Our Scenic Lodge

Picturesque Mountains at Camp Cedar Falls

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I wasn’t around here this past weekend. My family and I embarked upon a journey to a mountain retreat. We had a wonderful time bonding with nature and getting back to basics. The retreat took place at Camp Cedar Falls in the San Bernardino mountains in California. Camp Cedar Falls is a Seventh-Day Adventist retreat (resort?). My wife is SDA (I’m Methodist) and she was a sponsor/mentor for the trip.

I really enjoyed our time there even though it felt like we were roughing it to me. We had no cell phone reception and I had no internet access (which just about killed me), but it was rather nice not to be a slave to technology for three days.

Fate also got its revenge on me for the comic strip I made about Hank’s healthy value meal. I am a self-avowed and extremely committed carnivore and all of the meals we were served were vegetarian. People, I ate my first tofu burger Saturday night for dinner. It wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be, and after the first few initial bites (and adding lots of lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, cheese, and mayo), it was somewhat reminiscent to the average burger I had grown accustomed to eating throughout my life. Needless to say, I ate a lot of tofu during this excursion.

My family and I were able to go on a nature hike also. I had that innate fear that we would be the ones who made the evening news for being the idiots who got lost in the woods in sub-zero temperatures at night (somebody has to do it), so our hike was brief. I still enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised and pleased that I did not slip and fall off the face of the earth. I didn’t think anyone wanted to carry my big butt up a mountain to safety anyway.

My wife and I

There was a great amount of worship and fellowship on this journey and I met a lot of really fun, friendly people. I was glad to get home, but I felt that our trip brought me and my family closer together and gave me an opportunity to learn and experience more of the fascinating environs that make California such a beautiful state. If you get a chance to take a trip like that, I recommend that you do so. It’s fun!

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: After we returned from the mountains, we decided to go see the “2012″ movie. I have always been a huge fan of disaster films and Jon Cusack, so I figured it would be worth a watch, y’know? My kids were all excited about it and my son had been watching the Discovery Channel all week researching the Mayan influences and whatnot.

2012 Movie Promo Poster

My personal opinion of “2012” was that it was a great movie! It was formulaic certainly, but how many different ways can you make a disaster movie? The flick got trashed by the critics every now and then, but the purpose of the film is to entertain, and “2012” definitely did that for me.

I’m not gonna ruin the plot or give you any insider details, but I will say that the special effects were top-notch. The story was decent albeit hard to swallow at some points, but I could roll with it. I enjoyed seeing all of the actors who participated in this film. You had the dad from Punky Brewster, the black guy from Slow Burn, Danny Glover, and many other respected and accomplished actors.

So, basically, if you can forfeit scrutinizing logic and just want some good ol’ entertaining excitement, check this movie out!

My family and I spent our Thanksgiving holidays in wonderful Las Vegas this year. My wife has family in that area and we decided, since I had never been to Vegas before, that would be the perfect destination for a lil’ mini-vacation.

I had a ball while I was there. I opted to man-up and drive all the way there. Mind you, I had never driven any further than 90 miles at once in my entire life. I mustered up some macho energy, grew a gigantic pair, and thought that I could manhandle 400 or so miles of asphalt during the graveyard shift.

Hee-hee…..

That was a trek. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that sore and tired from anything that came from sitting down. The traffic wasn’t bad (I was NASCAR the whole way), but it seemed like those bright, neon lights would never reach me.

We finally made it there. I woke my passengers and swiftly proceeded to pound the front door and lean on the bell at 5AM until my wife’s mother, grandmother, and aunt opened up. Surprisingly, they were more than happy to see us.

I had the opportunity to properly meet members of my wife’s family that I had heretofore only had spoken with over the phone. They sized me up (of which I am considerable) and showed me love like a long-lost relative. My wife reminisced and caught up on old times while I serenaded the children with my subtle songs of slumber.

I was tired. Four hours is a long time drive in the middle of the night.

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast that day. Our bountiful harvest was resplendent with a cornucopia of turkey, ham, potato salad, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, beans, collard greens, pies, and German chocolate cake. Needless to say, I got stuffed like a five-dollar…umm, let’s just say, I ate lots.

Now Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas without doin’ a little gambling, would it? I wanted to get my play on, but being that I am a cheap tightwad rather frugal, I decided to only do a small amount of betting. I stayed with video poker for the most part. I played lost five dollars in one machine and I tried to tickle Lady Luck’s fancy with the slots. I’m sorry to say that Lady Luck was not the least bit impressed with my tickling skills.

On the whole, I only lost ten dollars, but I was proud of the fact that I could walk away without signing over my children’s college tuition and trust fund (that will be spent on either my motorcycle or a Porsche later on down the road). So we got to see the sights, take a lotta pictures, and visit some family. I had immense fun visiting Vegas for the first time and I can’t wait to go back again! Here are a few more photos I wanted to share with you guys.

That’s how my Thanksgiving break went. How was yours? What did you do?

The First Couple