My parents used to let me pick out two activity books that they would buy for me before any major road trip. I usually picked a logic puzzle book and a coloring book. One time, I picked out a pair of "things to do in the car" books for kids, which turned out to be too easy and too boring. However, I did glean a few good family car games, one of which my brother and I still play to this day.

Here's how it works. One person starts by reading a word from any object outside the car. Usually, this is a billboard. "Money!" The next person has to find a word that starts with the last letter of the first word. "Yamaha!" "Anyone!" "Exit!" "Turn!"

This might sound extremely easy, but finding Yamaha took me almost fifteen minutes. (Note: to keep the game moving, you are not allowed to pass up a word in hopes of finding a better one.) Of course, we live in Chicago, so any road trip we take requires traversing through a chunk of the Midwest. I don't know if you've ever driven through the Midwest, but it's mostly flat and corn and trees and some more corn. There isn't even that much other traffic, so you shouldn't hold your breath waiting for a Yukon to drive by.

My least favorite letter to get stuck with from this trip? 'K.' My brother would look at billboards like the ones pictured above and choose "network" instead of "now." And I would sigh and watch all those pretty Wisconsin license plates fly by and wish that he was slightly less smart.

I tried this game indoors once when my friends and I were stuck at an airport for countless hours, waiting for someone's plane to arrive. It was difficult and fun for a while . . . until we found three words that looped (e.g. turn, nice, exit) and got too lazy to do anything but repeat them.

Anyway, I dare you to try this with a sibling or a friend on your next road trip. It's guaranteed to stave off boredom for at least five minutes. You'll have to come up with your own games after that.

This was the first picture I took after piling in the van with my family as we pulled out of our driveway one week ago. I'm not generally very awake on Saturday mornings, but I was pretty excited about our planned weekend getaway. Milwaukee isn't the most exotic location for a vacation, but we just needed to get far enough away to forget about all the stress and drama of home life and work life and (yes, it's true) internet life.

I accumulated well over 1,000 pictures over the course of four days, so I'm going to be telling little stories about a few of them over the next week in my final attempt to catch up on all this blogging nonsense.

P.S. Juan Pedro was very excited to be a part of this adventure. He has missed being in the spotlight. No, scratch that. He has missed you.

The family and I are leaving this morning for a weekend get-away to Milwaukee. Apparently, this is super funny to everyone we know. My pastor asked yesterday, "So, you going with your parents on this exotic adventure to . . . [dramatic pause] . . . MILWAUKEE?" And then he burst forth in childish giggles.

"Hey, they have a jazz fest this weekend!" I proclaimed. "And the state fair! And museums and dinner cruises and theatrical productions!" The chuckles continued. Another man poked his head into the church office and joined in on the teasing.

"You guys should visit a brewery while you're there," he suggested playfully. My pastor laughed even harder.

My mom added, "Actually, someone told us we should stop by the Kohler factory. Where they make faucets. Now how is that supposed to be fun?"

I responded, "Clearly, you need to hit up the brewery first. That way, everything is fun."

Nothing I have ever said has made my pastor laugh that hard. I felt a little proud of myself, really. I mean, I guess he did get out some pretty good guffaws when he was making fun of my "scandalous" photo collage, but I try to repress that memory.

Anyway, I apologize to any Wisconsin readers for any upcoming jokes about your state in the next few days. Once you have the mental image of someone donning a cheese wedge on his head, it's really hard to take Wisconsin seriously. However, I really am looking forward to going to the jazz festival today and touring Lake Michigan and all the other great activities we have planned. Oh, and I hear our hotel room is going to make us want to stay for the rest of eternity. (Fancy robes and slippers and expensive bath products! Plasma TVs! Beds that don't smell of sin and decay!)

I think the most exciting part of this trek is the idea that we may pick up a puppy on the way home. Our Border Collie passed away a few months ago, and my parents are now anxious to get a new dog. While my cats are probably not too thrilled at the prospect of a furry bundle of ZOMG! ENERGY! THROW A FRISBEE AT ME! running around, I'm kinda looking forward to having something to take with me on walks. Plus, how can you resist a face like this?

I don't see any way to walk away from something that looks like that, so I recommend that you start thinking of names while we're gone. (Rule #1: Not Johnny Depth.) Meanwhile, I guess I have some packing to do.