Ear Worms

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head and can't seem to stop singing it all day long? Unfortunately, this happens to me quite often. I will hear a small clip on the radio or someone I work with might be singing it, then I pick it up and can't get rid of it for the rest of the day. Even the mention of the title of the song will get it stuck in my head. It can be maddening.

Apparently there is now a term for this. That term, "Ear Worms". I guess I can see why they call it that. I thought I would share with you a list of my top "Ear Worms".

1. Kung Fu Fighting

2. The Facts of Life theme (You take the good, you take the bad...)

3. Chili's Baby back ribs (I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs...)

4. Whistling the Andy Griffith theme

5. The lollipop guild from the Wizard of Oz

6. I wanna be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers (I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more...)

7. Big Mac song (Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese...)

Hopefully I have gotten at least one of these songs to stick in your head. You're welcome, by the way. What "Ear Worms" do you seem to always get stuck in your head?

Astro Turf Lawn

I hate mowing the lawn. It is one of those tasks that I dread doing for days before I have to actually do it. Besides the fact that it is a completely wasted hour and a half of my life, the main reason I hate it is the effect it has on my allergies. Fresh cut grass is one of my strongest allergies. Mowing the yard will usually mess me up for at least a couple days.

My dream is to someday be able to AstroTurf my entire lawn. I would do it now if I had enough money, which I don't, and my homeowners association would allow it, which they wouldn't. Just think about it. It would be green year round. You would never have to water it. And, the biggest advantage, I wouldn't be allergic to it. Yep, that's my dream!

Easter Bunny goes to the Doc

For my readers that don't live in Virginia and haven't seen it, I wanted to share with you another video from Waters Edge Church, in York Town, Virginia. It stars my Father-in-law, Bob Shepherd. It was a video they used around Easter time. Enjoy!

Odd Potato Chip Flavors

In my quest to prove that Pizza and potato chips do go together, I ran across some odd flavors for potato chips. Here are a few of them. (Click on each picture to see it bigger if you can't read the label)

What are some of the odd flavors of potato chips you've tried?

Michael Jackson

I was sitting by my wife's office at our church last night, waiting for VBS parent night to start, when I heard about the passing of Michael Jackson. Like most people, I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news.

Michael Jackson, despite all his oddity in his personal life, was, for my money, the greatest entertainer of my lifetime. He is my generations Elvis. No matter what you may think of him personally, you will have to agree that he was an amazing showman and made incredible music that will last far past his time on earth.

I was trying to figure out my favorite Michael Jackson song. It is so hard to choose. I would say that Thriller was my favorite video, however, favorite song is much harder to pick. I like all the classics, Billie Jean, Beat it, The way you make me feel. I even like some of his other songs like Man in the mirror. However, my favorite song, I think, would be Smooth Criminal. I am not sure why, I just like it.

Yesterday, we lost a legend. Michael Jackson, your music and your contributions to the entertainment world will be greatly missed.

Couch Surfing

The other day, I was reading "Collegiate" magazine and ran across a write up talking about the website Couchsurfing.org. Apparently, this is a network of people, worldwide, that are willing to allow a traveler to crash on their couch or in their spare room when visiting that person's town. In turn, the person that offered their couch will then be able to call on someone else to stay on their couch, when they are traveling.

It sounds like a neat idea, but a little scary. Both allowing a stranger to stay in my house or staying in the home of someone I don't know, would worry me a bit. But, if I could get past the worry, I am sure it would be a great thing to offer up my spare room to someone. To me, it kind of seems like something Jesus would call us to do, give something we have to benefit a stranger. Unfortunately, I am not quite there yet. Sure, I would let anyone I know crash on my couch or stay in my guest room, but opening my home to complete strangers is something I will have to pray about. But, I still think it is a neat idea.

Pizza and Potato chips II

In a previous post, I discussed how my wife and in-laws thought I was crazy for eating potato chips with my pizza. They tried to say that eating potato chips with pizza must be an Ohio thing. They even went as far as to laugh at me. Today, however, the joke is on them. How much more proof do you need that pizza and potato chips go together then this...

Why would such reputable chip companies sell these chips if pizza and potato chips didn't go together? (Ok, I have never heard of Herr's or Calbee, but you have to give me Pringles. Everyone has heard of Pringles) So, to the Shepherd family, I say Ha! Pizza and potato chips do go together!

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

What may be the best chain burger joint in the entire world, has finally come to Cincinnati. Five Guys Burgers and Fries just opened it's newest location in Cincinnati on June 19th!

If you've never been to a Five Guys, it is a must go. Their hamburgers are as wonderful as they are huge. Each burger comes with a choice of toppings at no extra charge. My choices are cheese, bacon, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and A-1 sauce.

Five Guys also serve what are probably the best french fries I have ever eaten. They are fresh cut and fried to a golden crispness. The fries also come Cajun style, for those that like a little spice on their fries.

So, if you're in the Cincinnati area and have never enjoyed a Five Guys burger and fries, I would encourage you to stop in. You might just find your new favorite burger joint.

Going back to Bayside

Have you heard the News? Jimmy Fallon, on his Late Night show, is trying to reunite the cast from one of my favorite childhood t.v. shows, Saved by the Bell. I loved to watch that show. So, if you are like me and loved Saved by the Bell, you can sign the petition on NBC.com to reunite the cast.

Zack Morris, Aka Mark Paul Gosselar, appeared on The Late show recently to talk about the possibility of a reunion (The video is below) . I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will happen. I will keep you posted.

Happy Fathers Day!

Today, as it is Father's day, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the Father's in my life. I have been blessed to have such a wonderful Dad and Grandpa my entire life and a wonderful Father-in-law the past 6 years. You three men are truly great role models for me and I am thankful that you will each have your own influence on the lives of my boys.

I hope each of you have a fantastic Father's day!

Blogworth

I know that I have only been blogging for a short amount of time, but in that time I have already started to get a bit of a complex. On my blog, I have a stat counter to let me know how many people are reading the blog. It seems that I tend to base, what I like to call my "blogworth" (what my blog means to the world) on the number of people that read the blog. It seems that on some days, for whatever reason, a lot of people read my blog. Then other days (this happens a lot on weekends), I get only a few visitors. I know that having a lot of readers doesn't, necessarily, mean my recent posts are great and that only having a few readers doesn't, necessarily, mean my posts have been awful. But it is hard to get my brain to understand that.

I have also found that when I get a comment on a post, it makes my day. I know that something I wrote caused someone to feel enough about it to actually write back. It is so cool.

So, whether you love my blog or you hate my blog, you are reading my blog. For that, I say thanks. My "blogworth" needed the boost!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday. Yet again this year, his birthday is only a couple days away from father's day. So, once again, he will most likely get the short end of the stick, present wise. As a Dad, having your birthday close to father's day must be similar to someone who has their birthday on December 23. So, for all the years that one gift has covered both a birthday and father's day, I am sorry Dad.

As my Dad celebrates his birthday today, what he will be doing tells a lot about who he is. While most people would want some fancy dinner or to go somewhere cool on their birthday, that isn't my dad. He will, most likely, be spending his birthday where he spends many of his Friday nights through the summer, watching me play softball and playing with his grand sons. It has always meant a lot that my dad has shown his support for me, no matter what I was doing. But, it means even more to know he will be right there along side me, supporting my boys in whatever they do.

Happy Birthday Dad! I Love You!

What in the world did you say to me? II

Here is yet another moment in my life that I had to ask the question, What in the world did you say to me? This happened to me, several years ago, but still sticks with me to this day.

If you are like me, when you make the decision to order pizza delivery, it is when you are already very hungry. It was a week night. I got home late from work and decided that ordering a pizza, from Pizza Hut, would be the best route to go, as I could just relax and wait for the pizza.

It seemed like it took an eternity for my pizza to finally be delivered. I answered the door, money in hand, ready to pay for my pizza. The delivery driver took the pizza out of the bag and handed it to me. I gave him my cash to pay for the Pizza. As he is making change, I turn my back to put the pizza on the table, and that is when he said it....

"I am only going to charge you half price for your pizza, because there is a piece with a bite missing."

I gave him a little fake laugh as I was sure he was joking.

"No, I'm serious. I delivered your pizza to the wrong house. Before I realized it, they had opened it up and taken a bite out of one of the slices."

At that point I said some version of, "What in the world did you say to me?"

Needless to say, I did not take him up on his 1/2 price, with someone elses saliva on it, pizza deal. I told him I wasn't interested and gave him back the pizza.

I was in shock. I wasn't in shock that it happened. I was shocked that this guy thought someone would still eat a pizza that some stranger took a bite out of.

The night ended with the pizza place's manager calling me and sending over a free pizza. By that time, I had already eaten, but the pizza made a good lunch for the next day. And, it did have all it's slices in tact.

Three Pointer

In honor of the Lakers winning the NBA Championship, I wanted to do another basketball related post. So, here it is.

Through out the college and NBA basketball season, there are always a handful of great games that come down to the final few seconds. Often times, the game will be tied or one team will be ahead by a point, and the outcome will hinge on one final play.

All that the team with the ball needs is a single 2 point basket to win the game or, at least, send it into overtime to give that team another chance to win the game by playing another 5 minutes. However, instead of going for the 2 point shot, it seems that, inevitably, the "star" of the team takes the ball behind the 3 point arc and throws up some crazy, ESPN highlight reel worthy, shot. Most of the time, they miss it, but the one in ten times they make it, the highlight is posted all over the sports websites and television.

In Ministry, I think a great deal can be learned from this lesson in sports. To risk it all, at the sake of our team, to possibly get a clip on SportsCenter, to me, is just selfish. But, so is doing anything with our only motivation being to bring ourselves glory. As Christ followers, we are called to bring all the glory to him, not ourselves. It is difficult sometimes. When an opportunity presents itself for us to get some glory, it is hard to pass that up. But, when we do pass up that chance, it means there is more glory going to Jesus, the one that truly deserves it.

Swimming

For my final vacation post, I wanted to talk about the highlight of the trip, in my son, Selleck's, opinion. If you ask him what he had the most fun doing, one might think he would say flying in the helicopter or touring the Dinosaur museum or even seeing the Wizard of Oz characters close up at the wax museum. Nope! His favorite thing, swimming. Not the things that cost all the money, but something that was included in the cost of the hotel room, is what he had the most fun doing. Every day, we carved out time to swim. Selleck is unbelievable. Put on his water wings, and he is unstoppable. He tries dives off the side of the pool that I would be afraid to try. Slade enjoyed himself as well. He would float around in his little inner tube boat and splash anyone that got in his way! I have to admit, it was a lot of fun for me too, just watching the boys enjoying themselves.

Kids can teach us a lot about life. Too often we think that we must spend a lot of money on something for it to be fun, or, at least, it has to be some grandiose thing. But it doesn't. Basically, the most fun my boys had on our trip came because of a hole in the ground and some water. Having fun, no matter where we are or what we are doing, is a choice. Kids make the choice to have fun no matter what they are doing.

National Man Day

Did you know that today is National Man Day? Well it is! Two brothers, Joel and Aaron Loganecker, from Indiana, have decided that June 15th should be National Man day. Over 250,000 men have pledged to stand up and do manly things on this day. The brothers suggest that, on National Man Day, participants should play football, go hunting, or watch Rocky movies.

So, in honor of National Man Day, I pledge to burp out loud, scratch myself in public, and leave the toilet seat up. Wait a second, those would be a woman's stereotypical manly behaviors. Today, I pledge to do real man things. I think I will watch a baseball game, wrestle around with my sons, and eat a nice, juicy, medium rare steak. (That is if my wife will cook it for me)

Titanic

While in Branson, we had the privilege of touring the Titanic Museum. The Titanic has always fascinated me. There are so many facets that can be studied using the Titanic as an example. Maybe the most obvious would be how social classes are defined. A statistic that blew me away was the percentage of third class passengers that perished as compared to first class. The Titanic was also a great example of man's ego getting out of hand. Man said the Titanic was unsinkable. God said, not so fast.

When you first enter the museum, you are given a small pamphlet with the identity of an actual Titanic passenger. It is neat to search the museum to see if you were one of the fortunate ones that survived. They have several exhibits with real items from the Titanic, including menus, tickets, letters, silverware, and deck chairs. Some of the more hands on items they had were a shovel, where you could feel what it was like to throw the coal into the boilers, an iceberg, that you could touch, and a bucket that you could put your finger in to feel the coldness of the waters that the passengers found themselves in. I put my finger in the water for only 1 minute, but could still feel the effects of the cold water for nearly an hour afterwards.

I left the museum wishing only that I had more time to read everything and look closer at each exhibit. So, if you ever find yourself in Branson, the Titanic Museum is well worth your time and price of admission.

Helicopter Ride

Another of the highlights from our Branson trip, for me, was to accompany Selleck on his first ever helicopter ride. Selleck was a little scared at first, but he got over his fears and we had an awesome flight. He was so cute with his little head set on. Right before we took off, through the headset, I heard Selleck say "Daddy, I'm scared". The pilot chuckled a bit, but reassured Selleck that everything would be ok. So, with that, off we went. It was so much fun.

Selleck's first helicopter ride reminded me of my first plane ride. Of course, I wasn't 3 and already flown in a jet plane and a helicopter. I was 17. My friend had his pilot's license and invited me to go up in his Cessna plane. I too was a little scared, but had a great deal of fun. The only problem is that, in an effort to circle around cool landmarks in our town, I got air sick. But, all in all, it was a great experience. My first plane ride and Selleck's first helicopter ride are both experiences I will never forget!

Mel's Hard Luck Diner

On our first day in Branson, we had lunch at Mel's Hard Luck Diner. The food was great (I had the steak sandwich), but what makes Mel's stand out is the overall dining experience.

The restaurant is decorated like many diners I have been to. It had a lot of interesting things to look at on the walls. However, it is when you sit down to your table that you start to see how Mel's sets itself apart from all the other diners.

When we first sat down, we noticed that there were two CD's on the table from the same artist. I looked around and noticed that every table had two CD's on them. Then I noticed that the singer on the CD's was our waitress. You see, at Mel's, every waitperson, and even some of the cooks and the gift shop guy, are all performers and have made their own CD's that we could buy. But, it didn't stop there. Every few minutes, one of them would cue up an accompaniment track, grab a microphone, and walk through the restaurant performing. It was so much fun and they were all very good as well.

So, if you find yourself in Branson, hungry, and looking for a fun place to eat, I would highly recommend Mel's Hard Luck Diner. You will get some good food with a side of great entertainment.

Catch that Roll!

In a previous post, I listed 9 jobs that I would like to try for a day. I have now found my 10th. It is to be a roll thrower at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri.

We stopped by Lambert's on our way to a wedding in Mountain Grove, Missouri. If you've never heard of Lambert's, they are the restaurant famous for throwing rolls. Sounds crazy? It's actually pretty fun. Let me explain.

At Lambert's, you order an entree and sides from their menu, but, included with any meal, are what they call "pass arounds". These are carted around the restaurant and, just by raising your hand, they will put a spoon full on your plate. The "pass arounds" include fried potatoes and onions, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, fried okra, and apple butter and sorghum. I tried the fried potatoes and onions, they were wonderful.

As good as the rest of the food was, the rolls were the topper of the meal. They were piping hot, fresh from the oven and delicious. Anyone that has eaten with me knows I love rolls, and these are some of the best I have eaten. The greatest part is that no matter where the roll guy is, just raise your hand and a roll will be chucked your way. Our three year old, Selleck, enjoyed catching the rolls as much as I enjoyed eating them!

Wax Museum

While in Branson, we stopped by the Hollywood Wax Museum. The Highlight for our 3 year old, Selleck, was the Wizard of Oz cast. They even had a tree that talked, like the one from the movie. Selleck loved that. There were many other Hollywood stars that we were able to take a picture next too. It was a lot of fun.

While we were touring the museum, I got to thinking. How famous do you have to be to have your likeness recreated in wax? But, after thinking about it, I realized that you have one of two ways to get into a wax museum. 1) Be unbelievably famous. This is how people like Oprah, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates get into a wax museum. 2) You have to have some special niche to get you in. For instance, Dustin Diamond would never get into a wax museum, but I am sure somewhere there is a wax museum that has a "Screech" statue. Look at the Wizard of Oz characters. Sure, Judy Garland was very famous in her day, but the guys who played the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man would never make it into a wax museum on their own accord, yet there may not be a Hollywood wax museum without them.

So with that, there is still hope for some of us to get ourselves into a wax museum. Sure we may never be famous enough, but if we keep trying, we might just be odd or unique enough to get in.

Little E

For one of our dessert stops, while in Branson, we visited a place called "Cakes-n-Cremes". I had a nice piece of chocolate pie. It wasn't the most memorable piece of pie I have ever had, but what happened, while we were eating, is a memory I won't soon forget.

As we were finishing our desserts, through the door walks the youngest Elvis impersonator I have ever seen. He walked over to the juke box, put in a few quarters, and started to entertain around the restaurant. He said his name was Little E and was the world's youngest Elvis impersonator. He had to be like 8 or 9. As he danced around the restaurant and belted out his version of Elvis' songs, I have to say that it was pretty entertaining. But, then, it got awkward.

After he finished his first song, he pointed out his "tip" jar. I was fine with that. If he wants to entertain us for free, he should get a few tips. But then, he approached our table for the hard sell. He told us that we were in luck because that night only we could buy one of his cd's and get a second cd at half price. He also pointed out that we could buy an autographed picture.

As we were getting the hard sell, I looked to the corner to see a person, who I assumed to be his mother. She was directing him on where to go and who to talk to. In between songs he would go to her and she would whisper something in his ear. I assume it was more direction on what to do and what table to walk up to. In an instant, what was fun and entertaining became uncomfortable. It made me wonder if Little E wanted to be an entertainer and his mom was just helping him along or if mom was pushing him to try and make a buck.

I'm all for kids who have an ambition and maybe Little E is one of those kids. I just hope that what he is doing is of his own accord and is not being pushed into it by his parents. But, I don't know his parents so I will not judge them. I can just recount how it made me feel. Who knows? This may be Little E's way of paying for his college education. And, with the cost of a college education always on the rise, it made me think. Maybe we should start having Selleck grow out his side burns. You know, just in case!

We're Back!

Very late Friday night we made it back from our vacation. We had so much fun on our trip to Branson, Missouri. We tried a lot of cool, new things and restaurants. My vacation philosophy is that you should never eat at a restaurant you have back home and you should always try to do at least a few things you have never done. We accomplished both of these on our trip! (With the exception of a stop by Ruby Tuesday's on our first night in Branson, but that is another story for another day)

So, with the accompaniment of photos from my Mother-in-law, Marcia, I will try to recap some of the great times from our trip in my next few posts. If you are not a grand parent of our boys, and are thinking "how boring to read stories about the Burggraf and Shepherd family trip", I will try to add something else interesting in each post. Cool?

Waters Edge Church - Grand Opening

It is great to hear stories of God pouring out his blessings and today marks just such a story. Waters Edge Church, in York Town Virginia, is celebrating their public grand opening in their new building today!

God is doing awesome things through Waters Edge Church and lead Pastor Stu Hodges. Their church is growing by leaps and bounds and they are reaching their community in amazing proportions.

So, to all of our family that attend Waters Edge Church, I want to say congratulations on your new building and I pray that God continues to bless your hard work and faithfulness.

Our next Vacation

To conclude my week of vacation posts, I wanted to tell you about our next vacation. We will be heading out west to Hollywood, California. I won 2 roundtrip airline tickets anywhere in the continental United States and 3 hotel vouchers to stay at any Marriott Hotel. So, we decided to go somewhere that we wouldn't normally be able to afford. That is why we chose Hollywood!

We are staying at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. I have read online that it is an amazing hotel. It is in the same complex as the "Walk of Fame" and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We are hoping to be able to see a show taping. We have requested tickets to "The Tonight Show" and others. We'll just have to wait and hope we get tickets.

We are also planning on going to Universal Studios Hollywood. That should be a lot of fun. I am also currently searching out places to eat. One place we want to go for sure is the world famous "Pinks" hot dogs.

If you've been to Los Angeles or Hollywood, I would love to hear any suggestions you may have of things for us to do or places to eat.

Cruising

Another of my favorite vacation types is going on a cruise. I have been on, I believe, 4 cruises in my life. On each cruise I went with different people, but yet had just as great a time on every cruise. And for me, it doesn't even really matter where the cruise takes us, it is still just as much fun.

The thing I like most about cruising is how convenient everything is. Food is always available and included in your upfront price. You never have to have the long discussion of where to eat. You can see many different places without having to pack up and travel each day. And, the staff cater to your every need.

If you haven't taken a cruise, let me suggest that you do. No matter what you like to do or who you are traveling with, a cruise is great fun for everyone!

Zach Duke Bobble Head

Before we had kids, Sarah and I took a road trip through Pennsylvania on our way to her parents house in Virginia. This trip proved to be maybe our most unforgettable trip ever.

As we drove through Pennsylvania, I planned for us a stay in Altoona (I was able to get us a free night stay at a Ramada there). One of the things I really enjoy doing, is watching minor league baseball games and Altoona has a team called the Altoona Curve. So, I decided to get us tickets. The cool thing about their stadium is that they have a row of seats just above the left field wall they call the "Rail Kings". It was almost like a bar seat, except the bar was the left field fence. The seats included their own personal waitress to take our order and bring us our food. Beyond all that, and the part Sarah really loved, was that in between each set of seats was a small t.v. Sure, most fans use it to watch the game and be able to watch replays, but not Sarah. She found that the t.v.s could also be tuned to the food network. It was actually the perfect situation for us. I could watch the game and Sarah could watch the Food Network. A win/win in any one's view. With all this, you would think the seats would be really expensive. They weren't. They were only $12 a piece. What a deal!

But, the deal got even sweeter. We just so happened to luck into it being "Dukes of Hazzard" night at the ball game. James Best, who played Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, was at the game and in between innings they had a "General Lee" being chased by Rosco in his police car around the ball field. Also, the give away for the night was a Zach Duke bobble head. It was a neat bobble head, but at the time I really didn't know who Zach Duke was. When I got home, I found out that I could sell these bobble heads on E-bay. I sold them for about $50 each. So, we not only had a super fun time, but we came out ahead monetarily! What a great trip.

Although it was a great time at the old ball yard, the best part of this trip happened once we got to Virginia. It was then that we first found out that we were pregnant with Selleck. What a wonderful memory to top off a wonderful vacation!

Niagara falls minus the barrel

On our Honeymoon, Sarah and I went to New York City, then on to Niagara Falls. We were only gone for 4 nights, but we packed a lot into this trip.

In New York, we stayed at the Algonquin Hotel. It was a block away from Times Square. This Hotel was famous for housing the "Algonquin Round Table", a regular gathering of New York Cities most famous writers, critics, actors, and wits from 1919 until 1929.

During our time in New York we ate some "World Famous" cheesecake and saw two shows "Cabaret" and "The Lion King". This was also when Sarah's infamous walking into the glass incident occurred.

After New York City, we flew into Buffalo. On our way to Niagara Falls, we stopped at the Anchor Bar restaurant which is credited as the place that Buffalo Wings were invented (The wings were great, by the way).

In Niagara Falls, we stayed at the Sheraton Falls View Hotel. Our room was two stories tall with a huge window that overlooked the horseshoe falls. We had an amazing view of the falls and didn't even have to get in a barrel to see it.

The trip was a great way to celebrate the start to our new life together.

Ghost Town - Movie Premier

In June 2007, for a mini vacation, we went with my parents and Sarah's parents to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. It was during this trip that I attended my first (and only, so far) movie premier. Sarah's dad, Bob Shepherd, played Judd the bartender in the movie "Dean Teaster's Ghost Town". It premiered in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, and Bob invited Sarah and me to go with Marcia and him to the screening. The movie industry is very intriguing to me, so getting to go to a movie premier was very exciting.

We met several cool people including Stella Parton (Dolly's sister), D.J. Perry (writer, producer, lead actor), Dean Teaster (Director and actor), and Stephen Walker (actor and Bob's friend). I even had the privilege of sitting next to the Mayor of Maggie Valley during the screening.

For me, the most interesting person we met was Bill McKinney. He was great in "Ghost Town", by the way. For those of you that may not have heard of him, he is a veteran of hundreds of movies and t.v. shows. Maybe his best known character was the mountain man in the movie "Deliverance". We talked with him for several minutes and it was neat to see that he was just a normal guy.

Going to the premiere of "Ghost Town" was such a great experience. I can now check off movie premiere from my life's list of things to do.

Road Trip

One of my favorite types of vacation is the Road Trip. Through the years, I have dragged Sarah and the boys along on my adventures and we have had lots of fun. Here are a few of the highlights of our past Road Trips.

We have visited the Wizard of Oz museum at the "Yellow Brick Road" store in Chesteron, Indiana. This has to be the smallest museum I have ever visited. It was about the size of the bathroom in our house. And, what made it so funny, it was a guided tour.

We have had country fried steak at the "Mayberry Cafe" in Danville, Indiana. This is an Andy Griffith show themed restaurant. It had a very down home feel, with down home cooking. You would swear you were dining in Mayberry.

We have had a double burger with fried vegetables at Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, in Ann Arbor Michigan. (Check out my review of this restaurant on Sarah's Blog here) This has to be the best "college town" burger joint around.

We attended Selleck and Slade's first ever baseball game in Akron, Ohio. We saw the Akron Aeros play from our seats in the front row, behind home plate. A minor league baseball game is so much fun!

These are just a few of the highlights. I can't wait for our next Road Trip!