Category Archives: Travel

Sandfest 2008

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This year we decided to do Sandfest properly. I went prowling for places to stay a couple months ago, and somehow managed to secure a wonderful house right on the beach, an easy stroll from Sandfest itself. The big, open house with lots of places to sleep worked out great for our mob, which numbered as many as 18 at times (not including the dogs). We had a magnificent time playing in the water, building castles, eating too much, playing cards, fishing, and generally enjoying time with family.

A few of the highlights for me:

  • Saw what I’m pretty sure was a Rutan VariEze or Beechcraft Starship fly over.
  • Spent hours in the water, splashing around with kids, body-surfing, doing wave flips, and generally having a great time.
  • Saw an enormous number of brilliantly done sand sculptures.
  • Got together with Greg Pierce, his wife Katie, and their awesome boys.
  • Played music into the night with friends.
  • Got to visit with various bits of the extended family that we don’t get to visit with as much as we’d like, including Betty, my sister-in-law’s mum who was over from England.
  • Flew my birthday kite.
  • Having our stealth Chihuahua kicked out of the restaurant where we ate lunch on Sunday.

It was a wonderful trip; several people suggested that we make an annual thing of renting that place for Sandfest so that we can all enjoy it together again.

You can see some of our photos here on Facebook.

Bo Jon’s Surf & Gifts: Beware

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

This past weekend, the family was down in Port Aransas for Sandfest. As we were leaving town, we decided to stop by Bo Jon’s Surf & Gifts, a big gift shop near one of the central intersections with an entrance made up to look like a shark’s mouth, about 2:00pm. While we were there, Kathy decided to visit the restroom. As she was coming out of the restroom, a large stepladder which had been left propped against the wall fell over and struck Kathy on the head.

I saw the ladder falling, but wasn’t close enough to catch it before it hit her. Kathy immediately sat down on the floor, stunned and hurt. I put the ladder back upright, making sure it was propped far enough from the wall that it wouldn’t fall again. I told the workers at the front desk that the ladder had fallen and struck my wife, and asked for ice. They poured some ice from a drink into a ziploc bag and gave it to us, and Kathy applied it to her head.

One of the counter workers, who turned out to be the owner’s daughter, then called the owner. She then came back over to where Kathy was still sitting on the floor with her head in her hands and, instead of asking after Kathy’s welfare or offering to help, asked us to start filling out an incident report. I grew angry at her, at which point she offered to put the owner (who later identified herself as Christie Maxwell) on the phone. Once on the phone, Ms. Maxwell was immediately hostile, and told me that I was out of line to want to speak with her about the situation. She told me that they always kept the ladder there, and that they had never had an accident before. She eventually agreed to give me the name of the person who handled their insurance, and I told her I would complete the incident report, which I then did.

Kathy was finally feeling well enough to stand up, so we took her out to the car and headed for a medical center that our friend Will had gotten directions to from the store staff. Unfortunately, the directions turned out to be unfollowable, so we ended up asking at convenience stores until we finally found out where the nearest hospital was — about 30 miles from the gift store. We made it there and checked Kathy, who was still in pain, disoriented, and nauseated, in to the Emergency Room.

With the kids all stationed out in the waiting room with our friends Will and April, we ended up staying there for about three hours. The doctor was concerned because of the nausea, and ordered a CAT scan for Kathy. Fortunately, the physical examination and the CAT scans all eventually came back OK, and the doctor discharged us with instructions not to leave Kathy alone for the next 24-48 hours and to wake her periodically during the night to be sure she was still lucid. We lit off for home, finally arriving back in San Marcos around 10:00pm.

Monday, April 21, 2008

8:30am: Called the subrogation department of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas, our health insurance company. They were attentive, polite and helpful, and opened a file on the incident.

8:45am: Called Kathy Estep, the individual who the owner had said was handling their insurance. She was initially cordial, asking after Kathy’s welfare and telling me that she had the form and was filing it with their insurance company. I asked the name of the insurance company, figuring that, like with a car accident, exchanging insurance information was a reasonable thing to do. She said that their procedure was to let the insurance company contact me. I asked again, and she rebuffed me again. “So, to be clear, you’re refusing to give me the name of your insurance company?” I asked. “I’m not refusing anything,” she said, launched into a long verbal tirade during which she wouldn’t allow me to speak and concluded by hanging up on me.

8:53am: Called the City of Port Aransas Building Inspection Department to let them know what had happened and ask if they would mind dropping by and making sure the ladder had been moved someplace safer. The secretary seemed nonplused, but offered to take my number and to call back if she had any further questions.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Our Kathy is nearly back to normal, though she’s still having some headaches, which the Emergency Room doctor told her to expect for a few days.

In spite of Kathy Estep’s assurances, we have heard nothing from the shop’s insurance company. I’ve also heard nothing back from the city’s building inspector.

UPDATE: Monday, April 28, 2008

We still haven’t heard anything from Bo Jon’s insurance company. I called Blue Cross this morning to see if they had, but only ended up mired in their voice mail system. I also sent an email to Joe Lamb, the building inspector in Port Aransas, to ask if his department had an opportunity to check on the safety of the gift shop yet. Waiting on responses from all quarters.

UPDATE: August 2008

Blue Cross eventually must have reached them, because we got a letter from Columbia Insurance Group — the mystery insurance company revealed! — saying that they had been trying to contact us, but had been unsuccessful. (Presumably their efforts were carrier-pigeon based, as we never received any phone messages.) I sent them an email asking what information they needed. Rather than answering that question, they asked for a phone number where we could be reached. I sent them one, then sent them a follow-up email a week later when I heard nothing, then another follow up another week later.

UPDATE: September 5, 2008

I finally got a call from the Insurance company two weeks after sending them my number. Unfortunately, I missed it, and they only left a voice mail with their phone number (which, of course, I already had). I called them back again and got voice mail on their end. Sigh.

UPDATE: December 8, 2008

We’ve been in touch with the insurance company several times, given statements, provided documentation of the hospital visit, and finally got an offer to cover the hospital costs plus a small pain and suffering allowance. (We hadn’t asked for the latter, but it was nice of them to offer it.) We accepted the offer, and have been waiting for several weeks now. We still haven’t received the reimbursement check, but it seems that we’re finally getting close to the end of this.

Interestingly, some friends of the shop’s owner have apparently found this page. We have received several profane comments containing assertions that we never went to the hospital, ad hominem attacks against Kathy and me, and other unpleasantness. (I’ve not posted them, for obvious reasons.)

UPDATE: March 2009

We finally received our settlement check, and were able to reimburse our own insurance company for their costs. (They definitely benefited from the settlement more than we did!) I’m very glad to finally have this done, even though it took nearly a year to sort through it.

Conclusion

I have been deeply disappointed by the response of the shop’s employees, owners, and insurance representative. Their concern at every turn has seemed to be more with protecting themselves than with making their shop safe or helping people hurt because they failed to do so. I understand for the first time in my life the temptation to hire a slimy personal injury lawyer and to try to get something out of a miserable situation like this. (We haven’t succumbed, however.)

Will and April were a tremendous help during this time. Thanks a bunch, you guys.

I will keep updating this post as events warrant. In the meantime, I recommend steering well clear of Bo Jon’s whenever you’re in Port Aransas. We will certainly be doing so from now on.

2007 In Review

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Happy New Year All!

Socrates tells us that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” In this era of YouTube exhibitionism, one could extend his maxim to be “the life unexamined by other people is not worth banner ads.” So, in the spirit of the age, welcome to our annual unsolicited “What the Clan McMains is up to letter”!

First up is Margaret. The smallest of the clan is now 7 years old, as inconceivable as that seems. She’s enjoying her first grade year in school, is doing well academically, and is looking forward to her rebuilt school reopening down the street from us in a week or so. She lost her first tooth this year, and continues to joyfully bounce around wherever she goes, evincing a joie de vivre that is a delight to be around.

Liam, now in 3rd grade, continues to do very well academically without too much apparent effort. He’s got more energy than he sometimes knows what to do with, and is endlessly fascinated by the world around him and trying to figure out how it all works. He’s enjoying both computer and tabletop games quite a lot, and created his first computer game earlier this year. By dint of endless experimentation and repetition, he has also learned some songs on piano and guitar this year.

11 year old Abigail is alternately quietly contemplative and outrageously silly. She’s plugging away at school, and has developed a fondness for oriental gardens and bonsai. She has also decided to eat vegetarian, and has done remarkably well sticking to that plan. School has allowed her to develop a larger social circle than she has had before, which has been a treat for her. She has begun working in earnest on French Horn and Violin this year.

Emily is now in her Freshman year at San Marcos High School, and has found a group of friends there who she enjoys immensely. She continues to attend Youth Service Bureau regularly, and to create some really terrific drawing and other artwork. This year she became the chief toad herder in our family, gathering up to a dozen at a time in the kitchen sink when their cries came ringing in from our neglected pool. She seems to have worked her way through the most difficult part of adolescence at this point, and is generally at a happy place in her life.

Kathy returned to University this year to finish out an undergraduate degree. She’s settled into the field of Therapeutic Recreation, and has been putting a lot into and getting a lot out of the program at Texas State University. She has pinned down a couple of scholarships, and maintained a 4.0 GPA through both the spring and fall semesters. (She took a break during the summer to be with the kids.) It has been grueling at times, but she’s done an admirable job with it and earned considerable praise from professors and serious-minded classmates. She’s currently in Australia for a conference one of her professors asked her to help with.

Sean continued work at Texas State University where he’s splitting his time between programming and management responsibilities and enjoying a tightly-knit team of sharp and fun people. He also attended his first Sacred Harp sing, visited Portland for the first time, caught up with some long lost friends from high school, went to Boston with old friends, visited Los Angeles for a dear friend’s wedding, built a hovercraft, went to Waco for the All University Sing, hiked the recently formed Canyon Lake Gorge, and continues to play bass with The Patio Boys (formerly the Grant Mazak Band). (Shenanigans are chronicled at https://www.mcmains.net/.)

A few of our family travel highlights this year included Ink’s Lake State park for Spring Break and a visit to Mo Ranch for a Father’s Day weekend church retreat. Kathy and Sean also enjoyed a weekend in Fredericksburg for their 12th anniversary and Crawfish Festival.

As a group, we continue to find our physical needs met and count ourselves extraordinarily rich in the other things that are important in our lives: vital friendships, loving and supportive family, and ample opportunities to love God and other people. Thanks to all of you who are a part of that! For those who haven’t been recently, we hope you’ll come and see us if you happen to be in the area!

Grace, peace, and hope for a rich and wonderful 2008 to you all!

My Wife is Leaving Me for a Wallaroo

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As many of you know, Kathy has been back in school now for a couple of semesters. This coming spring semester, however, she’s taking a break from classes in favor of completing some outstanding correspondence courses and attending a Therapeutic Recreation conference in Australia, for which the school is picking up the tag and providing lodging — all we have to come up with is airfare and some food for meals and sundries while she’s there.

She’ll be gone from December 29 – January 14, and will be spending most of her time in and around Melbourne. (I have given her strict instructions to visit lots of great places and take lots of photos so that I can live vicariously through her.) She’s currently working hard at rounding up various jobs to help pay for the trip, so if you have anything that needs painting, pressure washing, cleaning, or reconstructing, give her a call!

Naturally, since I’ll be a single parent for the time she’s gone, I’ll be looking for any reinforcements I can find. If you’d like to help with grocery store runs, babysitting, grown-up conversation, or just playing XBox with the kids while I enjoy a few moments of quiet in the front yard,  your help is very welcome indeed!

Hiking the Canyon Lake Gorge

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A few months ago, David Barnard tipped me off to the existence of the Canyon Lake Gorge, a feature formed in 2002 by the torrential overflow from Canyon Lake during that year’s floods. We were both able to secure one of the scarce reservations for a hike through the gorge, and embarked on our little adventure yesterday.

The gorge is striking. It was stripped of life during the floods as the water carved into the limestone bedrock, but has slowly had plant life return as seeds fall in or are brought by animals. There are lots of springs where the water seeps up from the aquifer or escapes from the lake, as well as a ton of different sorts of fossils: algae, sea biscuits, snails, clams, and even dinosaur footprints.

It was great fun to get to see this area, to talk with the people who have watched it change in the 5 years since the flood, and to literally stumble across evidence of life from thousands of years ago.

Gorge, Lake, People

You can see more photos here, or download a KML (Google Earth) dump from my GPS showing where the hike went here.

Pedernales Falls State Park Romp

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Over the weekend, the three youngest kids, Kathy and I met up with Chris, Becky, and Mom McMains for a long afternoon at Pedernales Falls State Park. We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the falls, nibbling from each other’s collections of goodies and catching up on the goings-on in each others lives. Floating through the falls looked as if it would both be an immense amount of fun and also quite likely fatal, so we contented ourselves with drinking in the view from a distance.

Once sated, we did a quick hunt for a geocache and then set off for the swimming area. As we paddled around, the swiftness and force of the water assured us that we had made the right decision in not jumping into the falls upstream. After enjoying the water for a while, it occurred to me that there was ample raw material to try rock stacking, something I’d been keen to try for a while. My initial efforts were gratifying:

Sean Stacking Rocks

I quickly learned a few things by experience:

  1. Heavy rocks are actually easier to balance, because the minute shaking of your hands doesn’t affect them as much.
  2. Heavy rocks hurt when they fall on you.

Kathy picked up on the idea, and being the overachiever she is, quickly took it to a level I’d not even approached, creating 6′ tall stacks over in the sand. She assembled a small crowd of onlookers rather quickly:

Kathy Stacking Rocks

Great stuff. As I wandered around later, I noticed a few rock stacks that other people had created and saw one fellow trying his hand while perched on a giant rock in the middle of the river. It was fun to see people enjoying that so much!

As a final bit of fun, Chris pulled out a couple of bottles of Coke and some packages of Mentos so that we could reproduce the now-classic “science experiment.” Note: we used regular sugary coke instead of the diet variety that some folks insist is required. It worked just fine, though I’d be interested to do a controlled experiment sometime to see if one produces higher blasts than the other. You can see the video over on YouTube.

L.A. Wedding

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The weekend after the L.A. Bachelor Party, I returned to Los Angeles for Ross & Johanna’s wedding. This was a quicker trip than the last, but was a huge treat as well. Ben Mengden, his wife Emily, and I came in Friday morning and headed to the Tuxedo shop to pick up our formalwear. Fortunately, after the last weekend’s ineptitude, the shop had things well in hand for the actual wedding weekend, and we were able to pick up all of our uncomfortable and unfamiliar bits without any fuss whatever.We spent a bit of time wandering about the Third Street Promenade, a nice pedestrian-friendly shopping district, before scooting off to the rehearsal at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, a beautiful edifice sited on a hillside with a miles-long view of the valley stretched out below. The sanctuary featured a fantastic pipe organ along with a less-traditional JumboTron, on which I presumed the church staff replays successful conversions in slow motion. Once everyone had a good grasp on what was going on, we retired to Anna’s Italian restaurant for a marvelous evening of drink, talk, drink, toasts, drink, food and drink.

The next morning, Ben and I met up for a tasty breakfast with Ross, where we swapped stories and jabbered enjoyably for an hour. Once fed, we bid the groom farewell and headed off to the reception hall where we were conscripted to help put up decorations.

If I had sat down with the mission to come up with the most labor-intensive decorations possible, I could hardly have done better than what Ross’ mom had devised: lengths of real ivy, wrapped around strands of Christmas lights and festooned over the crown molding in giant swags. She had apparently gone around her neighborhood and swiped ivy from any source she could find, stuffed it all in two suitcases, and brought it all out (along with wasps and spiders, as we discovered) to California with her.

Once the decorating was more-or-less complete, we struggled through figuring out how all the parts and pieces of the tuxedos went together and headed to the church for the main event. Ross had procured sunglasses for all of us, so we did lots of Reservoir Dogs poses for the photographer before squirreling away into the back room to wait for things to kick off. The photographer was William Innes, who did a beautiful job capturing the highlights of the day. Here’s one of my favorites of Ross and I, in which I, against all odds, kind of look like a [note to my children: please avert your eyes now] badass:

Ross & Sean

The ceremony itself was lovely. Both Johanna and Ross were actually there, which caused some of the groomsmen to lose a bit of money. Johanna’s father, a minister from North Carolina, conducted the ceremony, obviously very happy for and proud of his daughter. Various family and friends read scripture, and everything went off swimmingly. Looking around at the people assembled, I was delighted to be a part of the constellation there to support the couple as they started a new chapter of life together.

We wrapped up the evening at the reception hall, dancing, eating, talking, drinking, and enjoying the ivy once more. I began to realize that I really was in a different world than the one I was used to when I started talking to some other people at my table. To my left was Brian. He was a writer for CSI: Miami. On my right was Ethan, who wrote for Eureka and now has a movie in production. To his right was his wife Deedee, who writes for Saving Grace. It was quite a different social milieu for someone used to being surrounded by programmers, though in some ways equally geeky.

Among the other interesting folks I got to meet: Andy Cosby, Ross’ production partner and creator of Eureka, Mark Waid, extremely prolific comic writer and extraordinarily nice guy, Michael Alan Nelson, notable comic writer and snazzy dancer, and Colin Ferguson, one of the stars on Eureka who earned my respect by chatting with Jordan (Ross’ 10 year old nephew) for 15 minutes or so at the reception. Ed Quinn, another of the leads on Eureka, was also at the wedding, though I didn’t have a chance to talk with him.

So, once again, congratulations to Ross & Johanna! May your marriage be richly blessed, and may you ever be support, encouragement, blessing, love and entertainment to one another.

L.A. Bachelor Party

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I spent three days out in Los Angeles two weekends ago for the bachelor party of one of my oldest and dearest, Ross Richie, who married Johanna Stokes, his lady love of 7 years, last weekend. I left Thursday along with Ben Mengden, my traveling companion and another close long-time friend. Ben was not only great company but also a phenomenal help getting everything organized and making the trip possible.

We rolled into Ross and Johanna’s new house on Thursday night and enjoyed a tour of their digs (really neat!), a tasty dinner, and some Gears of War before falling into bed. On Friday, Ross had to work and Johanna was busy setting the house, which they had occupied only 6 days, into order, so Ben and I set off on a hike to the beach. Between the beautiful weather, the chance to explore unfamiliar territory, the scenic beach, and the hours of uninterrupted conversation, this was one of the highlights of the trip. Returning that evening, we all compared notes on our days, enjoyed some more food, and toddled off to dreamland.

Saturday was the bachelor party, which Ross’ best man, Andy Cosby had organized. We started at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, a Los Angeles institution in which I’m pretty sure we were the only white people, where I had — wait for it — chicken. And waffles. Excellent.

From there, it was on to Hollywood Park, a nearby race track. Though the horses weren’t actually running there, a few of the guys bet on races around the country while I admired the slightly seedy opulence of the place, which felt very much like the sort of spot Sinatra and Co. would be right at home. (Aside: like some demented dream of Marcel Duchamp, the restrooms featured the most urinals in a row that I had ever seen in my life.)

We then piled in cars and headed to the marina to board a sport fishing boat and cruise out into the Pacific for an afternoon on the water. Riding the sun-soaked waves with a fishing pole in my hand and the fresh wind whipping past made me think “L.A. might not be a bad place to live!” Unfortunately, it apparently made several other guys think “You know, I really like dry land,” and “Maybe I shouldn’t have had chicken and waffles,” and eventually “Please, someone kill me now.”

Ross hooked a shark, a sting ray, and a few other smaller fish, though only the latter of these made it onto the boat. Several other folks hauled in a variety of mackerel and other fish. I, being a charitable soul, merely fed my bait to the hungry submarine fauna.

The final chapter of the day was back at the house. Andy had contracted with a professional Texas Hold ‘Em dealer to run a card game for us. Unfortunately, “Big Al” seemed at least as interested in telling jokes as he did running the card game, and was eventually sent packing so that we could administer our own game. Poetically, Ross and Andy were left at the table after everyone else had dropped out, and they agreed to split the evening’s pot. Spent after his winning streak, Ross collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep while the remaining celebrants slowly trickled out of the house.

On Sunday, we poked town a bit, got a few wedding chores knocked out, and headed for the airport to enjoy a few days back in Texas before returning for the wedding. (Wedding account coming soon…)

Stupid Guy Trip V: The Stupiding

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One of the traditions I’ve enjoyed a great deal over the past six years has been the Stupid Guy Trip: an annual-ish assembling of several long-time male friends for a testosterone-fueled visit to some city or another for food, beer, and endless “your mom” jokes. Past trips have been to Las Vegas, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Seattle, and have included casino gambling, opera, architectural tours, visits to national historical sites, “Evil Dead: The Musical”, gnome theft, Blue Man Group shows, and baseball.

This year we decided that Boston would be the destination. Due to some scheduling difficulties, this turned out to be the most sparsely attended trip thus far, with only myself, Chris and Mike attending. We all set down in the Boston airport on Friday afternoon with 3 days the city stretching before us and absolutely no idea of how we would spend that time. Our first order of business was, predictably, to find some food, so after dropping $15 on a 7-day transit pass, we bought a guidebook, wandered up to the North End and enjoyed a really excellent meal in a tiny little restaurant with only 7 tables. We then hopped on the subway and a bus to get out to our hotel and settled in comfortably at the Sheraton Newton, which was, surprisingly, built directly over an interstate and had really helpful and friendly staff. A short trip across the street to Buff’s Pub capped our travel day nicely.

The next day we scored a hat trick of touring delights. The first was the Freedom Trail Walk with the Histrionic Academy, an hour and a half ramble through the parks, historic structures, and cemeteries of Boston led by a young woman with an surprisingly powerful voice and a penchant for bursting into song. We then enjoyed some clam and fish chowders at the famous Union Oyster Bar before proceeding on to board the Tall Ship Formidable, a square-rigged sailing vessel on which we had booked a tour around the harbor that included a mock cannon battle with her sister ship, the Poincare. While we were a bit disappointed that the cannons turned out to be miniatures, about 10 inches long, the weather was perfect and the sailing a treat.

We then enjoyed some excellent Pho at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and headed for Fenway Park. Tickets for that night’s game with the Toronto Blue Jays had sold out months before, but we still had hopes that we’d be able to procure some. Official channels didn’t yield any results, so we resorted to the friendly folks selling tickets along the street and were, after much back and forth, able to get in to the game. The Sox thumped the Jays soundly while we goggled at the grandeur of the Park, the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the price of the beer. Particular highlights included the crowd participation when “Sweet Caroline” came over the P.A. and seeing a couple balls whacked clean over the Green Monster.

Sunday was a bit more tame: we started off the day with a jaunt up to Harvard, where we poked around the venerable campus and its surroundings for a while. We were entranced by the Carpenter Center, a building designed by Le Corbusier, and went in through an unlocked door to explore the interior. Unfortunately, the door locked behind us, and it took us 20 minutes of architectural appreciation alternating with panic to find a door that would let us out without sounding a fire alarm. Breathing a sigh of relief, we spent another hour enjoying the bookstores and an excellent lunch at Tamarind Bay before heading back in toward the center of town.

There we visited Trinity Church, an stunningly beautiful structure which has been on the Top 10 lists in architecture for the past century. The church features several windows by John La Farge, who pioneered various techniques for layering glass to create an amazingly rich dimensional look. After the church booted us out for their evening services, we headed to the Top of the Hub, a restaurant on the 54th floor of The Prudential Center, where we watched the sun drop over the city while peregrine falcons, which nest in the upper floors of the building, wheeled about us. Mike pointed out that we could actually see into Fenway Park from our stratospheric perch, and that since the beer was actually cheaper at the restaurant, we might do well to bring binoculars and a transistor radio there next time we wanted to watch the Red Sox play.

The final stop for Sunday was Paddy O’s for a show by The Gobshites, an enthusiastically profane “acousticelticore” punk-ish Irish band. They were a load of fun, super high energy, very friendly to their Texas visitors, and definitely not suitable for children.

Monday was departure day. We headed up to the Boston Commons to buy some bagels and watch people in the park while eating our al fresco breakfast. Once filled, we moved on to the Boston Public Library, home to some magnificent murals by John Singer Sargent and a miniature book exhibit. Mike and I then parted company with Chris, who had an earlier flight to catch. We headed over to MIT for a last architectural tour before leaving, highlights of which included Frank Gehry’s Stata Center, Simmons Hall, which was designed by Steven Holl, and the MIT Chapel, designed by Eero Saarinian, the same fellow who was responsible for the St. Louis Arch.

And then homeward bound! Mike and I both took advantage of the opportunity to switch flights from our original overcrowded one to another 45 minutes later, netting both a travel voucher and an upgrade to first class — only the second time in my life I’ve flown in the fancy section of the plane. This time was much better than the last, when the flight attendant spilled coffee all over me within 5 minutes of my arrival on the plane.

It was a super trip: lots of wonderful food, a chance to explore one of America’s great cities, excellent company, a delightful ballgame, and tasty beer. Thanks, Boston!

Father’s Day at Mo Ranch

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We spent this past weekend at Mo Ranch with First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio, which Dad McMains and Lana attend. The church hosts an annual Father’s Day Weekend retreat, which Kathy and Emily and I first joined in very shortly after our wedding. That was exciting for me, as I had grown up attending various church camps at the ranch, and it has long been one of my favorite places on earth. Thus, the prospect of the trip itself was exciting, but was made even more so by the chance to introduce the younger kids to a site that is both so beautiful and personally meaningful.

The trip was great, and too full to really detail right now, but here are some of the highlights:

  • Getting to spend time and celebrate Father’s Day with a fairly broad swath of the extended family, all of whom we enjoy a great deal and none of whom we get to spend enough time with routinely. The kids all picked out nifty little succulents for me from the greenhouse as gifts to supplement my fledgling cactus garden, and Emily gave me an awesome Sam & Max lap board she had created in art class this year. We also presented Dad McMains with a rooster sculpture for their front yard renovation project, the smuggling of which involved a good deal of legerdemain and hijinx.
  • We took a direct route across the hill country, rather than sticking to the highway, and enjoyed lots of beautiful terrain along the way as well as a visit to Stonehenge II, a delightfully eccentric, typically Texan project wherein the English Stonehenge was reproduced at about half scale. While it was privately financed and remains on private property, it’s open to the public for visits. There are also two reproductions of Easter Island statues on the site. When they sighted them, the kids, who had recently watched Night at the Museum, delightedly shrieked “Dum Dum! It’s Dum Dum!”
  • Late night talk, music, and slightly-illicit wine while watching lightning and/or the stars. (Which, as advertised, are big and bright [clap clap clap clap] deep in the heart of Texas.)
  • Getting to do a rendition of Will the Circle be Unbroken with Lana, Tim (Meara‘s significant other who plays string bass) and new friend Margaret for the Talent/Variety Show. It went over quite well, though given that much of the rest of the show was kids lip-syncing and doing cartwheels, that’s probably somewhat faint endorsement. Chris apparently received several compliments for his (non-existent) part in the performance, which I told him was fine because I routinely take credit for ENT surgeries as well.
  • Showing the kids one of my favorite little science experiments: smuggling a cup of milk out of the cafeteria to the catwalk that spans a gorge, and then pouring drops of milk out to fall to the ground below. Because of the Bernoulli effect, the pressure on the sides of the droplets decreases as their velocity increases, causing them to “explode” fairly spectacularly about halfway through their fall.
  • I took a couple of early morning walks before the rest of the family was awake, enjoying the opportunity to explore the bits that have been added to the Ranch since I had visited, to reacquaint myself with the more venerable sections, and to see the various fauna that was out foraging for their own breakfasts.
  • Walking a labrynth for the first time. With Maggie and Liam along, it wasn’t a totally contemplative time, but interesting none the less.
  • Playing in the river with the family. The slide and the “rapids” — a shallow, limestone-bottomed section of the river where the water has carved a variety of beautiful channels and pools — were among the best parts. I especially enjoyed showing the girls how, if you sit very still in one of the pools for a few minutes, the minnows and small fish will come up and start nibbling on your arms and legs, eliciting delighted giggles.

It was a wonderful time, and one I hope we can reprise annually. Thanks to the Mo Ranch and First Pres folks for putting it all together!