Lake Tahoe, Yosemite & LA (2024)

What kind of vacationer are you? Or maybe a better question - how do you want to vacation with your family? I've written about different trips in this blog (including the most recent post about our Spring Break 2023 trip to Utah / Arizona) and it got me thinking both about vacation types in general and then the specifics of our latest trip. 

Growing up there seemed to be two kinds of Malphurs family trips. 1) We went to the beach on 30A and spent the week playing in the sand and watching movies. (We got two "free" movies per day from the place we rented from and in the era before streaming. This was almost as exciting as the Gulf of Mexico.) 2) We did long roadtrips to places like the Grand Canyon. I remember significantly more of the 1st kind of trip.....probably because the beach was relatively close (5-6 hour drive), didn't involve a plane and was more relaxing. 

Now I'm in the stage of life where we have a new family of four that is establishing their own traditions. When L & J were babies / toddlers, trips were less about having a relaxing trip and more about "parenting on location." (I'm stealing that line from a friend who mentioned that when we all went to Toronto.) We could have pockets of fun and the pictures looked great, but even with the benefits of nostalgia I still don't think I would want to do those trips again.

The kids are older and we are presented with a fork in the road. Do we want relaxing trips? Or do we want to "go and see stuff"? We don't have unlimited time or unlimited money, so a decision had to be made. For the last two years our big trip has been the go and see stuff. Without further ado here is my recap of Lake Tahoe, Yosemite & LA.

Wednesday, 7/17/24 - flight out

• No issues with our flights to Atlanta and then to Reno. We got in late, but everyone handled it well. We all slept well at M's Uncle's place that evening

Thursday, 7/18/24 - first day in Lake Tahoe!

• We were able to sleep in and have a pretty relaxing start to the day / trip. It was nice having a home at the front end of our trip, so that we could have both the physical comforts (a nice bed) and mental comforts (things feel different in a home than a hotel).

• We started the day going to the overrated (no matter what the rating is) tourist trap of Virginia City. I had a bad feeling driving into a town with tons of political signs (when did it become ok to have curse words on large signs?) and the situation never really improved. 

• Virginia City was an old mining town and now it's a small stretch on a road with bars, tourist shops, etc.

• The two best things about the city was a good milkshake and an ok (B+ / A-) tour of one of the old mines. We had about an hour tour of the Collar Mine and it's amazing people actually did this for a living back in the 19th century

• We left Virginia City and went to Lake Tahoe. My first thoughts on Lake Tahoe was its as gorgeous as you can imagine and that the water is so incredibly clear and cold. 

• Our big activity was to go see a Shakespeare play (The Merry Wives of Windsor). M & L loved it. J and I thought it was ok mostly because she is 8 and I apparently have the comprehension skills of an 8 year old. Regardless of our divergent thoughts on the quality of the play, we all agreed the setting was spectacular (see below). 

Friday, 7/19/24 - Lake Tahoe (on land and water)

• We started the day off kayaking and playing in Lake Tahoe from Sugar Pine Point State Park. We had planned on some hikes, but as expected the parking situation in the middle of summer was challenging. Thankfully the State Park was awesome.

• That afternoon we did get finally find parking at Emerald Bay State Park and did a hike down to the water and then back up. The views were spectacular and the crowds weren't too bad

• That evening we had our big 2 hour boat tour with Captain Sean through his company Imagine Charters. This was one of the highlights of the trip. M's Uncle and Aunt came and joined us

• We could see the sunset and then at the end L, J and I jumped into the fridgid Lake Tahoe. That was such a cool experience with both of them. I highly recommend a boat to explore Lake Tahoe.

Saturday, 7/20/24 - relaxing day in Nevada

• We didn't do as much this day....a small hike, a visit to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City and a nice dinner with M's Aunt and Uncle. 

• We were very fortunate to start our trip with a home base and it was great learning more about M's Aunt and Uncle.

Sunday, 7/21/24 - driving to Yosemite National Park

• This was one of the best days of the trip. We left Gardnerville and went to Yosemite National Park!

• The entire time I had been preparing the family for a long, long, long wait to get into Yosemite. My fears were unfounded as it took about 5 minutes to officially enter the park. For certain parks (like Yosemite) there is a reservation system and thankfully our lodging in the park allowed for us to go in. This was an extremely pleasant surprise.

• We entered Yosemite through the Tioga Pass (this is on the east side of the park). One big takeaway from Yosemite is that the park is absolutely massive and it's imperative that you plan your activities into sections of the park. We explored 3 sections: 1) the Tioga Pass section on the east side 2) the valley 3) Mariposa Grove on the south side. 

• We did a short hike around (but certainly not all the way up) Lembert Dome before walking down in  Tuolomne Meadow to Soda Springs. Soda Springs is carbonated ground water and kind of tastes like watered down blood. Despite the unpleasant taste this was a fun and weird surprise.

• Next stop was going to Tenaya Lake. M, L & J got into the water and I just enjoyed relaxing at this lake that was surrounded by granite mountains. 

• We then got our first view of Half Dome by taking a short hike on Olmsted Point. There is a very good view from the road, but an even better view with a little bit of walking. 

• We ended the day in the Yosemite Valley checking out Bridalveil Fall and our lodging (the Yosemite Valley Lodge)

• The best surprise of the day was the fact that Yosemite wasn't that crowded. That was my biggest fear visiting such popular tourist destinations during peak tourist season. There were definitely people there, but at no point did it feel overwhelming at all. Maybe it's because of the reservation system or because people can naturally spread out with Yosemite being so big, but I wouldn't hesitate to visit again in the summer.

• The one downside was finding out that our our lodge did not have A/C and that while it was nice and cool at the top of the mountain....it was pretty hot in the valley. The location of our lodge was perfect, but sleeping there was tricky and involved fans and wet towels.

• Below is pic from Tenaya Lake

Monday, 7/22/24 - first full day at Yosemite

• In the morning we had a bus tour to Glacier Point. It was nice not having to worry about driving, but I would have preferred more than the 45 minutes we had at Glacier Point. You can see all of the valley and next time I would want to drive there and have lunch overlooking everything. 

• When we got back to the valley we had the afternoon / evening mostly free to do whatever. L and I rented bikes, which based on the tour book I used was a great way of seeing everything in the valley. The book was correct. It was so easy riding around the path and stopping when we wanted to check something out.

• We also took advantage of the pool at the lodge. While the rooms themselves were small and spartan (did I mention the no A/C), the lodge itself was specular. Great restaurants (a nice place, a quick service place and even a Starbucks), a pool, ranger led programs and of course the incredible location. Anyway, the pool was huge and had a great view of Yosemite Falls. Also, on a hot day (high of 100 in the valley) the pool was perfect.

• That night we had a fancy dinner at The Ahwahnee hotel. There was a dress code (not really enforced), piano player and a buffett with a good selection for both vegetarians and everyone else.

• After a nice dinner we went to check out Yosemite Falls and while walking around the creek we saw a bear! Thankfully the bear and no interest in us and walked the other after we audibly gasped.

• Below is a view of Yosemite from Tunnel View:

Tuesday 7/23/24 - second full day at Yosemite

• This day was hotter and more crowded than what we had experienced so far at Yosemite. 

• We started off by going to the Vernal Falls trailhead, where we found out that part of the trail was closed unless you had gotten there before 6am. 

• We had a one mile hike from the parking lot to the trailhead and then a 0.8 mile hike up a mountain to the Vernal Fall Footbridge. People were sweaty and grumpy, but the situation improved when we saw the spectacular view from the footbridge. 

• We hung out there, rested our body and thought about the "good news" that the rest of the trail up the mountain wasn't open. (There was a 1.7 mile other way you could take....we weren't doing that.)

• Anyway the walk back was much, much easier (going downhill) and we passed the time with J giving high fives and words of encouragement to 25 strangers! 

• The rest of the day was at the pool and then a nice meal at the Yosemite Mountain Lodge in the same complex as our room.

• Below is a view from our walk around the valley after dinner - it was so peaceful and we had two deer walk right next to us.

Wednesday, 7/24/24 - Yosemite to Kings Canyon National Park

• Today we headed down from Yosemite to Kings Canyon! We passed Glacier Point and I lamented that I didn't plan it better so that we could have stopped there instead of taking the tour bus.

• We stopped in the Mariposa Grove section at the south end of Yosemite National Park to see the giant sequoia trees. This officially kicked off the "big trees" section of our trip. The trees were amazing to see and we took a hike around to see different sections. 

• We continued our drive (more driving than we wanted today) and were able to see two things at Kings Canyon National Park: 1) a short hike to the General Grant Tree, which is the 2nd biggest tree in the world. 2) another short hike to panoramic point to see the sunset over Kings Canyon (see below)

• We  didn't drive the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway. It looked awesome but after 4 hours of driving already it didn't seem appealing. Maybe next time

• We had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant just south of Yosemite. My travel book had recommended it and the advice was spot on. 

• The night of sleeping at John Muir Lodge was excellent - it was also not air-conditioned, but being at such high elevation it didn't matter. This was a welcome break from the "hot house" in Yosemite.

Thursday, 7/25/24 - Kings Canyon to Sequoia National Park to LA (Universal Studios)

• We left Kings Canyon and to see Sequoia National Park. There we were able to see the world's biggest tree (General Sherman's) and I can in fact confirm that it is very, very large.

• After that we walked 351 steps up Moro Rock to see an amazing view of the high Sierra Mountains

• Sequoia was great, but also super crowded. It seems like the crowds I expected at Yosemite all seemed to be at Sequoia. My guess is that because Sequoia hasn't instituted time entry it gets way more crowed. 

• After Sequoia we drove south past Bakersfield and into LA. We thankfully avoided most traffic (LA traffic gives me nightmares) and got to Universal Studios at 7pm.

• Universal Studios was awesome! We saw the sun set over Harry Potter World and did 3 rides + a wand fitting. Harry Potter isn't really my thing, but it was super awesome to see the excitement from the rest of my family

• We stayed at the park until it closed at 10, which made for a very long day (the longest day of the trip) but it was an awesome day. 

Friday, 7/26/24 - Universal Studio & worst / best meal of the trip

• Back to Universal Studios! They were running a Buy One Day, Get One Day Free offer, so we decided to check it out on our way into LA and then also the next day. 

• The biggest piece of advice is that you need to get there early in the morning. The lines were 10-30 minutes long at the beginning of the day, but by 11am they were 60 minutes or more. 

• We were able to get there early enough to go on 3 rides: Jurassic World / Transformers / The Mummy. They were all better than expected. I loved how the lines were designed to make the wait not only tolerable, but kind of fun. The rides themselves were relatively short, but very well done. I feel like for pure thrills it doesn't compare to Cedar Point, Universal was much better than both Cedar Point and Disney with storytelling.

• Lunch at Universal was the worst meal of the trip. Pure chaos. The online ordering didn't work and the wait / people touching me to get some average chicken fingers was just not something I ever want to do again.

• I also wasn't as impressed with the Harry Potter wands. There were supposed to do small magic tricks around the park, but only worked about 50% of the time. L thought they were really cool (which is great), but I would have been annoyed had we paid for the wands and weren't just borrowing them from friendss.

• I was super impressed with the different worlds. Both Harry Potter World & Super Mario Worlds are small, but extremely well done. Just an amazing spot to walk around get pictures in.

• The studio tour was relatively nice (again L really liked it) but M and I weren't as impressed. I think by hour 10 of being the park we were just done with the lines / crowds / theme park. 

• That being written, overall I loved Universal Studios....as a one time treat and nothing something I need to do again for  a few more years

• We went back to Santa Monica and had a late dinner at an Italian restaurant (Fritto Misto ) right next to our Airbnb. This was the best meal of the trip. We all got pasta and M and I shared a bottle of cheap wine. The waiter was great and the whole atmosphere was just perfect. If I lived in Santa Monica, I would want to eat there every week.

Saturday, 7/27/24 - beach day

• Last full day of the trip and after lots of driving around we decided to to just walk around and enjoy Santa Monica

• We got donuts from this shop (DK Diner) featured in the Donut King documentary we had just watched on Hulu. The donuts were creative and very good, but we all agreed that they weren't any better than our local donut shop Resch's Bakery.

• We spent 4 hours at the beach and the kids just really loved playing in the Pacific Ocean.

• Dinner was slightly disappointing. Our grand finale was at this fancy spot (Tar and Roses). The food quality was excellent, but the portion size was so small that we had to get pizza after. 

• We saw dolphins off the Santa Monica Pier! Look really close and maybe you can see them in the pic below:

Sunday, 7/28/28 - flight back

• Rough day travel....we boarded our flight from LA to Vegas on time, but just sat there on the plane until we had to go back to the terminal. Why? Some battery wasn't charged correctly. This took over an hour and meant we missed our connection to Columbus. Our flight scheduled to get in at 8:30pm now got in at 2am. 

• The good news is that I asked Southwest for compensation since it was their fault and they gave us $400 ($100 / each). Not bad for the delay.

Overall it was an amazing trip and one I would recommend to anyone who likes national parks and doesn't mind driving. It was very similar to our Spring Break trip last year to Utah / Arizona and at this point the perfect kind of trip for our family. 

Spring Break 2023

While this post might be 15 months delayed, I felt like it was finally time to give our Spring Break trip a proper write-up. It was briefly mentioned in my end of the year "52 things" list, but my hope is that I can look back on a more detailed itinerary with nostalgia. Without further ado...

Context

In 2020 our Spring Break trip to Europe was canceled due to COVID. We had planned a great trip to France / Switzerland to visit a friend and see the sights. COVID came to the United States at almost the exact same time as we were supposed to leave the US.  Anyway, our Spring Break sights were significantly more modest in 2021 & 2022 with trips with our close friends to a house in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Gatlinburg has overly tourist appeal familiar to anyone who has been to Myrtle Beach, Branson or the Wisconsins Dells, but the two trips were fun / relaxing and thanks to being within driving distance....relatively cheap. In 2023 we wanted to plan something bigger and hopefully better and set our sights on Utah / Arizona. The main appeal were the national parks with Utah having the "mighty 5" which were relatively close to the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. We booked our flights, bought the travel books and were on our way!

Trip

3/17 -  Travel Day

Our flight from Columbus had a 3 hour layover in Denver. I was able to watch 16th seeded Farleigh Dickinson upset 1st seeded Purdue in one of the bigger upsets in March Madness history. It was a strange feeling watching it in the Denver airport knowing that the upset was happening in Columbus in an arena 10 minutes from our house. Anyway, we made it to Salt Lake around midnight, took a take to our hotel and promptly went to sleep.

3/18 - Salt Lake City Day

We woke up in much better spirits than I expected considering how late we arrived and were ready for our big day in Salt Lake City. It started off with a lucky break as we went to our next hotel (The Grand America Hotel) and were allowed to check-in 7 hours before our check-in time. Our plan for the trip was to get one night in a relatively cheap hotel (the first night) and one night in a more expensive hotel....with the average cost being two nights in a moderate hotel. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but that worked to perfection because we just slept the first night and then we had 27 hours to enjoy the life of luxury in what my kids thought was a castle. And the hotel was just amazing from the rooms to the pool to the customer service. I generally don't think the marginal benefit of a nice hotel is worth the extra cost, but with this one I agree with some of my more well-off friends. 

After checking in we had a full day of the following:

• The Tracy Aviary - J's favorite of the trip. It was free (we have reciprocity through the Franklin Park Conservatory), not crowded and the birds were awesome to see. Also, randomly the food there was excellent.

• Walking around beautiful Salt Lake City -  it's just such a clean and nice city. The only disappointing part was Temple Square was under construction, so we couldn't see that. One fun thing is that L got 30,000 steps for the first time on her fitbit.

• Swimming in the hotel pool - we took advantage of this and very much enjoyed the pool

• High tea at The Grand America Hotel - the girls really enjoyed getting dressed up for a different experience than what we normally do. 

• Dinner at the Blue Iguana - excellent food in a cool spot within walking distance of the basketball arena. 

• Jazz vs Celtics - I've been a Jazz fan for 30 years and it was great to to take family to a very exciting game that ended with an upset Jazz win. L was super into the game, which was was really fun to see. It's weird to me though being a Jazz fan for so long, that this was only the 2nd Jazz home game in my life.

3/19 Salt Lake City to Arches

The day started off with an outstanding breakfast at Eva's Bakery in downtown Salt Lake City. I then took the city train (another bonus about SLC is the train) to the airport to get the car, while M took the kids to the hotel pool for the 3rd time.

Before we left SLC we checked out the Utah State Capital. The build was cool to see and it didn't hurt that it was free. And then it was off on the 4 hour trip to Moab! Lunch was at "Waffle Love" and this was a nice pleasant surprise since I thought fast food was our most likely option next to a Target.

We arrived at Arches National Park at 5pm, which gave us enough time for the tough hike up a mountain to Delicate Arch. The hike took about an hour but in the words of L was "definitely worth it." So many times big things like that are underwhelming. Decline Arch not only met, but vastly exceeded expectations. It was huge and the entire surrounding area was gorgeous. You could see the arch, the rest of the national park and snow capped mountains in the background (See below). 

And one super nice thing (and a theme of the trip) was that while there were people there it wasn't too crowded. It was awesome to hear the excitement in L's voice when we saw the Delicate Arch. Really cool experience as a dad. 

The walk back was much easier since it was down a mountain. We got back in our car hungry for dinner. We stopped at Moab Brewery and the food was ok. After that we checking into our Airbnb about 10 minutes from downtown Moab.

3/20 - Moab Day

In the morning we went to Canyonlands National Park and did the mesa arch and grand view trails. They were so cool - both literally and figuratively. The relatively cold weather kept the crowds low on both trails. Parking, hiking and taking pictures was very easy. Also, easy was the hike to Mesa Arch, which with minimal effort produced a great view of the canyon. The grand view hike was longer / tougher, but it felt like walking on top of the world. Below is one picture, but the pictures don't really do it justice. 

After the hikes, we enjoyed a great lunch at Mitt's in Moab. We got burgers / milkshakes/ fries. Classic and definitely a recommendation.

That evening we went back to Arches and and picked some of the easier hikes in the Windows Section. The timing worked out well as we briefly got caught in a rain storm that had been threatening all day.

Dinner that night was at Pasta Jay's in downtown Moab. It was excellent and everyone left super happy with an easy day of hiking and great meals.

3/21- Travel Day to Page, Arizona

This was a travel day as we started our drive down to Arizona. It was a really strange drive all morning because it was snowing! That isn't exactly what most people think of when thinking about a "spring break trip Arizona." The snow prevented us from seeing the famous Monument Valley from Forest Gump (and other movies). It's funny in retrospect because whenever our family sees these famous pictures from Monument Valley in travel books / videos we joke about how we could only see 20 feet in front of us due to the snow. 

We arrived in Page, Arizona...a very small city...and checked into our hotel before going out to see Horseshoe Bend. This was a short 20 minute hike until you got to the picture below. Wow! Just amazing. It was much bigger in person than I expected. We stayed for about an hour and took a ton of pictures. 

The rest of the evening was very low key. We went bowling, got dinner at Wal-Mart and took it back to the hotel to eat while we watched a movie. Bowling was actually really fun with the highlight being L getting a spare on her last bowl.

3/22 - Page, Arizona & Grand Canyon

Everyone slept well and we woke up ready for the Upper Antelope Tour. The tour into the canyon was with a friendly tour guide and a bunch of retirement age people....4 of whom were from Columbus. The slot canyon was very photogenic (kind of the main point of it) and made me thinking that without the invention of the camera, Page would lose 95% of their economy. 

Lunch was at a donut shop right next to the tour company. Donuts were a nice treat after our tour and got us ready for another 4 hour drive....this time to the Grand Canyon. 

The Grand Canyon was brutally cold with snow on the ground and a wind that made it seem much colder than the 35 degree temp. Ice checked into the Yavapai Lodge, which had the advantage of being in the park and a short drive to the Grand Canyon Village and the main viewpoint of the Grand Canyon. We bundled up and went to check it out.

The Grand Canyon was as spectacular as advertised even if there were some complaints about the cold. It really did feel different going from mildly cold (but comfortable) in Utah to this kind of cold. We use this as an opportunity to warm up with hot drinks and apps in the famous El Tower hotel. 

3/23 - Grand Canyon & Phoenix

We woke up at 6am, put on all our clothes and hopped in the car for a short drive to the best view of the sunrise. One really cool think (and a favorite for J) was seeing 4 deer calmly sitting in the snow outside our room. The sunrise over the Grand Canyon was awesome and somehow both better and colder than the sunset the night before. Despite the smile below, everyone was just kind of over the cold.

We then left the Grand Canyon to do drive to Phoenix and magically went from the frozen tundra to warm / sunny Phoenix. We headed straight to the Desert Botanical Garden. We walked around all the cacti and other plants from the Sonoran Desert. This was also a free activity thanks to our Franklin Park Conservatory membership.

We drove back to our hotel and headed straight to the "river ranch" waterpark. It was somewhat cool outside (especially with the breeze) but the water was warm and the kids absolutely loved it. 

We were thrilled to be in Phoenix and ready to end the trip well

3/24 - Phoenix Day

Last full day of the trip!We had breakfast the "hole in the wall" place at the hotel. We could take our time since the pool didn't open up till 10am. At the pool we enjoyed the water with L especially enjoying the lazy river. She took about 6 laps over the two hours we were there.

For the afternoon we drove to Scottsdale to see the Reds play the Diamondbacks. The game was fun (perfect weather / multiple good plays) and it was nice meeting my coworker / friend Sarah and her husband / daughter. 

We left after the 7th inning stretch so that we could go back to the hotel and get a few more hours at the pool. The hotel was relatively expensive and the main drawing point was the pool, so we definitely wanted to get our money's worth. 

That night we took Sarah's advice and went to the Mexican place (Aunt

3/25- Flight home!

The best news about our flight home was there was no news. Flights went home on time and without incident. 

52 Things I Enjoyed About 2023

Below is my annual list (started back in 2020) of 52 things I enjoyed about the year. This isn't a ranking or comprehensive (despite the 3k+ words) but rather just a snapshot in time of things that were great about the previous 365 days. For previous years feel free to look back at 2020, 2021 or 2022. Anyway, here are the top things I enjoyed about the year:

Trips

1) Utah / Arizona for Spring Break - my absolute favorite thing about the year was a week spent driving from Salt Lake City through three national parks and ending in Phoenix. Everything worked so perfectly and it truly was one of the best trips of my life. There are almost too many things to list from this trip, but the best thing was the 3 mile hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. 

2) Malphurs Family Trip to North Carolina - we had a great time in probably the best house we've ever had for a larger Malphurs family trip. It was great spending time with everyone's company and enjoying hikes, tubing and plenty of movies / video games. We had one meal that was so excellent that we ended up going back again. (You know a meal is good when you decide to do that on a trip.) 

3) Georgia Guys Trip - This year a group of 3 of us went to Northern Georgia for some hikes and the UGA vs Ole Miss Game. It was fun seeing a new stadium and a huge game...even if the game was a blowout.

4) Cuyahoga National Park - After traveling out west to Utah / Arizona, it seemed strange that we hadn't been to the one National Park here in Ohio. We had a nice hike there (with Rio) and while it wasn't as impressive as Arches / Canyonlands / Grand Canyon....it was still a very fun day. 

5) Planning Yosemite Trip - For 2024 our big trip is going out West again and seeing Lake Tahoe, Yosemite & Los Angeles. The thing I am most excited was working with the park lodging and getting a room at the lodge in Yosemite! This is rare considering the popularity of Yosemite, so I am hopeful that we enjoy the convenience of being right there for 3 full days. 

Family

6) Coaching Team Melon - This is a repeat from the last two years, but it's super fun coaching J's soccer team. Our fall season was much tougher than our spring season - we lost a few of great players and the competition was tougher - but still it's nice getting out there with my youngest.

7) Tyler / Katie's Wedding - M and I had the pleasure of attending a beautiful wedding of one of my old coworkers from Victoria's Secret. Weddings are way less common at our age, so it was extra fun to have an excuse to dress up and celebrate such a big occasion. 

8) 40th birthday at Arch City Tavern -  For my 40th birthday we planned a fun night at Arch City Tavern where we paid for drinks / food and enjoyed the company of ~30 of my friends. My best friend even flew in from Mississippi for the night.

9) Last Christmas in 5605 Warwick Dr - After 50 years my parents made the hard decision to move from my childhood home in Jackson, Mississippi to a retirement home 10 minutes north in Madison. As a family we tried to soak in all the final memories of the only place my kids have known for Christmas. 

10) Date Night with L & J - My kids enjoyed planning a "date night" where L and I dressed up and went to go an Asian restaurant (Lemongrass) and then a fancy dessert right across the street at The Guild House. J and I went to an Italian restaurant (more to come below). Both nights were outstanding! 

11) M Got Promoted! It's very easy to be proud of the work ethic and intelligence of my wonderful wife. She made the decisions last year to leave her previous company and has done so well at her new company that she got a big promotion this year. It's awesome to see her doing so well...and not just because we have a joint checking account.

12) Brother-In-Law Got Promoted to Head of Middle School! In the spirit of another promotion, it was awesome to see my Brother-In-Law get the Head of Middle School role at my old school (St. Andrew's). It's fun to see his career success and even better that it's at a school that has played such a major role in his life (he also attended SA), my sister's life (ditto), my life and my nephews (current students at SA). 

13) Hocking Hills (thanks to Heidi) - M and I had planned a night away at Hocking Hills and unfortunately our babysitting option fell through a few weeks before. Thankfully we have amazing neighbors and one of our closest ones stepped up and said she would love to watch L & J. They all seemed to have such a good time that even when came back the next day the kids wanted to stay at Heidi's house for a little bit longer. 

14) My parents getting set up at St. Catherine's Village - There are some big disadvantages to getting older, but in my limited experience it is better to address that head on. This was a big and difficult decision (I wrote briefly about this in point 7), but overall I think it is the right one and should give everyone in our family peace of mind.

15) Kids cooking - The kids have continued to improve their cooking and it's fun to see and try the treats that they create. 

16) Surprising my nephew in the Atlanta airport - My nephew was traveling to Europe through his school at the same time I was traveling back from work in Atlanta. That gave me a chance to find his flight and sneak up and surprise him. As an added bonus it was nice talking to him and some of his classmates before such a big trip. 

17) Overnight camp! Our kids spent their first 48 hours without either parent as they went on their first overnight camp. They loved it and it looks like these type of camps are likely in the future. 

Sports

18) K Academy - I wrote about this earlier this year, but K Academy is 2 for 2 in being absolutely spectacular. My team wasn't nearly as good as back in 2019, but it was a great group of guys that ended on a high note with an upset win. Also, the best thing about my "sophomore year" was that M, L & J came and saw in person! I absolutely loved having them there. 

19) Duke Over UNC - Twice -  After the disappointing end to the 2022 season (losing at Cameron and then in the Final Four) it was cathartic to see Duke win two very close games against UNC. The first game was a back and forth game at Cameron where Derrick Lively dominated (while barely scoring) and Jeremy Roach scored the key basket at the end. The second game was at the Dean Dome and happened to take place on my 40th birthday. Duke gave me the best present with another close win thanks again to another key late game basket by Jeremy Roach. 

20) Duke wins the ACC Title - Last year's Duke team started off pretty slow and I had some concerns replacing a legend (Coach K) and a bunch of great players (Paolo, Mark Williams, Wendell Moore Jr). The low point was the week after the first win against UNC when they lost 81-59 to Miami (FL). They followed up that with a great game at UVA that was more frustrating because it should have been a win (that overturned foul call at the end against Flip will always been confusing) that took them to only 8-6 in the ACC. It was crazy to see that average ACC team then win 6 consecutive regular season games before winning 3 straight in ACC tournament to win the ACC title. The year was already a success going 2-0 against UNC, but to to win the ACC title (especially with expectations being low) was especially amazing. 

21) Dolphins offense - Through the first 16 games (which really should still be the length of the NFL season) the Dolphins have scored the most points per game in the NFL at 30.1. This includes scoring 70 points against the Broncos in one of the most enjoyable games you can ever watch. It's been so much fun watching Tua, Hill & Mostert over the course of the season. I'm hopeful that this is the year they can finally break the 23 year streak of not winning a playoff game

22)  Dolphins defense / fantasy - the actual Dolphins defense has been mostly good this year, but for 5 games (weeks 11-15) they were absolutely amazing. I knew they had an easy schedule and picked up the Dolphins defense in fantasy, which meant I was doubly excited to see the Dolphins mostly dominate (4-1) against the stretch of terrible teams (Raiders, Commanders, Titans and Jets twice). That streak allowed me to make the semifinals in both fantasy leagues. Unfortunately the luck for the Dolphins and my fantasy ran out at the same time over the past few weeks. Still there isn't much better than when your real life favorite team and you fantasy football team both are doing well.

23) MAC Champion Miami Redhawks Football Team - Miami had one of the best years ever this year with rivalry wins against Cincinnati (for the first time since I was in college) and Ohio University and finishing the year with an upset win against Toledo for the MAC title. I was able to convince L, J and other family members to drive up to Detroit. It was awesome being in person to see a team that won because of defense and special teams. 

24) Twins won a playoff game - I've been a Minnesota Twins fan since I moved there and started following their 2006 team. They were consistently a good team that made the playoffs and then somehow found a way to lose every playoff game. They were swept in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020 and lost a one game playoff in 2017. Add up up all together and the Twins lost 15 straight playoff games when I was a fan. (They had lost 3 straight before I was a fan in 2004, so overall the Twins lost 18 straight playoff games). Their futility and bad luck was unmatched. This year they made the playoffs and actually won 3 games. Pablo Lopez pitched two great games and Royce Lewis hit 2 home runs in his first two postseason at-bats. Overall it was exciting watching a young / fun team break a curse that had lasted way too long.

25) Western & Southern Open - I've never been to a professional tennis tournament and one of the better ones (right under the Grand Slam tournaments) is only 1.5 hours away from Columbus. My buddy took me as a nice 40th birthday gift. We had a great time watching amazing tennis and even were able to get down to court level to see one of the matches. 

26) Rushing the Court at Hinkle Fieldhouse - One of my close friends is a big basketball fan and had always wanted to go to Hinkle Fieldhouse to see Buster play. We found a good matchup between Xavier-Butler and were lucky enough to see both an upset home win and the home crowd rush the court. Below is a picture, but it was an awesome sports moment. 

27) 4-0 at Blue Jackets games - The Blue Jackets are not a good hockey team (13 wins / 19 losses / 9 ties), but somehow the Jackets are 4-0 in games I've attended during this season. They beat Calgary 3-1 (10/20), Boston 5-2 (11/27), Ottawa 4-2 (12/1) and St. Louis 5-2 (12/8). It's been an amazing and statistically unlikely run. 

28) Jazz over Celtics - I've been an Utah Jazz fan for 3 decades now and was able to attend my 2nd Jazz home game ever....and take M, L & J to their first home game. It was a back and forth game that came down to the end, but the Jazz pulled it out. I loved being there and was especially excited because L really seemed to be in to the game.

29) Basketball at the JCC - With K Academy in the rearview mirror I joined a basketball league at the local JCC 5 minutes away from my house. While age is still undefeated (I can't move like I used to) it is still great to go out there and play basketball. I don't think it will ever get old hitting a 3 pointer. 

30) Two Ohio State football games - One of the best things about living in Columbus is to have one of the country's largest schools right in our backyard. Ohio State offers a lot of great athletics, but the thing they are most known for is football. This year's team was another good team (though don't ask any OSU fan about them due to how the season ended) and I was able to take J to an early season game against Western Kentucky. This was so much fun and definitely one of the highlights of the year. 

31) Denver Nuggets win the title - In order to make the NBA season more excited, I organized a 4 person bet where we would have a snake draft and pick every NBA team and the winner would be whoever picked the NBA champion. This had the exact impact I was hoping for and even better the team I picked with the 8th pick ended up winning it all! 

Entertainment

32) Lessons in Chemistry - I'm not the first one to write about this book, but this was a great read with compelling characters and a great storyline. I highly recommend.

33) You Could Make This Place Beautiful - A Bexley neighbor wrote this book about going through her divorce. Parts of the book were overwhelming because I would literally be walking through scenes from the book while listening to the book.

34) Shoe Dog  - Despite knowing about Nike and Phil Knight and this book coming recommended by a friend, I didn't have high hopes for Phil Knight's book about the start of Nike. I loved it! I went into worried that it would be a shallow read that featured a lot of off putting self-glorification moments. I was happy to be wrong. Knight showed humility and provided countless examples where he got a lucky break. It helped that the book focused almost entirely on Nike's early days and wasn't about how Nike was run after it became a huge company. 

35) The Man Who Broke Capitalism - Not exactly a fun read, but an informative look at GE's Jack Welch. I never wanted to be a CEO and this book helped reinforce that point. 

36) West By West - Somewhat similar to Shoe Dog, I loved hearing stories from Jerry West's life. He really seemed like an open book with topics and the transparency made the book fascinating. 

37) City Nerd - Youtube algorithm isn't always great / helpful, but one thing that I got into this year was a YouTube channel from this guy named City Nerd. He is a data heavy guy who loves walkable communities, public transit and effective city planning. I love his content and enjoy watching it with my family.

38) Kenny Chesney with L for her 10th birthday - L has enjoyed listening to country music (mainly Kacey Musgraves) and for her birthday I took her out of school and drove up to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to see Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney. We only knew a little bit about Kelsea Ballerini, but after this concert she jumped up L's interest and is now someone she listens to on a regular basis. Overall this concert was just so much fun - the people were polite, our seats were great and both performers did an excellent job. 

39) Old Dominion with M  - For a random Wednesday in December we were lucky enough to see Old Dominion play in downtown Columbus. They put on a great show and it was fun having a rare weeknight date night.

40) The Wilds - For J's birthday we got her a safari tour through the Columbus Zoo at their Wilds location  1.5 hours east of Columbus. This was specular! The open air bus takes you around to see tons of different animals. The ostrich (pictures below) was especially curious about us. 

41) Zoombezzi Bay (the weekend before Memorial Day) - We went to Zoombezzi Bay twice this year. One time was in the middle of summer - it was warm, which meant ridiculous crowds and lines for popular rides that were easily over an hour. The other time was the weekend before Memorial Day. It was a little bit colder, but L and her friend could go on rides with practically no lines. Much like how our Spring Break trip helped avoid crazy National Parks crowds, there are definitely advantages to zigging when others zag. 

42) The Last of Us - I tend to stay away from most zombie related shows / movies, but probably the best TV series I saw all year was HBO's The Last of Us. The 3rd episode (Long, Long Time)  was particularly outstanding. 

43) The Bear Season 2 - Not just for the Coach K references (even if those didn't hurt) I really liked Season 2 of the Bear in a way that wasn't the case with an ok (not bad / not good) Season 1. My favorite episode (Forks) was focused on Richie at a fancy restaurant and had a few very memorable moments. 

44) Gastropod podcast - Generally my family doesn't care for podcasts on long roadtrips, but one that they have absolutely loved is the gastropod podcast about science / history of food. This was a recommendation by my sister and if you had to listen to one episode I would definitely go with the fascinating history of Nutmeg. 

Misc

45) Lola & Giuseppe's Trattoria - We had been looking for awhile for a great Italian restaurant and finally found what I consider to be the perfect little spot about 15 minutes from our home. J and I went there first and enjoyed the meal so much we had to plan another time for the whole family. We've now been there many times (because of the size, recommendations are highly recommended) and just absolutely love it. 

46) Marty & Matt's Visit to Columbus - For the longest time I've tried to get my friend Marty to come up to Columbus and finally was able to get her to come up for a weekend. We went to Lola's, had a best of Ohio night (Skyline, pierogis, Rooster's) and went to see the Buckeyes beat the Gophers. It was so much fun showing her and her husband around Columbus.

47) Working from home at Carter's - With my job I work with considerate people, do interesting work and have the flexibility from being a permanent remote employee. With L & J this has been a big advantage and something I know that isn't offered to everyone. 

48) Scioto Fest - The Metro Parks system here in Columbus is outstanding. Great parks, trails, etc. One of the best activities this year was "Scioto Fest" at Scioto Audubon Metro Park. They had bands, beer, rock climbing and we could go kayaking on the appropriately named Scioto River. This is definitely something I plan on doing again next year

49) Issue 1 - In a special election in August, Ohio voters rejected a bill that would make amendments to the Ohio Constitution to require 60% of of voters. This is a change from the current system where amendments pass with a majority of voters voting for one side. Considering how democracy in Ohio has already been negatively affected by extreme gerrymandering (this book about the 2010 midterms is outstanding) this would just be another way for Republican legislatures to prevent Ohio citizens from having a true voice. It was a shady (and costly) move to try and sneak this in August and personally I would rather not have spend an hour out of my day driving to the one early voting location.....but in the end Ohio citizens did the right thing and kept their right to change the constitution. 

50) Moshi - One of our favorite places was Moshi Sushi less than a mile away from our house. I looked it up and we went there 7 times in 2023. The food / atmosphere/ waitstaff are all great.

51) Stock market - Going into the year it seemed like everyone was talking about how bad the economy was and how we were due for a recession. And while I know the stock market is only one measure of the economy, it was a great year with the SP500 up 24%! It was a great year to be invested in stocks. 

52) Sunroom - we had a full year with our new sunroom and it's a been a wonderful addition to our house. I love going there after work and enjoying a new spot. 

K Academy: 2023

What's the best vacation you can think of? Relaxing at the beach? Touring famous cities? This year my family had probably our best family trip to Utah / Arizona over Spring Break, but for my money the best possible vacation is 5 days in Durham, North Carolina at K Academy. Thanks to my lovely wife, I went back to K Academy for the 2nd time. (I did this in 2019 and wrote about in this blog.) K Academy is a 5 day fantasy camp where you play basketball at Cameron Indoor Stadium and are coached by current & former Duke players. If you like basketball (check) and especially Duke basketball (check), it really is the absolute ideal experience.

This year I was drafted by Team Dallas. Team Dallas was coached by Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas, Duke legend Gene Banks, 4 year Duke player Sean Dockery and current Duke star Tyrese Proctor. I had a few concerns looking at our team at draft night just because it was obvious we were a short team. Slight concerns became bigger concerns as we went 0-2 the games the first days. We were short, turned the ball over too much, couldn't shoot well and struggled playing defense. 

M and the kids came to see K Academy and even with them being the stands our team lost the next two games on Thursday to bring our record to 0-4. Every night they show highlights from the games during the day and Team Dallas was NOT featured prominently. The one place we did show up was Duke's social media tweeted out our coach Jai Lucas who was mic'ed up for one of our losses. There were some less than flattering quotes, but it wasn't like Coach Lucas was wrong with his assessment of our team. 

We were losing and I couldn't shoot. The ball felt good leaving my hands and I could make shots in practice, but in the game situation it just didn't work out. I still LOVED being at Duke, but was definitely missing my 6-1 team from 2019. K Academy is extremely competitive (2 different games I played in had blood on the court) and it's not a shocking statement to say winning feels much better than losing. Our coaches were telling us were weren't play well (true) and we had quit (debatable) in a previous game. 

The good news is that despite the number of losses, I still enjoyed hanging out with the team. We had some really great people that helped make the losing better. 

We came into the playoffs on Sunday as the 10th seed (out of 10) thanks to our 0-5 record and were placed up against the 7th seed Team Denver. Team Denver had already beaten us once. Clearly Vegas doesn't produce lines for K Academy, but if they had we would have been big underdogs. We played inspired basketball and kept the close to till the very end. With one minute to go and down 2 we had the following three straight offensive possessions:

1. A loose ball scramble led to our point guard (who had played an excellent game) to pass me the ball on the wing. I let the ball fly, did a little skip and for the first time in a long time actually saw the ball go through the net. A 2 point deficit became a 1 point lead and I could finally feel some relief on hitting a 3 pointer.
2. One of the greatest lacrosse players of all time drove the ball for an acrobatic layup to stretch our lead to 3 points.
3. Up 2 points (Team Denver had hit 1 free throw before this) our best player (Brian) calmly hit both free throws to put us up 4 with about 5 seconds left.

Those free throws officially sealed the game for us and we celebrated as if we won the national title. I'm still kind of shaking from that win. We stayed together and easily played our best game of the week. Everyone was (is) so incredibly hyped from this win.

We moved on to face the 2nd seeded San Antonio at Cameron Indoor Stadium for a start time an hour after our game ended. Our legs were gone and almost an instant we found ourself down 16 points. We didn't win this game and it wasn't particularly close. The highlight for me came in the layup line before the game. Coach K tapped me on the shoulder and said to me "that was a very big shot. That is making our one shining moment!" I don't know what I looked like, but I was so shocked and happy that it is hard to properly describe. Coach K! Talking to me! About a shot I made! Talk about putting the fantasy in fantasy camp.

Some other observations from camp:

• Tyrese Proctor was a great coach. Very calming and positive person. Also, he showed up for way more games / practices than Alex O'Connell did when he was my coach in 2019. I already rooted for him before but I will be doing so even more next year.

• Gene Banks is quite the character and is filled with energy
• I can see why Jai Lucas is such a great recruiter. He told so many riveting stories over lunch.
• Jayden Schutt's one handed tomahawk dunk over Theo John was the highlight of the player's scrimmage
• The most impressive (not necessarily the best) was Jared McCain. He gets himself ready for the shot so well and then shoots it was so much confidence.
• Talking to Coach Scheyer on Saturday night was easily one of the top 5 highlights. He took time to actually talk to M and I about the 2010 national title. He also pulled Coach Lucas aside and told him at the draft that "you need to draft this guy because he can really shoot the ball." Compliments like that are just incredibly to hear....even if it wold have been better had we not been an 0-5 team at the time of the compliment. 
• Our victory on Sunday was without Coach Lucas. He needed to fly to Mexico to see the Boozer boys. The open question is that Coach Lucas was 0-6 last K Academy and started this year 0-5. Does he get the win from Sunday? It was his team, but he didn't coach it.
• One shooting highlight was I beat from coach (and former Duke great) Chris Duhon 7-6 (out of 10) in a 3 point contest during practice one day.
• It was so incredibly nice to have M, L & J there cheering Team Dallas on for every game. I wish we would have played better but it doesn't change the fact that it was so nice having them there.

Overall it was just an amazing experience. I am sore writing this right now, but with a smile on my face and thinking about trying to find a way to go back. 

52 Things I Enjoyed about 2022

One thing that has become a relatively new tradition for the year is to look back at the previous year and pick out 52 things I enjoyed. I started this in 2020, which was a uniquely tough year with COVID, school shutdowns and layoffs. At the time it felt good to recap things that I enjoyed. I decided to do it again in 2021 and I wanted to do it again this year. Without further ado below are 52 things I enjoyed about 2022.

Trips

1) Wiseman House in South Bend, Indiana - in 2020 we went on an unplanned trip to Bloomington, Indiana with the family of two of my college friends and had a blast. One of the big keys was getting a place with an indoor pool. Anyway, we decided to upgrade that experience by inviting another family and also getting place with both a pool and a basketball court. It was extremely cold in northern Indiana in February, but staying inside and hanging out with friends / family was definitely one of the highlights of the year

2) Gatlinburg 2.0 - in 2021 we went on a spring break trip to Gatlinburg with family friends. We decided to do the same thing again this year, but did a lot more activities with less COVID restrictions / concerns. This included a pirate show, kids museum, nature hike, mini-golf and aquarium. 

3) Horseback Riding and the best dessert ever - One activity that we did was take the girls horseback riding in the Great Smoky Mountains. It was fun seeing J & L be so confident on the horses. I give some credit to the amazing meal we had before the ride. We did zero research and just went to the first decent looking place outside the park - The Park Grill. It turns out the Black Bear Brownie Bash is a dessert so good that the family still talks about it. Those provisions certainly gave us the energy for the horseback ride. 

4) Olympics 2.0 with my friend Micah - In a full day of activities I competed with the other Dad on the Gatlinburg trip in 10 competitions to see who would be crowned as Spring Break Olympics Champion. There were darts, Madden, air hockey, mini-golf, etc.....and thankfully  I came out on top 6-4. 

5) Bear Lake, North Carolina - the greater Malphurs family decided to try a new trip this year and go to the mountains of North Carolina. We absolutely loved Bear Lake! It was very secluded (both good and bad) with amazing views, a nice pool and an awesome house. 

6) Secret Falls Hike outside Bear Lake - One afternoon we went out to get lunch and go on a "moderate" hike to see a water fall. This was a recommendation from a friend and it was well worth the effort. It was gorgeous, not crowded and impressive that my 79 year old mother was able to complete. 

7) 24 Hours in Toledo - a random, but great trip this year was when I took the girls up to Toledo for a fossil hunt (L read about it in a local magazine), Tony Packo's, a MudHens game, an amazing breakfast (highly recommend Fowl and Fodder) and the Toledo Museum of Art. It combined a lot of what I enjoy with trips and was a perfect time with my daughters. 

8) 5 Hours at Miami University - it was a year of many short driving trips and the shortest one of the year was a quick trip back to Miami University. We walked around the campus, went to a Redhawks football game and enjoyed Bagel & Deli at the park. I wish we would have had more time, but it gets tricky to plan trips with both a dog and J's soccer schedule. Anyway, it was nice having time back where I spent 4 wonderful years. 

9) Perfect Reds baseball day - For Christmas last year I got passes to go on a ballpark tour of Great American Ballpark in Cincy. We planned a full day where we did the tour, had lunch and then went to an afternoon game between the Reds and the Rays. The Reds won on a walk-off in extra innings with the most impressive thing being that the entire family watched probably 80% of the game. It didn't hurt that it was an absolutely perfect day outside.

10) Sotto (best meal of the year) - after the Reds game we went to check into our hotel and was pleasantly surprised with an upgrade to a suite. The game and walking took awhile, but we were still hungry. In a somewhat risky move we decided to go to a fancy Italian meal in downtown Cincy. The food, atmosphere, wait staff and overall vibe was perfect. When I go back to Cincy I hope to go back to Sotto. 

11) Counting Crows in Indianapolis with the family - M had wanted to see one of her favorite bands for awhile, so we looked up tickets and planned a trip to Indianapolis to see the Counting Crows play at Holiday Park. It was awesome! The kids were well behaved (there isn't much better than other parents nearby complimenting them) and the Counting Crows were excellent. 

12) Planning Utah / Arizona trip - our big trip for next year is going out west to primarily see the national parks out there. While the trip hasn't happened yet it has been fun reading about both states and planning what we will do

13) 24 Hours in New Orleans - While back in Mississippi for Christmas, we planned an overnight trip to New Orleans where M & I enjoyed some excellent food and walking around New Orleans. That evening I took my BIL and nephews to go see the Bucks play the Pelicans. The game was close, the stadium was full and it was amazing seeing Giannis and Zion for the first time. 

Family

14) Rio - after much conversations, we finally decided to add a dog to the family! Rio has been such a great addition to the family. I take him on plenty of walks and he gets more than enough snuggles from my daughters. 

15) Rio chasing after tennis balls - Rio is a medium sized dog that we think is a mix of beagle and cocker spaniel. Something in his DNA gives him an extreme ability and interest in chasing tennis balls. It's super fun to throwing or hitting a tennis ball and seeing Rio run after them. He never seems to get tired in general or specifically of the idea of chasing after tennis balls.

16) Team Melon / J scoring goals - I signed up to coach J's soccer team again and we had a great year! J went from more of a focus on defense (as she says it) to playing a little more offense. This was the first year we played against goalies and despite that extra layer of defense J was able to get a few goals. Of course the important thing is that everyone seemed to have fun.

17) Home Addition - much in the spirit of a lot of our neighbors in Bexley, we got a taste of the home improvement bug. We were able to find a good builder (who ended up being great!) and over the course of the back half of the year we saw as the backyard transformed from normal to a giant hole to an outline of an addition and then finally to a full new room. 

18) M's 40th birthday party - M had a pretty big birthday this year so I planned a big party at the Franklin Park Conservatory complete with out of town guests, a band, a photographer and a brunch. The goal was to get some of our favorite people around to celebrate such a big day. 

19) Blue Jackets with Oscar - my nephew loves the Blue Jackets and I've enjoyed taking him to a few games this year. Hockey will never be my favorite sport, but I love his passion for the game and the Jackets are an enjoyable live sports experience 

20) Sledding outside the conservatory - we've taken the kids sledding a few times and they absolutely loved this one cold day outside the conservatory. This is a repeat from last year's list. 

21) L's 4H - L got pretty into 4H this year in terms of attending meetings and also presenting at the Franklin County Fair. It was awesome to see her love for animals manifest itself into a group.

22) "L is a kind classmate and has a positive attitude" - her teacher. Earlier I wrote about other parents complimenting our kids behavior....in that same vein I love getting reports back on both L & J's personalities. 

23) J's funny sayings - J is very open, honest and direct and with an ever expanding vocabulary it is a treat to see what she will say at any moment. 

24) Anniversary dinner with kids at Martini - for our anniversary this year we all dressed up and had a nice meal in downtown Columbus. It's fun to doing these things with our family.

25) Sausage balls, edam cheese and the comforts of home - one of the pleasures of coming home is the familiarity of eating some of the appetizers prepared every single year. I enjoy looking forward to it every year and am pleased with our traditions. 

26) The kids being able to independently walk 0.2 miles to and from school - one of the great things about where we live is the elementary school that both L & J go to is so close to our house. We normally walk them to and from school, but occasionally we let them make the trek by themselves. It's nice to live in a safe / walkable community.

27) Being the godfather for Otis - M and I drove up to Carey, Ohio to attend and participate in Otis's baptism. Afterward we had an excellent breakfast in downtown Carey. It was great spending time with family and I felt honored to have been chosen as Otis's godfather.

Sports

28) Mitchell to Gobert against the Mavs - It's been a strange two years as a Jazz fan. The 2020-2021 team was the best team in the regular season and had a good chance of winning the title. It all came crashing down with 4 straight losses (each more painful) against the Clippers, but expectations were still high for the 2021-2022 team. That team never really figured it out and despite individual excellence from Gobert / Mitchell it was a disappointing year that eventually ended up with the team blowing things up and trading them. I miss rooting for both of them on the Jazz. The last good moment for those two was the game 4 comeback win against the Mavs that ended in a great pass from Mitchell to Gobert. It's weird because one could make the case it was meaningless (they didn't win the series or even another game), but at the time it  made me jump up and down like a child on Christmas morning. That seems meaningful to me. 

29) The Dolphins 21 point 4th quarter comeback against the Ravens - The Dolphins completed one of their most surprising wins ever when Tua was NBA Jam level hot in the 4th quarter throwing TD passes to Waddle / Hill. At the time it both stood by itself as an amazing game and also seemed to suggest a "new Dolphins" that would compete for AFC East division and a long run through the playoffs.

30) Dolphins at Bears - In a picture perfect day in Chicago, I was able to see the Dolphins win a very high scoring game against an improving Bears team. This was my 6th stadium (Miami, Cincy, Minnesota, Green Bay & Indy) where I've seen the Dolphins win a game. It was nice adding a new stadium to that list.

31) Patrick Mahomes - It was a weird year in fantasy (started 2-5 thanks to Akers / Moore / Pitts) that has ended both good (making the playoffs, winning a playoff game) and bad (an all time loss in the semifinals), but one constant through it all is the overall excellence of Patrick Mahomes. I love rooting for him and despite it being somewhat routine (he does it every year) it is still shockingly amazing. 

32) Tony Pollard - For a couple years now I've thought Tony Pollard has the potential to be an amazing running back. This year I drafted him in fantasy for a ridiculously cheap price and then watched him lead my team (him + Mahomes) to the playoffs. 

33) Jeremy Roach in the tournament - so the tournament didn't end as any Duke fan would want. Losing to UNC in Coach K's final game was tough. Still the tournament provided a lot of joy. There was the well-played game against Michigan State that effectively ended on a pull up 3 from Jeremy Roach. Then there was the best game of the tournament (in my opinion) between Duke and a veteran Texas Tech team. That game also ended with clutch Roach shots. There isn't much better than watching your team get hot during March Madness and to have some memorable plays and a Final Four appearance.....not too bad for Coach K's last run. 

34) Duke at Louisville with Megan - on a cold day in January I met my friend Megan (she drove up from Nashville) for a fun Duke win at the Yum Center in Louisville. AJ Griffin was amazing and we celebrated the win eating an excellent burger across the street at SideBar. It was great catching up with my friend and hearing about her move back from Switzerland to Nashville. 

35) Multiple Clippers games with the family - we really got into the grove going to probably 5-10 Clippers games this year. We even got to bring Rio to two "bark in the park" games, which was fun. The girls still love telling the story about him eating an entire hot dog. 

36) Bucks / Pelicans with my BIL and nephews - this was listed above, but one of the highlights of the year were lower level tickets to see Giannis and Zion. I had been to a previous Pelicans game (pre-COVID) and the atmosphere was fine, but it's amazing to see how Zion has transformed the games. It was a mostly full arena and everyone really seemed to be invested in the game.

Entertainment

37) Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe - easily the best book I listened to all year. It continues a theme with the next book on the list of showing extremely wealthy people (in this book multiple generations of the same family) who have what seem to be no ethics. I truly don't understand people with all the money in the world, making life so incredibly awful for so many people. Keefe did an excellent job of showing the full history of the Sackler family in a way that reminded me of David Halberstam. It would have been easy to just go with the facts (how many opioid pills were distributed, how many people died, etc) but showing the context of how we reached that point made the story fascinating. I highly recommend this. 

38) The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles - this book wasn't as well reviewed as the Empire of Pain, but I enjoyed hearing this writer provide both a biography of Jack Welch and a critique on our modern system. The greed (common theme as Empire of Pain, White Lotus, Succession, etc) and lack of ethics from Welch makes one wonder why he was ever such an American Icon. 

39) Reign of Terror by Spencer Ackerman - I don't mean to read just depressing books, but this was a really good read for anyone looking to learn more about the "war on terror" and the depressing side effects. I wish our country spent more time / money on solving problems like mass transportation, affordable housing and healthcare....and less time / money on military operations. 

40) Carly Pearce - Thanks to a vox article, I was introduced to Carly Pearce and really enjoyed her music. I would like to see if she comes through Columbus because she isn't quite as popular (yet) as someone like Kacey Musgraves

41) The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age - By Arthur Brooks - one of my favorite articles and series in general is the "How to build a life" column in the Atlantic. This specific one is worth a read as it's short and has specific advice on things that could increase your happiness in the long term. I feel like I do a pretty good job of not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and prioritizing daily movement....but could certainly improve with learning and (outside my core family) developing long-term relationships. 

Misc

42) 19nine - my favorite company right now is a retro college basketball company based out of Evansville, Indiana. This year they came out with a 2008 Davidson line, quarter-zips (one I am wearing as I write this) and introduced schools like Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Also, the entire St. John's mid 90s options are close to perfect.

43) Carter's - I enjoy the place I work and the people I work with, which is something I can appreciate more as I've worked for companies on the range from good to bad. 

44) Trips to Atlanta - this year I flew into Carter's Headquarters approximately 6 times and it's nice having a routine with same flights, train, breakfast, etc. Plus the added bonus of actually being the great people I work with in person.

45) Pigs in a blanket, chocolate milk and catching up with old friends - one of my absolute favorite things about being back in Mississippi is visiting the parents of my high school friend. They ask great questions, spoil my kids and generally we just have an excellent conversation. I feel lucky to have these people in my life. 

46) The rejection of (most) of the election denying Republicans - the red wave didn't come to fruition with the Republicans getting the House, but barely missing out on the Senate. It was about as good of a possible outcome for Democrats. Importantly most of of the most out the Republicans lost. Our democracy is in trouble thanks to things like voter suppression, gerrymandering and the Big Lie. It makes me worried when we can't accept basic rules or facts with the election. The 2022 election didn't solve it, but thankfully it didn't make it worse. 

47) Schiller Park - we have a wonderful park in the middle of German Village where we take Rio and let him enjoy seeing other dogs while also chasing both squirrels (he never catches them) and tennis balls. 

48) The Ohio State Fair - one of my favorite yearly activities is going to the Ohio State Fair and this year I took my kids + my nephew for a Wednesday night of fun. We did a lot of rides, the big slide and ate some excellent food. It's just a lot of fun for myself and also to see it through the eyes of my children. All things considered (cost, connivence and lack of crowds) makes the Ohio State Fair about 1000X better than Disney. 

49) Come From Away with M - I had seen this play in New York a few years ago and was excited to see it with M when they came to Cbus. It did not disappoint. 

50) The Ringer Fantasy Football Show - my favorite podcast of the year might not have done the best job of helping me with my fantasy teams (they really didn't like Josh Jacobs going into the year as an example), but I loved their personalities. It was a favorite of mine to listen to them recap the Sunday games on every Monday morning

51) Halloween - it was great seeing the kids dress up, hang out with my parents and see the entire neighborhood come out for a fun evening. Also, I loved being a kid again and dress up as Felipe Lopez.

52) Spending New Year's with kids super excited to stay up to midnight - it's crazy seeing your kids get older, but it such a joy and I'm glad to finish a new year and start 2023.