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The one where the gang wears tracksuits
30 Plays1 year ago
The beginning of a multi-part travel extravaganza. Pittsburgh, Virginia, Camp, Golf Carts. Chris disappears into the night and Doug works through some emotions. Lets go.
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Transcript
Travel Reflections and Aspirations
00:00:00
Speaker
But yeah, I can't say I spent any significant amount of time there. I wanna say I didn't spend any time over there, Pittsburgh. Do you feel bad about that or? Who, me? Paco, do you feel bad about the fact that, Steve? Is there other places that you feel like at this point, like at your age, it should have just come up or you like, how have I never been there? You know, I should have,
00:00:29
Speaker
Like internationally, I wanted to go to London because Betty and I had, yeah, we talked about it a bunch and we were going to go at
Exploring California
00:00:37
Speaker
one point. So that was like, I think at some point we may, but it's, I don't know, we'll see. Domestically, yeah, I mean, nothing stands out, I want to say. We've done like all the West Coast stuff.
00:00:52
Speaker
Um, I have, um, you know, California and, um, you know, San Francisco, San Diego, a bunch of places that I want to go back to for sure. So anytime I've gone, it's like, yeah, you know, you check the box, you spend, I spent a little time out over for a few days, but nothing significant.
Unforgettable (or Not) Vacations
00:01:08
Speaker
Now, like you, you and, uh, Mad Chris, you guys like, you know, said.
00:01:14
Speaker
like set up camp over there, like you live there. But, um, so I always wanted to do that. That would have been nice. So I've never, um, now I never had the opportunity to really set up somewhere and like live and work out of that. I always thought that would be cool. Is there any place that you would be like, no, I'm definitely not going back there. Um, no, I mean, I don't say I ever heard like a horrible time. Uh, I know we did Betty and I went to like, uh, where's that, um,
00:01:45
Speaker
It's a historic Williamsburg, Virginia for like a, because as a starving college students, we were like, oh, let's, let's have a vacation over there. Yeah. Yeah. It was like not, you know, nothing to it. So I think I'd skim that if it came up. That's pretty, that's pretty far for Boston. I guess so. You definitely won out in that transaction.
00:02:08
Speaker
We can get away. I remember it was whatever the cheapest flight was and we wanted to, it was like a bed and breakfast thing, I think. And there was not glamorous at all. There was no beaches, no anything. And it's one of those, you look up and see what's available.
Tourist Spot Tales
00:02:30
Speaker
And it seemed like the cheapest thing.
00:02:32
Speaker
But yeah. Uh, what about you, you Paco, any place that you, uh, regret and or never ever go back to? No place that I regret. Um, but there's, there's a couple of places that I'm like, I'd have like no reason to go back there. Uh, like Stonehenge, I went there. Eh, it was okay. Saw it. Saw it.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, and impressive not go back. No reason to, you know, you always see those photos of it, uh, the setup, but then what's, what's, you know, if you turn immediately around, just a bunch of, uh, yeah. Well,
00:03:08
Speaker
There are a good amount of tourists, but but also there's like nothing else around there. So it's not like, oh, we'll just go to town and like, you know, go to a bar or something or go shopping or nothing like that. It's just like out in the middle of the fields. And the other thing is like you're looking at it from from far away. It's not like you can walk up and touch the stones or anything. So it was like literally like, hmm, neat.
00:03:38
Speaker
And then that's it. You take the picture and you go on your way. I forgot, there was like some, I don't think it was Parks and Rec. Maybe it was like some movie with Seth Rogen where he's like on a road trip with his mom and they stop at the Grand Canyon and they're like, wow. And then like 30 seconds later, he's like, how long do we have to look at this thing?
00:03:59
Speaker
It's like, I don't know about another minute just out of respect and like, all right. And they do that. And then, which is I've definitely had that experience at like certain places where it's like, Oh, okay, you should feel a certain way
Grand Canyon Adventures
00:04:10
Speaker
about it, right? And then it's like that, not the majesty and like the grandness and all that. Right. Don't get over real quick. Have you done, um,
00:04:18
Speaker
the Grand Canyon? Yeah, Grand Canyon, I had the opposite thing. When I saw the Grand Canyon, I was like, holy shit. Really? Yeah, it's like so much that it's like outside of your peripheral, like you're looking and it just kind of continues in a different direction. That's quite overwhelming.
00:04:35
Speaker
Um, yeah, kind of. Also, this was, uh, we went there during like 2020, like during the pandemic. And, uh, so there was like nobody out there. There was nobody. Yeah. It was just like, we literally like parked up at the ridge, like almost went over. Like it just, that's a pretty cool experience.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah, that would be awesome. Yeah. And there was just most of that because we just kind of did like a national park trip. And most of the parks, except for Zion, which was still incredibly packed, most of the parks were so empty that all of the like like all the wildlife was everywhere. So like the Grand Canyon, there was just I guess they're technically elk, like just walking around like by the ranger station, like on the like sidewalks and stuff, just kind of in the middle of everybody. This is kind of crazy. Wow.
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah. Highly, highly recommend next time a pandemic comes up, hit up those national parks. Have you done Grand Canyon, Paco? No, I haven't. That's definitely on the list. I would have thought of you right up your alley. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely, I feel like I get more joy out of like really beautiful landscapes than, I don't know, than like being in the city, you know.
00:05:47
Speaker
Oh, really? Like, yeah, like going to like, for example, going to Chicago and seeing like the bean thing, it's like, OK, you know, whatever. But like being out in nature is like, you know, more of a thing. I would think both of you would just just seeing like a well a well built building would just kind of get a rise out of you. Just like there are buildings that I want to see, but none in Chicago. Well, I did that. So it's like seeing them.
00:06:16
Speaker
you know, check. Yeah, I do like those architectural tours and in the background from it. I don't think I'd have if I was to go out, I have an appreciation when it's there. But then I don't think I would have the the effort to be like, you know, walk myself through my own research and kind of go through all that. I don't think I would. But, you know, just I did like Chicago a lot. Did you do the like the canal architecture tour?
00:06:44
Speaker
Uh, it was the duck tour. It was the, um, the aquatic, uh, like they, they go through the river and they look right. Yeah. The river tours. Yeah. I did. I've been there twice. The first time was more, uh, guided and going through, um, all the history and the second time was, um, work related for like a conference. And I, I really wanted to do a lot of that, but then there ended up being like no time. And then I had to get the flight, but I always.
00:07:07
Speaker
It felt like Chicago was another place I'd like to go back to. Yeah. I mean, less frequently now, but Kristy and I generally were going like every year for Lollapalooza, but we'd always- Oh, really?
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, every August. I don't think we're going to go this year, but we'd always pair it up with like different like so we'd spend the mornings kind of doing Chicago stuff and then the afternoon evenings at the festival.
Chicago's Architectural Charm
00:07:31
Speaker
But but yeah, the boat architecture tour was great. But I also noted that those tour guides are really good at acting like what they're saying is unscripted. It comes off very casual. But
00:07:48
Speaker
What they don't take into consideration is that a lot, sometimes, and it happened to us, you will pass another boat also giving a tour. And so like our- And being surprised at the same exact time. Yeah. Well, like our tour guide was saying, was effectively telling this like off the cuff joke about how all the wastewater from Chicago gets like sent down the river and ends up in St. Louis and that's where Anheuser-Busch comes from.
00:08:17
Speaker
And like, so he said the whole thing. And like, we're all laughing. But as we're laughing, another boats passes us. And it's like all the wastewater from Chicago actually gets sent down to St. Louis. And it's just like, Oh, okay. You got to peek behind the curtain. Magic goes away. Oh, man, a little, little bit. But otherwise, it was so good. So good tour. You know, what's like that is the the the open mic.
00:08:45
Speaker
If you go to a comedy club, that whole back and forth and the witty, the breaks, it's all rehearsed. It comes off to try to be not practiced in the moment. And then I remember in the Long Island City, there was a small comedy club that I went to, I visited multiple times and we saw the same guy
00:09:09
Speaker
I think you went with us, right? Doug, it was that, uh, devil something. I forget what it was. Yeah. I've definitely been there with you. Yeah. And we heard the same jokes every time. I remember it was diminishing returns so much. And these were like years apart and it was the same guy doing the same. And it went from being like, Oh, that's kind of funny. And then it'd be, you know, and then it'd be this being like kind of depressing after a while because the exact same.
00:09:33
Speaker
setup and all those jokes, but uh, what are you, what are you going to do? Um, if it works, I
Family Vacation Plans in Mexico
00:09:40
Speaker
guess. So, uh, Horna, you're going to Mexico in like minutes, right? I checked in, I'm in the 24 hour, uh, cloud window right now. So I just, um, yeah, I'm in our flight. Uh, it's for, it's a, the plane boards at nine 30. So we should be there at, I don't want to be there before seven.
00:10:02
Speaker
But you're supposed to, well, it's a, it's 10 o'clock flight. Um, so you want to do, you know, rule of thumb, three hours ahead of time. But then I checked, I checked in, got the bags and all that stuff. So, um, we're going to take a, uh, an Uber from here to JFK. Yeah. Got to get these kids up. Yeah, man. So, so what time are you, is it a direct flight? What time are you landing? Yeah, it's direct flight. Uh, I'll be there at, I want to say two 30, two 40.
00:10:32
Speaker
And where in Mexico? Oh, wait, no, no, way before that. It's going to be, um, it's Carmen del Playa. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. I think it's, that's like a, I think it's typically like a five hour flight plus you lose a time zone. So we're flying into Cancun and.
00:10:52
Speaker
No, it's gonna be, it's actually gonna be a two hour flight. What? Yeah. Arrive at 123. Oh, well that's cause the time, that's cause the time's up. Oh yeah, that's right, yeah. That's like a two hour flight. Do you want a concord? What are you talking about? Four hour and 23 minutes, way off.
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, that makes, that makes all the sense. Yeah. Is that your, yeah, go ahead. Well, I was going to say it's, it's a jet blue flight, which I used to use all the time, but I guess now I shouldn't have done that, right? Like you stay away from sprint, you stay away from jet blue. And what else? There's a couple of frontier for sure. Frontier. Yeah. Yeah. Frontier. Allegiant. Like, you know, I never, I never comes up.
00:11:30
Speaker
There's a bunch of like regional ones which are just like yeah, but JetBlue is not bad though. I you know, I haven't had any bad You know, I've never had any bad experience, but I tried it as much as I can hedge my bets by doing you know, no transfers, you know, try to Check if I can just not do check-ins, you know I think that was probably a little bit above all those other ones. Yeah. Okay. Yeah Gotcha. Yeah. Have you been to Cancun? I
00:11:57
Speaker
Well, yeah, we went to this is an all inclusive. We went once before, maybe through four years ago. And it was another all inclusive with Betty's family, her, her, her parents and brother. And it was a place called Moon Palace. It was really, I had a really great time. The weather, it was like superhuman at the time. And it was not that there was a little bit of that, but the place was great. This. This is a Riviera Maya Grand Bellas. Okay.
00:12:26
Speaker
And they have, um, I keep on hearing about this, uh, place called X carat. Oh yeah. It's like a theme park type thing. Yeah. So we're going to check that out. I think like the kids are going there. They'll probably really enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah, it should be. Um, so yeah, that'll be good, but we're going to spend most of the time at the resort and then we'll check that place out. Um, and then, uh,
00:12:50
Speaker
Yeah, should be should be good a five days back flying back on Friday. That's pretty fun So it's just like a little family vacation type thing. Uh, yeah, it's well, so I Last year going into this year. I was like, you know Making sure that I take off time when the kids are off as opposed to because Betty works from home and the kids are home Like there's no camps. There's there's home and she still has to work. So so this for this year could
00:13:16
Speaker
I did it. I took off the winter break, the February timeframe. We went to the North Carolina and then, um, and then very few weeks later, it's the spring break. So I took off the week for that. And then it kind of, it's almost right before our 10 year. So this is also that celebrating that too, which happened so quick that, uh, that 10 year, I can't believe I hear somebody.
00:13:43
Speaker
rubbing up against their mic like a kitty cat. Sounds like you're pulling your tracksuit on over.
00:13:58
Speaker
You're ready to go for a jog. That's right. My gosh. Earlier, Steve, you said I had a really good time speaking about the last trip, but you said it in a way that almost made it seem that did only you have a good time or is everybody? I think the kids, they barely remember it. Betty and her parents
00:14:22
Speaker
Because of the humidity, there was bugs and stuff like that. So even though the grounds were great, it was very spread out. So people would go on golf carts to go to the pool, water park slide area of the huge resort. But if you didn't catch that, you're just walking around. So it got a little tiring and things like that.
00:14:49
Speaker
I remember very fondly, but I wanted to go back. Once you go to a resort, you drop some coin on a place, they will give offers and stuff. So I always keep that in the way. That might be a good place to go back to.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a big place for like weddings. The place that we're going to now, this, you know, tomorrow also is a big place for weddings. So they got a really nice setup, but we'll see. Yeah, some of those resorts are so big. You mentioned the golf cart. When I got to my sister's wedding, which was in Jamaica, like I showed up and I got there. I think like I got there maybe seven minutes before the wedding, something like that.
00:15:31
Speaker
Intentional, just a series of horrible problem mistakes. We could probably come back to it, but yes, a bunch of stuff came up. But I mainly bring it up because- Here comes Doug, making it all about himself. You fly in and do you. Are you doing the not as you walk up to the-
00:15:52
Speaker
I, uh, well, I show up and like the, some of these resorts are just like, um, man, they're like cathedrals. Like the, the place where you actually check in is this like giant, uh, like open air area with all the like attendance or whatever. And like, I walk over and kind of tell them who I am and they check me in. And as they finished checking me in some, and again, I'm just getting here. Some random attendant speeds up on a golf cart and just points at me. He's like, Doug. And I was like, yeah, he's like, get in.
00:16:24
Speaker
No time to explain. Yeah, pretty much. He just zipped me away to where all the wedding party was. It was good. The resort was so big, I would have never made it on foot. That's wild.
00:16:42
Speaker
What is that? The wedding?
Destination Weddings: A Closer Look
00:16:44
Speaker
Destination wedding. Yeah, destination wedding. I was invited to my, two of my cousins did one. And I couldn't make it for one reason or another. Is that legal in New York? What's that? Destination wedding? No, no. To their individual wives. We got to have this wedding outside of the country Steve.
00:17:09
Speaker
They won't understand. We got to have international waters. No, no family. Well, Jason's was a destination. Yeah, that's true. That's actually right. Yeah. That's the only one I've been to. Oh, caught him, caught him in the water. It only took 24 minutes to get him down.
00:17:36
Speaker
Yeah, I've been to two, three, a couple. I actually enjoy it. I think it's a good time. I like the idea of like it almost is one, you really kind of lock in like who actually...
00:17:53
Speaker
A good amount of people there are people that like, you know, they're really going out of the way because they care about the whoever's wedding. And then a few of the people are just there for a vacation and it kind of just ends up whatever. But it's it's almost like, I mean, weddings are always kind of just like you're just paying for like,
00:18:10
Speaker
a really expensive time with your friends, right? And especially as you get older, those those situations just don't come up organically too much. But the destination wedding just kind of extends it. So instead of like, Oh, we're gonna spend the next two days together. Yeah, it's like a whole weekend or week or whatever. A longer weekend type thing. And then it's like, not, not only the wedding, but you have time to go explore whatever. Yeah.
00:18:35
Speaker
They tend to be, uh, well, I guess depends on where you're having it. They definitely are cheaper than like a New York city wedding. Um, yeah, they can. Yeah. I had a friend of mine. Um, so this was like a destination wedding for both parties, right? Cause usually it's like you go to, what does that mean? Well, because like, uh, why would the other party not be there? Well, no, because usually it's like family is in one location. So then you're going to a specific country or whatever.
00:19:03
Speaker
because one, you know, the family of one is like there or something. But this one was just like, let's go somewhere random. So neither one of them had a tie to the location. So so everyone was was going and it was a destination wedding for everyone. And it was cool because so this was out in Colorado.
00:19:22
Speaker
they rented this huge like it was like an Airbnb like estate like in the Rocky Mountain and so basically the whole like wedding was like there and everybody stayed you know there there was a couple different like houses or cabins there but it was like just like such a great time because everybody was like you know only like like focused on that didn't have to worry about you know hotel or anything else and and that was pretty
00:19:50
Speaker
Pretty cool. That does. I think I feel like I've seen like photos of like a Colorado wedding. I'm not sure if you were in them or not, but I've definitely seen some. There are some out there. Yeah, that's a that's a pretty that's a pretty fun set. Even just like everybody in the same hotel is always like a fun. Yeah. So it was a good
Creative Wedding Experiences
00:20:08
Speaker
idea. That worked out. That worked out well at Steve's wedding. Yeah, I really enjoyed Matt's wedding because it was something similar. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, I guess this is a good time. Yeah. How how did everybody
00:20:19
Speaker
Don't worry, we can edit this out if we need to. How was Matt's wedding for everybody? It was lovely. Yeah, is that controversial? You know what really grinds my gears? It was fantastic, I thought, yeah.
00:20:42
Speaker
I was worried that was going to be too much catered to like the kids had. They're so jaded that they, you know, cause it's always a wedding is always, you know, you know, quote unquote boring for them. Just a lot of, you know, keep trying to keep them entertained. But this was so the opposite way that I was going into it. I was like, Oh man, is everybody gonna like it? But everybody's like so into it, you know, everybody's feel like a big kid. So I thought it was a very novel way of, you know,
00:21:08
Speaker
put something together. I never went to a wedding like that. Yeah, so it was awesome. Oh, man. So I think still, you know, it was obviously it's very nice seeing a a dear friend having a happily ever after or whatever. But that is definitely the best memory for me of that wedding. Nothing to do with Matt. It is like us arriving in the dead of night, different attendance showing up.
00:21:35
Speaker
None of them really saying anything to us, but one of them just taking Chris and just disappearing off into the dark. Chris was sitting on the back of the golf cart, so he's looking at us as he drifted away, and just the terror in his eyes. It's always dramatic because you don't see Chris's eyes. When you see the white of his eyes, it's always better.
00:22:05
Speaker
Should we be concerned here? Uh, yeah, it was, it was good. It was good. Uh, but yeah, agreed. That was, that was a good setup. And I think there was a lot of, there were a decent amount of, I think the most kids I've seen at a wedding, I think they knew that. And they, I think they played that, you know, well into their ceremony. Cause obviously like keep the kids entertained. The parents are going to be happy. That's what he, he was saying. It's like, you know, we're,
00:22:26
Speaker
The visual on that. Yeah, that was a good sign.
00:22:33
Speaker
We're going to cater right to the kids. So they're so often overlooked. But also, it sounds like on her side, a lot of her friends and everybody grew up in the camp environment. They went to the same camp while they're growing up. So it was a big part of their, from her history. It sounds like that was the opening it that way. But who doesn't?
00:22:56
Speaker
You know, like camp, even the idea of it, like I never went to camp growing up, but you know, you know, no, no, not at all. And definitely not any sleep away camp or anything, but you, you know, uh, you're aware of the tropes with it. If, whether it's sort of like movies and or anything like that, it's like camp on a, that's, that was my kid. Mm. Loot your shorts and all that stuff. So everybody knows something about it. So you kind of get it.
00:23:20
Speaker
into it, so it's, yeah, I thought that was a good one. I just felt that, like, camp, especially actually, technically, literally, like, the camp, because that area we were at was all campgrounds. Like, I don't know if you noticed, like, when you were driving around, there was, like, a bunch of different campgrounds, but I feel like those are mainly, like, New York City kids that end up there, I think. Oh, yeah, maybe. Yeah, like,
00:23:40
Speaker
Yes, it's upstate. So, you know, it's close enough that it's close enough, but far enough away. Yeah, that makes sense. I'd believe that. Well, I try to win on appeal here. I just. Let's say I believe it's sustained. Would you let your kids go to like a sleepover, like a way camp type of thing?
Kids at Camp: Worries vs. Adventures
00:24:02
Speaker
I would. But there they'd be so against I would
00:24:06
Speaker
I would do it for them. I would worry, you know, Betty would worry for sure, just cause it's, it's different. It's not normal. Neither of us have done it growing up. Um, and I would, I would push for it just so that they have like such a great experience. Like I know in the end, even though they fought against and didn't want to complain about it, they would have a great time and they would, it'd be, you know, it would, uh, go a long way for them later on in life and they might want to keep on going. And I like everything that I liked the idea of it. So, uh, you know, even while we were, when we were coming back, I said, did you guys have a good time? Did you want to do that? And I started like looking.
00:24:35
Speaker
I was looking into some camps and things like that. They go to camp, but they'll go and come back the same day. But maybe when they're right now, they're really not into it. It'd be a waste of money if I did it because they would absolutely reject it when the summer came. But I'd want them to get excited about it if they can. So yeah, I'm going to keep trying on that. I think maybe in a few years.
00:24:59
Speaker
I could do it. I went to camp in 5th or 6th grade, but I only remember a handful of things from it because it's been a minute. So this would have been in the Bay Area.
00:25:15
Speaker
It was a Catholic camp, which takes on a different connotation in these days than it did then. But I remember that being like a weird thing about it. But the two the two memories that like stick out to me is one, the first night, like one of the kids on the top bunks just like just straight up just pissed the bed and just like all over the bed beneath. It was just it was you on the bed.
00:25:42
Speaker
I appreciate that you didn't assume it was me and that I wasn't talking to him. Some kid. Now, I blacked most of those memories out, but I do remember.
00:25:54
Speaker
I do remember them making fun of me. No, but that kid had a terrible rest of the camp experience because that's not the precedents
Camp Memories and Childhood Crushes
00:26:02
Speaker
you want to set. Well, was that like day one? That was day one. That was night one. Yeah. Night one of a 14 day. I think it was Nancy.
00:26:15
Speaker
I think it was like two weeks or something like that. It was like 10 days or two weeks or something. But so that memory, yeah, you don't forget something that horrific. But then the other one, which was more like just, I don't know if traumatic is the way to think about it. But so I vaguely, unless I'm discounting someone, I believe that my first ever like crush, like real life crush, not like
00:26:40
Speaker
like some cartoon crush or whatever was was a girl at that camp. I don't remember her name. I don't remember most things about her. But I do remember on the last day of camp, the way that I tried to, I guess, impress her, like come off a certain way is and this is funny because this actually goes back to we're just talking about Paco doing I had like a
00:27:04
Speaker
like a full body 49ers tracksuit with like tracksuit material, which I just saved for a special occasion. No, no bucket hat, but I don't know if you've ever worn like 80s or 90s tracksuits, but that material, you're wearing like a garbage bag. Like it's not, yeah, not breathable.
00:27:27
Speaker
So. Oh, man. So I put this thing in profusely. I might have almost passed out like the amount. It was a summer camp, right? Yeah, it's just I'm just I'm just I'm dying there. I'm dying on the bus ride home, which was forever. Like just she didn't give a fuck about the Niners on the tracksuit or me. She didn't know who I was. It was just like the whole thing just did not work. And that's why I don't wear tracksuits anymore for this day. Yeah.
00:27:56
Speaker
It's just too traumatic. The imagery with the bucket hat, though, is funny. You bring out the cardboard on the ground. Hey, girl. This is for you. And then the helicopter spin, and then the elbow. Yeah, you end with the pose on the ground, right? Just a cocked up on an elbow. And your mind did look great, but in reality, you're just the puddle of sweat. Is she looking?
00:28:28
Speaker
She left, she's on the bus. Yeah, so no, it didn't go well. So, yeah, never went back to camp. Never wore a tracksuit. Never saw her again. But that's like one of those unrequited love type things.
00:28:47
Speaker
Continue 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Game over.