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This trip wasn't long enough. I'm glad we were able to combine my work retreat with a much-needed family vacation, but at least for me, it felt over before it started. We had one more adventure before leaving California -- we found the Brady Bunch house used in exterior shots (which has since been remodeled to look like the set on the inside. I snapped a quick picture and we were on our way back to Utah. Although we made good time, the journey wasn't that crammed -- we stopped at Giordano's in suburban Las Vegas for the Chicago-style pizza Lori and Michael didn't get to enjoy this summer. After that, we zoomed back to Salt Lake City, stopping in St. George for gas and Beaver for a bathroom break. We listened to the rest of the Ready Player Two audio book along the way. The sun was still up when we pulled into our driveway. I wish we had more time for our trip, but being home feels good.

We weren't in a rush to get out the door this morning, but we did and visited two last used video game stores, the first in North Hollywood and the second in Northridge. The first store was really impressive and I found some old Atari games. The second was just OK. We are done with shopping this trip ... From the second store, we went to a Starbucks near Topanga Canyon, then drove into the Santa Monica Mountains to do a short hike in Tuna Canyon Park. The views of the ocean were amazing, and we hung out for about 20 minutes at the summit. Michael wanted to drive the PCH through Malibu, so we headed west for about 20 miles, then turned around and found a beach to hang out at for a while. Ben had fun in the surf, and I sort of did -- the undertow was freaking me out a little and I gave up even after I got used to the cold water (I now wish I hadn't).  We left the beach and found a Chipotle for dinner. We drove back through Topanga Canyon one more time and emerged near Reseda, the

Today was our first full day of vacation for all four of us with no driving and no work retreat. We jammed much into it. We ate breakfast at the hotel and got out the door about 10 a.m. Our first destination was the California Science Center near USC. The museum's main attraction is the Space Shuttle Discovery, and we spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall, taking pictures and reading all the exhibits. The rest of the museum was interesting, though some of it was under construction. Besides many old air and space vehicles, it featured exhibits on different ecosystems with cool interactive features that, if the boys were a few years younger, they would have loved. From the museum, we walked over to USC to check out the campus. Michael wasn't as impressed with it as he was for UCLA, I think because it's in not as good a neighborhood (but you could tell USC takes security seriously -- the campus is fenced in and felt safe). We found the building with the video game program, b

As we were packing up to leave the resort, we surprisingly found ... the coffee maker. I wasn't impressed with this resort as I was with past retreats, but it was still pretty nice, and the family loved staying here. But, it was time to go. We drove to a Costco first to fill up, then worked our way north to Westwood to visit UCLA. Michael is taking an online video game design class through UCLA in a couple weeks, and this was a chance for him to see another college campus (after visiting Cal Tech on Sunday and UC Irvine on Monday) and be excited about what lies ahead, even if UCLA is a dream school for him. The campus is gorgeous, although we couldn't quite find the building that houses the video game program. Plus, almost every building is closed -- I forget how much more locked down California is than Utah. We left UCLA and headed to near the Miracle Mile, where Lori heard of a good taco place, Quesada's. The tacos were delicious, if not a little small, and we then headed

I didn't sleep well last night. Between the wine, too much food, and just feeling kind of exhausted (but happy exhausted, my body rebelled -- at about 1 a.m. I thought I was going to throw up. I didn't, thankfully, and eventually fell asleep. This morning, I got breakfast with some coworkers (the company always springs for breakfast on retreat Tuesday). The rest of the morning and afternoon was free time -- no events planned. Lori, Ben, and I walked around the grounds and made it down to the ocean and rocky beach the resort has. I kind of wish Ben and I would have embarked on a longer hike north of the resort, but we never quite got around to it. Instead, Ben and I, and Michael for a little while, hung out by the pool, both the one outside our room and the bigger pool with the water slide.  Basically, our company took over the 13+ pool -- I bet at one time that at least half of the retreat attendees were hanging out by it, drinking, socializing, and enjoying the great weather.

I woke up early and walked to get Lori coffee because apparently the room doesn't have a coffee maker. She was tutoring in the morning, and I offered to walk down to the coffee shop to get coffee for her and Michael and a muffin for Ben. I enjoyed my own breakfast as part of the retreat, and it was decent.  Monday of my work retreat is always a work day -- not a real work day, but a big team-building activity, a nice lunch, a pep talk from our CEO, and some other workshops and stuff. This year, we broke into our individual teams for 90 minutes, and afterward, when the boss asked the entire group how it went, our editorial team might have been the only one cheering. After years of having a small team, having a real time (14 of us, though only 10 attended the retreat) feels awesome -- and today was the culmination of that. Dinner was at a restaurant right on the ocean, and it was a feast, almost too much food. My big problem is that we get all this food, and then because we're al

The morning started with breakfast at a little diner in Eagle Rock with Tim. After walking home, we repacked the car and tried killing a few hours before going to the Terranea Resort, where my work retreat was being held. First, we drove to Cal Tech in Pasadena. Michael isn't necessarily interested in the school, but we are showing him some colleges to get him excited as he gets closer to the next step. The campus is neat but was really quiet -- but I guess that's understandable on a Sunday during the summer during a pandemic. Afterward, we found a Starbucks and a Winchell's. For our next excursion, we visited two used video game stores in Burbank -- one cool store where Michael bought a used Wii U, and another at a mall in beautiful downtown Burbank that we couldn't for the life of us find (it was incorrectly located on the mall maps, and tucked away in a corner of the mall that wasn't easily seen). Our effort to find the store wasn't worth it: The selection wa

The drive from Salt Lake City to SoCal is about 10-11 hours, and the last time we went , we tackled the journey in one day. That was our plan again today, and despite a little traffic outside San Bernadino, we made it to my friend Tim's house at 5 p.m. Pacific time. We stopped only in Scipio, St. George, and Primm (the line to get gas at the Las Vegas Costco was ridiculous). Lori drove the first shift and Michael drove the rest of the way, getting his first taste of freeway traffic -- he needs to get better at slowing down when he sees brake lights activating several cars ahead. At Tim's, we picked up dinner at Oinkster's, then watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals (the Bucks defeated the Suns). Tim, Ben, and I went for boba tea/ice cream after the game

The last 10 days have been filled with heat and work and car trouble and fatigue and stress. I've been too tired to write, and last weekend, I wasn't much active for a summer weekend. The 10 days haven't been that bad. Brutally hot, yes, but not terrible. However, our vacation plans were curtailed a bit after Costco gave us bad info on the clicking tires on our RAV4. We delayed our trip one day to have the car checked, and the mechanic found nothing wrong. More than likely, Costco had screwed up rotating our tires, because after it took them off again and put them back on, the clicking stopped. The extra day at home turned out to be helpful -- work exploded and I had to take a couple hours to sort out a big emergency, and preparing for the trip seemed to take all day. California beckons!

Today was the last day of our trip, a flight home in the morning notwithstanding. The vacation went too fast, but they always do. I started the day with a run through the woods, and the heat and humidity were already beginning to build at 8 a.m. I returned to my Dad's house and began to pack. After a shower, my friend Chris from the old neighborhood picked me up, and we bought Superdawg and brought it back to the house. Chris and I spend a couple hours catching up -- I hadn't seen him in at least a decade, and hanging out was nice. My stepbrother was moving into a new apartment in Chinatown, and we helped him finish the move later in the afternoon. The view from his apartment of downtown is fantastic. Dinner was Giordano's pizza -- another Chicago favorite that I'm going to miss after today. Dad and Susy let me drive their Forester home, and Ben and I took the long way, going down Lake Shore Drive into Rogers Park, then cutting west to return to the house. The lake at t

I slept badly again last night. Fireworks were blasting well after midnight, and my digestive tract wasn't exactly the paradigm of efficiency. I woke up late and didn't go for a run. We did get out the door with Dad and Connor to visit the Art Institute. I have a gazillion pictures I'll eventually put up on Facebook, but needless to say, the experience was wonderful. Ben asked if he could wander the museum on his own, and I let him. After three hours -- and we didn't even see everything -- we left downtown and picked up Taco Burrito King for a late lunch. Dad and Susy hosted dinner for family tonight, and the evening was enjoyable. We played Ticket to Ride after everyone had left, and Dad surprisingly won.  Just one more full day of vacation. The time has gone quickly. I hope that at least I'll get a good night of sleep.

This is my first Fourth of July in Chicago since, I think, 1990. I forgot how much people love blowing off fireworks illegally here. It's been nonstop for a few hours now, and my father is saying it will get worse after midnight.  The day didn't feel too long. I woke up and went for a run -- the bike trail was crowded for the holiday. After breakfast and a shower, Ben and I were planning on walking to see the Edgebrook/Wildwood parade, but Ben took a long time to get ready and we missed most of it. He was super tired today, and once we got to the park and saw we'd be mostly out in the sun (plus the food at the celebration was overpriced), we walked back to the park. He then took a 2.5-hour nap and woke up starving. Likely, Ben needed a day to recover that he didn't get yesterday. I didn't mind just hanging out. Dad let us use his car and we drove to a used video game store in Harwood Heights, located in the old Blockbuster that I'd occasionally rent movies from

After not sleeping well Thursday night, I really didn't sleep well last night. I woke up late, too tired to go for a run. And following a busy week, both Ben and I were content to have an easy day. The day wasn't totally easy. Ben and Connor (who's in town) swam a workout. We all walked over to the Edgebrook farmer's market. Plus, we walked to get ice cream in the evening. But I also took three naps today and played Advance Wars on the DS. The Saturday definitely had some lazy elements to it. Dad picked up Lou Malnati's for dinner, and it was delicious. The family played two games of For Sale, both won by Susy.  We always have one lazy day in Chicago, and this was it. I can see the end of this trip already on the horizon.

Today was long, exhausting, and great. I just wish I slept a little better the night before. My grand idea to run before taking the rental car back was thwarted when I didn't sleep well. Ben and I barely got out the door in time to return the car in time in Evanston. We walked to Walgreens to get a few provisions, then waited for the Metra train to take us downtown for our adventure. The ride was free, as no conductor found us to collect a fare. We emerged from the station and proceeded to walk in a slightly wrong direction, though we get to see the giant bat sculpture in the West Loop. After getting our bearings, we headed toward Michigan Avenue, then north toward Water Tower Place. The goal was to do this day as cheaply as possible, which isn't easy in downtown Milwaukee when every place wants you to spend money. Looking at the bridge gears underneath the Michigan Avenue bridge would have cost $6 each, and I knew we'd be charged for taking a look at the Museum of Illusion

Our quick visit to Wisconsin ended and we are back in Chicago. I'll miss the North Woods. I woke up early by default after Ben usurped the entire inflatable mattress when I got up to use the bathroom around 6:30 a.m. I went for a walk around Three Lakes, settling into a bench overlooking Maple Lake for several minutes. The view was serene and, most importantly, without any bears. Ben and I said goodbye to his grandparents around 11 a.m. and went to Merrill to see Lori's sister, niece, and niece-in-law. Andrew and his wife Kati have a new baby (almost 9 months old now), and we got to see her for the first time. After hanging out at Dakota's house, we all went out to eat Milwaukee Burger Company, which was delicious -- although they forgot to put chicken on Dakota's chicken sandwich.  We went to a park afterward for a little while, then Ben and I hit the road to return to Chicago. I was nervous that I was going to be too tired for this drive, so I bought a 44-ounce soda a