then were introduced to our guides and harnessed up.  In addition to our harnesses, we also were given helmets and thick, padded gloves to wear.

Our guides were Cody, Clay, and Mike, and Lori was our instructor who taught us how to brake and some other zip lining maneuvers.  I’ll admit, I was getting pretty nervous during the training portion.  They hook you up on a short line to practice breaking.  It’s pretty simple – you keep both hands clasped over the pulley on top of the line, then when the guide signals to start breaking by putting his hand on his head, you take your right (or left) hand and place it on the line behind the pulley.  The friction slows you down to a stop.  Still, I was worried that I would get in the air and forget the signal, or put the wrong hand on the line, or who knows what other way I may be capable of screwing up these seemingly simple instructions. Luckily, my three practice attempts were successful, as were my sister’s and husband’s, so we were off to conquer the course.

During our training session, Lori warned us that the hardest part was just making it up the first set of stairs to the first line.  She was right.  This staircase is a seemingly endless, steep, spiral stairway.  It seemed to take ages to get to the top, and the tight spiral of the staircase combined with my nerves was making me feel a little overwhelmed.  I made it to the top only to see my sister struggling about half way up the stairs.  I could see it was getting to her, too.  However, with a few words of encouragement from our awesome guides, she overcame her fears (for the moment at least) and joined us on the platform.  Cody and Clay hooked to the line and zipped across to the next platform where they would wait for us to arrive.  My husband volunteered to go first, so Mike clipped up his harness, and sent him on his way.  Every moment you are waiting on a tower to zip you are clipped on to the tower so you can never fall over.  It is 100% obvious how much the people at Wired value safety, and even more remarkable how well they are able to maintain their standards of safety while also making sure everyone had a great time.  I was up next, so I got clipped on to the line, and began my first zip ever.  It was awesome!  Cody was waiting for me at the other side, and when I started approaching the tower he gave me the signal to start breaking.  I remembered what to do and sailed in smoothly to the platform.  Now it was my sister’s turn.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally, she was on her way!  She came down the line screaming (screams of joy, of course), and arrived with a smile on her face, though it was a slightly shaky smile.

Although I knew what zip lining was, I had never before considered the logistics of it.  The actual time zip lining is just a small portion of the whole time you spend on the course.  Only one person zips at a time, then once you arrive at the destination platform you are unhooked from the line and hooked to the platform before the next person can zip.  Then, the second and third platforms had ladders and bridges to get you up to the next line.  Before you can ascend the ladder or bridge you have to be safely harnessed in, in case someone were to fall.  This ends up taking quite a bit of time, but I honestly had just as much fun waiting on the platforms as I did while flying through the air.  Just standing on the platforms (the tallest one is 95 feet high) and taking in the beautiful view was amazing.  I especially liked the view of the pond from the 2nd tower where we watched turtles swim for a while.

In total, the course has four lines, totaling around 3,500 feet.  Each day, before the course opens, the guides do a practice run to check course conditions.  The speed and direction of the wind determines which line will be the fastest.  For us, the fastest line was 2nd, with riders getting up to 40 mph.  The third line travels over the marshy area of the property, and the fourth line is short and sweet (they call it the bunny slope), taking you back down to the ground.

Wired has the longest zip lines in the whole state of Texas, and their course is constructed entirely out of steel, instead of the telephone poles or trees used by most other courses.

We had a wonderful afternoon at Wired, and we all agreed we would love to go back.  The actual zipping was fun, but it was the great people there who really made it for us.  We do not have enough wonderful things to say about our guides.  They were awesome, they kept us laughing and entertained (and safely harnessed in) the whole afternoon.  We arrived at Wired at one in the afternoon, and it was close to three by the time we left.  Though I have no other zipping experience to compare this to, I highly recommend anyone interested in zip lining in East Texas to check out this course.  It’s not just for adults – kids age 10 and up are welcome, and I think it would make a great family experience.  Drop-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended.  More information is available on Wired’s website – www.ziptheusa.com.