I was excited to go to my 4th Mom 2.0 this year for several reasons: 1) I hadn’t been to Austin since 2012 (the first Dad 2.0), and I’d read there are several great speakeasies and dive bars that commanded my attention. 2) my bride had never been, and I’ve […]
travels
a 3-day weekend in New Orleans
It’s been a decade since I’ve gone to New Orleans for anything that wasn’t a) Mardi Gras, b) an Alabama football game, or c) a Dad 2.0 conference. All 3 of these are normally cold events in January or February, so a trip in late March for some warmer weather […]
San Antonio for the 2019 Dad 2.0 Summit
Before this year’s Dad 2.0 Summit, I’d only been to San Antonio with the Air Force. In July 1995, I spent 4 weeks in field training (which is like basic training, but for college kids in ROTC), and all I knew about San Antonio is it was really hot, the […]
Halloween weekend in Las Vegas
When an organization whose Board you’re on schedules its annual conference in Las Vegas, you sign up for the tax-deductible vacation. When you find out an artist you’ve loved for 35+ years has a very rare live performance at the same time, you go early and make it a weekend […]
New York City at Christmas
Ever since watching “Miracle on 34th Street” as a child, I’ve wondered what it’d be like to experience New York City at Christmas. Seeing Buddy the Elf and Kevin McAllister do it in 2003 and 1992 (respectively) only heightened such desire, so when I learned there was a workers’ comp […]
a weekend in Montgomery and Selma
We pulled into Montgomery, Alabama at the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at 11am on Saturday; a few minutes later, the five of us plus my mother-in-law were inside a city bus simulator traveling through history. We walked through the attached museum and then drove over to the Alabama Department […]
the Golden Isles of Georgia and Savannah
This year, my annual workers’ compensation law conference was held at the Jekyll Island Convention Center instead of its usual location on Saint Simons Island, but since we’re more familiar with the latter location, we opted to stay there and just let me drive a bit farther to my conference […]
days 13 and 14 in Japan: an earthquake and the Park Hyatt Hotel
I awoke the Monday after Fathers Day to this Facebook message from one of our Tokyo karate instructors: Did you feel the earthquake? Are you okay? My nightmare from our first night in Japan had come true. Luckily, we’d missed it by a day, as it occurred near Osaka, and […]
Fathers Day in Hiroshima and the sacred island of Miyajima
We boarded our Kyoto Shinkansen train at 7 Sunday morning and arrived in Hiroshima just after 9. My bride had told me a few days prior that we’d be spending Fathers Day at Hiroshima, somewhat apologetically, but that’s how the itinerary had fit together, and was that okay? Who was […]
Girding Our Loins for Colorado’s National Parks
*Thanks to Hanes for sponsoring this post* Colorado has 4 distinctly awesome national parks. I saw 3/4 of them in 1987 when my folks drove my brother and me from Nashville in a two-toned ’83 Suburban, and I’ve wanted to go back with my own family and explore the diverse […]