Travel Log: Cabo, June 2026

 

Destination: Cabo

Date: June 14-25, 2026

Party: 2 (Lee, Asher)

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Fly to Cabo via Denver, get rental car and groceries, drive 90 minutes to Cabo Pulmo National Park, check into resort, swim in resort pool

Days 2-4 - Hiking in the mountains, walk to nearby beaches, swim in resort pool, drive 2.5 hours to Cabo San Lucas, get groceries, check into condo unit

Days 5-8 - walk to Marina, boat tour to Arch, walk to Mexican buffet, drive 40 minutes to San Jose del Cabo, get groceries, check into condo unit

Days 9-12 - drive to downtown sites, drive to beaches and Shoppes at Palmilla, rent bikes to City Market, fly home via Austin

Spending:

Transportation $1,964

Accommodations $1,475

Food $392

Entertainment $118

Total $3,949

A few additional notes beyond the facts above, to provide some flavor to our trip together.

* Travel to and from Cabo was generally without incident. We had a 5am flight out so I had to wake Asher up at 3ish but he was game. Philly to Denver and Denver to Los Cabos went fine, as did customs on the way into Mexico. On the way home, Los Cabos to Austin went fine, as did customs on the way back into the US. Alas, we incurred an additional 3 hours of layover in Austin, first because our plane had a mechanical issue so they had to find another one, and second because our pilot got stuck in traffic and was late getting to the airport. So instead of a 9pm touchdown (already late for us!) we landed well after midnight and didn't get home until 1am.

* I found driving in Mexico to be an adventure. Some stop signs did not appear to be recognized, while in other cases there was no stop sign so I'd wait for crossing traffic because I didn't think they'd stop and they'd slow down and wave us through annoyingly as if we should've already gone. The main roads to Cabo Pulmo are completely unpaved and in some places are bumpy, hilly, and/or right on a cliff, so I white-knuckled it all the way. And, I kept missing turns, partly because I'd never been and partly because Google Maps gave everything in meters.

* Soriana Hiper is like our Walmart, a go-to before each of our three destinations for groceries and prepared foods. Asher enjoyed getting baked goods as well as one mango per meal, so about 30 for the trip. Super clutch was our rental car helper's advice to get stuff in town before making the 90-minute drive out to Cabo Pulmo since there's absolutely nothing out there. Our first place had a water cooler, but our 2nd and 3rd places did not, so we went through about a liter per day per person of store-bought jugs.

* Our first place, in Cabo Pulmo, was a cute villa with its own yard and porch; alas, it didn't have wifi so it was Asher's least favorite, as he had to go to the front of the property and sit in the restaurant to play is online games. Our second place, in Cabo San Lucas, was a 2-bedroom condo in a bustling neighborhood that was about a 15-minute walk from the marina, CSL's main tourist destination. Our third place, in San Jose del Cabo, was an amazing 2-bedroom unit in a luxury property, which we lucked into because our original reservation had a glitch so we had to rebook on the fly. Asher adored that place, as did I, as it had a huge balcony with water views, high-end furnishings and decor, and an infinity pool on the rooftop lounge. Each of the places had a pool, which was a great respite from the heat and something we enjoyed almost every day to cool off and be lazy.

* In Cabo Pulmo, I went for a run as soon as we'd unpacked, and literally five seconds I got stung by a hornet on the arm. The next day, running down the same pathway, I got three stings, two in the back and one in the shoulder. Needless to say, I avoided that route for the rest of our stay and went the long way. The first sting was the worst, and for about 48 hours the whole area was red and swollen, but thankfully it went away after that. 

* In Cabo Pulmo, the beach is about 2 minutes away through the back of the property, or about a 10-minute walk outside the front of the property. Alas, Asher never wanted to hang on there because it was far too hot in the middle of the day, so we only did short jaunts first thing in the morning. We also drove a short distance to an early morning hike halfway up a mountain, before it got too steamy for Asher to want to continue. Cabo Pulmo is known for its snorkeling, but that is too involved of an activity for Asher so we passed. 

* In Cabo San Lucas, we enjoyed a boat tour to the Arch, one of CSL's signature tourist sights. It was a beautiful day to be on the water, and more than made up for the walking in circles it took for us to find the tour, given that the website was wrong about the ticket office and three separate people who I asked for help were also wrong, so we tried four different locations on the marina before finding the actual check-in. After the boat tour, Asher wanted to go to a sushi restaurant right on the water but it wasn't going to open for two hours so we waited out the heat in a Starbucks, where for the price of two drinks we were able to access wifi, an outlet, and bathrooms. Another day we walked a mile in the opposite direction of the marina to try out a Mexican buffet. On another day, we drove to a nearby country club so I could hit golf balls at the practice range while Asher had a burger and fries. 

* In Cabo San Lucas, there was a popular restaurant right outside our unit. One night it erupted in cheers when Mexico won its World Cup match. Another night there was a very loud party in the parking lot of the restaurant that started around when we went to bed and continued all the way until after we woke up the next morning. Somehow Asher slept through all of it even though his bedroom window was closest to the action.

* In San Jose del Cabo, we drove to and walked around the downtown core one day, including the main plaza and art district, and got tacos at a fun restaurant that was showing World Cup action. The next day we drove to two beaches to take pictures and then went to a high-end resort to walk around the shopping area and grab a smoothie at its cafe. The third day we rented bikes and went to a high-end shopping center to window shop and get prepared foods. 

* In San Jose del Cabo, we enjoyed the decadence of our nice unit. Asher had his own bedroom and bathroom, but he really wanted mine, which had a walk-in closet, heated toilet seat, and direct access to the balcony. I spent a lot of time on that balcony, in self-reflection and journaling and prayer, as well as looking out into the water, so I will remember that for a very long time. 

Travel Log: Poconos, June 2026

 

 

Destination: Poconos

Date: June 8-9, 2026

Party: 2 (Lee, Jim)

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Drive to Poconos, lunch, warm-up, round, dinner

Day 2 - Swim at Pocono Family Y, round, lunch, drive home

Spending:

Transportation $151

Accommodations $0 (Jim covered)

Food $0 (Jim covered)

Entertainment $220 (I covered)

Total $371

 

Chores Over the Years

 

Amy and I bought our house in March 2000, when we were in our mid-twenties. I can still remember closing on the sale, celebrating at a nearby restaurant, and then breaking out in a cold sweat realizing I was personally responsible for an entire residential structure.

I'm not handy now, and I was even less handy back then. My two responses to this - gaining a new responsibility and having no idea how to handle it - were to study up, and to put myself on a schedule. Meaning I dug into "Dummies" books and "how-to" sites online, on things you need to do as a homeowner. And then I created a calendar for when those things needed to be done. I figured that I couldn't always prevent problems, but that it was worth it for me to invest an ounce of prevention since I was sure I wasn't ready to bear the pound of cure if I didn't.

These chores have become part of the regular rhythm of a given year. I clean every window and door in the house in April and October, turn off the outside water spigot once winter hits, and install room air conditioning units prior to the first hot spell of the year (because we don't have central air). Twice a year, I go all the way up to the roof of the house to see if our water sealant is holding up and our gutters are clean. Once a year, I check every circuit breaker in our panel. And so on and so forth.

Not the sort of fun activity one imagines when the weekend beckons. But it's the responsible thing to do if you're a homeowner, so as not to neglect the very place you are living and raising a family.

Over the years, I've been able to outsource some of this to the kids. For example, in their teen years, Aaron and Jada have at times owed me money and worked off that debt by taking on various things around the house that I would've otherwise had to do myself.

Ah, but presently they are both far from home for months on end. And one day, they (and, several years later, even Asher) will be out of the nest for good. And Amy and I remain, and we're now longer in our mid-twenties. So not only do meaningful chunks of time each weekend need to go into house maintenance, but I add to that time allocation by making sure I stretch before and after, especially my creaky back if I have to do things like hold the vacuum nozzle in weird places or hoist a broom up the stairs and onto the 2nd floor porch roof. 

I am lucky to have a roof over my head, luckier still that I own it. And, the aches and pains of middle age are also something to be thankful for, that I've gotten this far in life. This old house and this old guy are indeed getting older together, and while I wish for easier weekends I am thankful for the ones I do have.

Celebrating the Brotherhood of Fatherhood

 

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Isn't fatherhood truly the best? Through all the hard work, heartache, and so many bills (why are kids so expensive?), there's nothing more rewarding or fulfilling.

A big bonus is being part of a great brotherhood of dads, with whom we can share joys and sorrows, laughter and tears. I am grateful for the older men in my life who have been through all the stages of their kids' lives and who I can seek out for counsel and sympathy. I am grateful for dads my age as we do this big part of our lives together in lockstep. And I am grateful for younger dads in my life who bring me back to the unique experience that is parenting really tiny kids (without my having to endure the sleepless nights that go with it).

Happy Father's Day to you all!

Pre-Teen Asher

 

 

Parenting Asher has kept Amy and me, now in our 50s, on our toes. COVID, neuro-divergence, and behavioral issues have made every stage of life and just about every day a bit of an adventure with a lot of noise and not a lot of serenity.

And now we usher in a particularly tumultuous phase of any kid's life, which is the pre-teen years. Which for Asher has meant the typical behavior of one growing from being a kid to being a young adult with all the hormones and social complexity that comes with it.

By choice and by necessity, our parenting style has tended to be more hands-off. Helicoptering or snowplowing, or whatever you want to call it nowadays, is certainly understandable: we care for our kids and we want to do right by them. But oftentimes, doing right by your kids means letting them struggle a little on their own, and that is certainly the case the older they get.

And so for Asher that has mean giving him freedoms he didn't have but one year ago, to go out with friends without our supervision, for example. But it doesn't mean total and unadulterated license to do whatever he wants. Which is where that famous pre-teen rage comes in. 

Even though he's our third child, I still have to remind myself to hold my tongue when he lashes out at us for never giving him any latitude, since the accusation seems so untrue given just how much leeway we have allowed him. I need to remember that this too is part of normal child development at this age, always pushing and stretching and testing.

We will certainly set hard boundaries when appropriate. You don't let your three-year-old near a hot stove, just like you do need to override your 11-year-old's desires to stay up too late or eat like crap or shirk homework/chores or talk disrespectfully. So when Asher pushes, we sometimes need to push back; when he desires to roam free, we need to hold the line.

Fighting all the time is tiring for Amy and me, and we're not as young as we were when Jada and Aaron were going through this. But fight we must, remembering that this too is normal and this too will pass, and ever negotiating (amongst ourselves and with him) when to bend and when to not break.

Shout Out to All the Dads Who Make Dadding Look Easy When It's Actually Hard

 

 

Since as long as they can remember, my kids have sat in the back seat while I drive them somewhere. We're weaving in and out of various conversation topics while eating snacks and singing along to whatever's on the radio like it's no thing. So naturally, now that the older kids drive, they've assumed driving is the easiest thing in the world...until they each gotten into crashes almost immediately after they got their licenses.

The previous paragraph is not about driving.

My older kids do have their licenses, but they have literally not gotten behind the wheel since, so thankfully no crashes. Maybe they never will ever drive in their lives? Between making life choices to live in big cities or driverless technology becomes mainstream. At any rate, the beginning of this post is not meant to introduce a long discourse about cars.

But, let me say one more thing about driving, which is that, like all other activities we learn, over time the brain forms connections in our head, such that a very complex set of tasks can be done over and over again without exertion. Riding a bicycle, hitting a golf ball, tying a tie: these too are things we can do without thinking, because once the body-brain connection has been made, we no longer need to think, we can just do.

And think about just how complex the act of driving is. I mean, you are driving a two-ton steel box at 75+ miles per hour, surrounded by other steel boxes of various sizes weaving in and out, some controlled by people distracted by their phone or fumbling for a french fry or tired from a long work shift. Sometimes the road is slick from rain, the sun is in your eyes, or somebody lost a cardboard box up ahead of you. Every time we hit the road, we are putting life and limb on the line, given the thousands of variables we must navigate in order to navigate our way from Point A to Point B. 

I recall when I was trying to teach our older kids to drive, one of the lessons involved me narrating everything I was thinking while I was driving. They were overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of commentary coming out of my mouth while I was doing something that from their perspective seemed effortless. Turns out Dad wasn't just cruising down the highway, he was also monitoring speed, fuel levels, and turns and bumps in the road. As well as the ever-changing characteristics of all the cars around us: which were close and where they were in relation to us, which were going faster or slower, who looked potentially shaky and needed to be monitored, and so on.

So, finally, several paragraphs in, let me get to the point of today's post, which is to wish an early Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there who make dadding look easy when it's actually hard. (I'm posting this now because I'll be out of town for the next 11 days.)

And, make no mistake: dadding is hard. Whether you are a single dad, divorcee, stay-at-home dad, or husband to a working wife, or dad who is the sole breadwinner of your family, being a dad carries a set of responsibilities and expectations that is similarly complex like driving is. On the road of life, conditions are not always ideal, those around you threaten to swerve or crash into you, and you're not always at your sharpest. Your "vehicle" gets some miles on it and starts falling apart at the worst time, who you're chauffeuring and where you're taking them is ever shifting, and should you safely get everyone from Point A to Point B there's no tip at the end and usually no acknowledgement of gratitude and admiration for accomplishing it. Sounds like driving! But dadding is harder, because it involves even more variables and greater variation and higher stakes. And yet dads must bear the weight of society's expectations and family's needs, and make it happen day in and day out, season after season, life phase after life phase.

Like driving, dadding can look easy from the back seat. I assure you, it is not. And so I tip my hat to my fellow dads every day but especially today in anticipation of Father's Day. I see the diligence by which you carry the heavy burden of fatherhood, and the muscle memory you've built up over time to be able to do it with grace and ease. Happy Father's Day to you!

Travel Log: Point Pleasant Beach NJ, May 2026 + Jim Thorpe PA, May 2026 + Ocean City NJ, June 2026

 

Destination: Point Pleasant Beach NJ 

Date: May 10, 2026

Party: 3 (Lee, Amy, Asher)

Itinerary:

Drive to book store in Manasquan

Drive to Jenkinson's Boardwalk for food, arcade, and obstacle course

Spending:

Transportation $126

Accommodations $0 (day trip)

Food $14

Entertainment $39

Total $179

 

 

Destination: Jim Thorpe PA

Date: May 26, 2026

Party: 1

Itinerary:

Drive to Hideaway Hills for golf

Shop at Country Junction

Hike at Lehigh Gorge State Park

Walk downtown Jim Thorpe

Take Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway

Spending:

Transportation $138 + tolls

Accommodations $0 (day trip)

Food $0

Entertainment $80

Total $218 + tolls

Destination: Ocean City NJ

Date: June 2, 2026

Party: 1

 

Itinerary:

Drive to and bike on Atlantic County Bikeway

Golf at Green Tree Golf Course

Lunch at Umi Buffet

Hike at Corson's Inlet State Park and Crook Horn Nature Trail

Visit Ocean City Historical Museum

Buy sticky buns at Mallon's

Bike/walk Ocean City downtown and boardwalk

Spending:

Transportation $109 + tolls

Accommodations $0 (day trip)

Food $44

Entertainment $32

Total $185 + tolls