April 10, 2025 • 36 mins
Disconnecting from our digital lives might be the greatest vacation luxury of all. In this candid conversation, we explore what it truly means to "get away" in today's hyper-connected world.
Luke shares his recent spring break adventure to Key West—his first full week vacation since high school—and the surprising challenge of mentally detaching from work responsibilities. We discuss the psychological phases of vacationing: those first few days of decompression, the sweet spot of true relaxation, and the inevitable mental preparation for return that begins too soon.
From Chuck's phone-free Arkansas adventure (nine whole days disconnected!) to John's deeply meaningful Holy Land experience, we trade stories about our most memorable travel moments. The conversation navigates through vacation planning styles, the mountains versus beach debate, and how cultural immersion creates lasting impact. We laugh about unexpected wildlife encounters (from iguanas crossing roads to sea roaches in Belize) and reflect on how shared experiences with loved ones ultimately create our most treasured memories.
Perhaps most revealing is our discussion about phones and photography—how studies show that focusing on documentation actually removes us from fully experiencing moments. As J.R.R. Tolkien wisely noted, "Not all those who wander are lost," and sometimes the best vacation discoveries happen when we venture off the beaten path.
What's your favorite vacation spot? We'd love to hear about your travel experiences and disconnection strategies. Share with us on social media or leave comments on our YouTube channel—just maybe wait until after your vacation to do so!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John (00:00):
Welcome back to Half Century Hangout.
Luke, we were on spring break.
What did you do over springbreak?
Luke (00:09):
Oh, a little toes in the sand, you know, yeah, drinking
my hand.
It was all good, it was fun, Ihad a good time, really great
time, with my wife Took off andfirst time I had to go back in
the old uh history book to gothrough it.
It was since high school that Iactually took a whole week off
(00:30):
to go to spring break.
Chuck (00:31):
Seriously.
Luke (00:31):
Haven't done it since high school which is going to segue
later, but I don't want to ruinit for right, right, that's
awesome.
John (00:37):
You know, it was great, had a great time, chuck, you,
you uh put a closet in.
Chuck (00:42):
Yet we tore out a closet and put a new closet system in
with a built-in and some nicedrawers, and it turned out
really good.
We painted the room and pulledup the carpet.
We're going to refinish thefloors later this summer because
they're a mess, but just thispast weekend we put the blinds
(01:02):
and curtains in.
Luke (01:03):
Nice, and that's your bedroom.
Yeah, that's our bedroom, nice,good for you, that's awesome.
Chuck (01:08):
It's really nice.
My wife did a really good job.
John (01:10):
A little more usable space , way more usable.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I did get my appointments doneand I had a window guy come over
because we're looking atgetting new windows.
Luke (01:22):
Oh, that's fun, I went.
Chuck (01:24):
Yeah, no fun.
Luke (01:27):
Went did a lot of Speaking of that.
Are we monetizing the podcast?
Yeah?
John (01:32):
We might need to.
It's called the.
Luke (01:34):
John Window Fund.
John (01:35):
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah, we aren't doing them all.
I was going to say that's over,over time.
Luke (01:41):
Yeah, I was going to say you might have to, you might
have to phase that.
I was going to say that's aphase at one time that's a phase
.
Kitchen would be just huge.
Yeah, yeah we aren't.
John (01:51):
We aren't doing them all, but some things need to be
replaced.
Luke (01:54):
Yeah.
So the windows and the thingsgot me thinking about stuff here
.
You know we're back in thegarage, we're here and I've got
projects in here, but spring'scoming.
It's supposed to be 70 degreesthe rest of the week, you know,
and I got projects around thehouse to do in the spring and
getting stuff ready and gettingflowers and doing stuff.
John (02:12):
Got your yard work all done, ready to go for spring.
Luke (02:15):
I have to dog proof now.
I have a different dog now.
My other dog passed away lastyear.
He was a different kind of dog,so now this one's a little bit
of a digger, so I got to changesome stuff around.
Yeah, I already got one mole,got him yesterday.
Chuck (02:30):
So we're good.
Yeah, moles have killed my yard.
Yeah, yeah, they are brutal.
Luke (02:35):
Absolutely.
They're brutal.
Brutal's right, they are brutal.
I hate moles.
John (02:39):
We're going to do a podcast on vacations.
What we like to do when we getaway and you heard that Luke got
away for a whole week it's hardto do sometimes is to get away.
You know it's hard to take thattime for yourself.
Luke (02:57):
I think that the biggest thing when we were talking about
this and I actually had aconversation with my daughter
about it when I was down there-in.
Florida.
It's, it's the disconnectingpart.
Yeah, yeah, that's the hardestpart for me, just because I
don't generally do that, right.
I mean I work.
You know all the people thatsay, oh, you know teachers, they
(03:19):
get some.
Well, I don't get the summeroff, okay, right, but it's it's
most of us, no matter what, andI know we're going to go into
that a little bit but thatdisconnect thing, I've really
never gotten to do it or evenhad the experience of it.
Really to do that, like when Igo hunting for a day.
I get a day of it, right, it'snice, but I never really fully
(03:42):
quite disconnect, right.
So it took a couple days toactually do that, but once I did
I felt great it was awesome,well, and it's even harder to
disconnect today than it used tobe.
John (03:54):
10, 15 years ago because we're so connected in different
ways with the world it's justhard to disconnect.
This is the first time.
Luke (04:06):
You'll laugh at this.
You're kind of a tech guy.
This is the first time and Ididn't know how.
I didn't know how to do it.
I'm self-reporting.
I said cachet once.
Right, I have never set myemail to.
I'm out of the office and I'llreturn.
I've never done that.
John (04:21):
Vacation mode.
Luke (04:21):
it was the first time I did it first time I ever did it
and I did it right.
It actually turned back on theday I came back.
Yeah, it was amazing.
Yeah, but it was cool because Inoticed all of a sudden my
inbox wasn't nearly as full asit usually had been.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's kind ofkind of wild.
It is awesome, yeah people stopsending stuff yeah email oh my
gosh so it's interesting.
Chuck (04:41):
You mentioned the um, the disconnect's hard to kind of
like get away because you spendso much time thinking about what
it is that you do and usuallythere's not enough, there's not
a big chunk of a time.
So I found I was just talkingto somebody about this this
morning I found that youactually have to there's two or
(05:02):
three, maybe four days,depending upon what you do that
you are able to kind of put allthat stuff in the background and
you're able to kind of put allthat stuff away and stop
thinking about it, because it'sjust you're not there, you're
(05:24):
not facing those samecircumstances, and so you're
able to kind of put it away,which allows you to probably
take four or five, three or fouror five days to, you know,
actually just rest and kind ofinvolve yourself in what you're
doing, whether you're at thebeach or the mountains or
whatever it might be.
But then last two, three daysof that I find myself thinking
about okay, here's what I'mgoing to be facing when.
I come back into the office andso for like a vacation really to
(05:47):
be a vacation it's almost likeit's got to be three weeks long.
Luke (05:50):
Yeah.
Because you're, and sometimesyour vacations are, like you
said, if they aren't long enough, they they aren't very relaxing
because, you're running andtrying to get all this stuff in
and create those memories thatvacations do, but it's kind of
funny because in the middle well, I guess it wasn't in the
(06:13):
middle, it was towards the endin the last couple of days of
the vacation there was somethingthat happened with work but it
was via text message and therewas some stuff that was going on
right happened with work, butit was via text message and
there was some stuff that wasgoing on Right and it kind of
drew you back in, yeah, but Ireally didn't want to, I wasn't
ready.
So I called somebody.
(06:33):
This was I've never done thisbefore.
Well, I guess I probably have,but not in the same vein.
I called this person to talk meoff the ledge, like, hey, I
need 10 minutes of your time forme to vent, get this out of my
system so I can go back tofinish my vacation.
Yeah, and it it sort of workedlike it it kind of did, but it
(06:55):
only took me, eh, you know,maybe a few hours.
If you ask my wife probably bea little different, but it was a
few hours until it got out ofmy system.
Right and then I was like youknow what I can deal with it
when I get back and it'll beokay, but I did start to in the
last couple of days, especiallywhen you're sitting in the
airport and I'm delayed and I'mmessaging you guys, I'm like,
(07:19):
hey, I'm stuck in the airport,you know, you're sitting there
and you're kind of lookingaround and's going on.
Chuck (07:23):
Yeah.
Luke (07:23):
So that for me is a little bit hard to let that go and
realize they're they got snowsomewhere and they had to de-ice
the plane.
I'm in Florida, like de-icingthe plane you know, I'm sweating
sitting in the airport, youknow, and I'm like, but that's
the way it is, and so you justkind of chilled and some things
(07:43):
are out of your control.
Chuck (07:51):
Do you guys like to plan out your vacation like day by
day, minute by minute, or is itjust like, okay, we're going to
go to this spot and then we'rejust going to kind of feel it
out, to kind of see what we wantto do?
How do you guys like tovacation?
John (08:01):
I think it depends.
It depends on where I'm goingand what I'm looking to do.
Yes, I think it's important toplan, but I also think it's
important to have some time thatyou allow for things to just
happen, built in flexibility.
Yes, I'm more of a.
(08:22):
I go on vacations because Ilike the experience and the
different experiences, and so Idon't necessarily like to plan
every waking moment.
No, so I like to be able to say, yeah, I want to go see
downtown Santa Fe, see downtownSanta Fe.
(08:43):
So I'm going to just go intotown and walk around and see
what's going on and what theyhave, and how cool a place it is
and yeah, so yeah, kind ofgetting into the last few days.
When I get somewhere and I onlyhave I don't know five days or
whatever, I'm already thinkingwhat do I have to do after?
Chuck (09:07):
that.
John (09:07):
And and that I need to be able to say I'm not in control
of that, I'm not planning forthat.
I just need to have fun andrelax and create those
experiences here's what I'venoticed.
Chuck (09:24):
For me, when I go somewhere, I do need probably a
longer chunk of time, because ittakes you longer to decompress
and then to actually enjoy thetime, but when I'm staying like
this was a stay vacation state,is that what they call?
It yes, where we did ourrenovation in our bedroom, it
was easier for me to get toforget about work stuff because
(09:47):
I was working with my handsputting thought into
measurements and yeah, cuttingstuff and screw dry, you know
all that kind of thing.
That was twice cut once, yeah,exactly, and so it's easier for
me to kind of forget workbecause I'm working with my
hands.
I think that was.
Luke (10:02):
I think for me and my wife and I would probably differ a
little bit with this, whereshe's more of a planner, but I
think the more that we've gottencomfortable with the idea
there's plenty of times whereit's like we're just going to
roll.
See where it takes us, andespecially beach life.
(10:24):
Right, I mean, we're there.
It's like, hey, guess what Ifthe waves are kicking today and
the sun's out and we're going,we're going if it's, if it's
cloudy and raining and cool.
Well, we got to do somethingelse, Right, yeah, so we went.
We went to Key West, which I'venever been.
That was the furthest SouthI've ever been and
geographically in my mind I hadno idea how far South it was.
(10:45):
I thought that the South pointof Texas was further South.
Oh, wow.
Like on a map I'm thinking inmy head.
Chuck (10:50):
It looks down there a little ways.
Luke (10:52):
We were 90 miles from Cuba .
John (10:53):
Yeah, yeah Close.
I had no idea.
Luke (10:56):
I just really didn't have this whole thing, and so I think
that, for me, that vacationpiece I think, like you were
talking about how your hands,like you, were able to, to let
go of work, to do that I thinkfor me and this is probably one
of the first times that I'vebeen able to do this I immersed
(11:16):
myself in the culture of whatwas there and of the people, and
it was there's a Cuban culture,right, there's a.
There's a Hispanic culture.
It's this thing and it was socool, like it was so different
than what I'm used to here.
Chuck (11:29):
Is there a port like around the Key West where people
receive like people come infrom Cuba to Key West Is?
Luke (11:36):
that.
Oh yeah, well there.
Well, there's a base there too.
There's a naval base therewhich I didn't know, but there's
a naval base there too.
Now, when I say it's thefurthest southern point, it's
the furthest southern point ofthe continental United States.
There's more keys after KeyWest, but you can't get to them
by car, gotcha, either boat orplane or something.
Chuck (11:56):
That's the furthest southern.
You can't get to them by car,gotcha.
Luke (11:58):
Either boat or plane or something.
That's a further south you candrive to, you can drive to, and
so now I have all the way fromthe north I-75 in Michigan.
I have driven every mile ofI-75.
Wow, so that was this was thelast piece that I had to do.
Wow Was from well, from Tampato Fort Myers and then down
through.
But we went down through Miamiand then went, but my geography
(12:20):
was all over the place.
It's not like my geography ofsouthern Florida is very good,
because I really have learned alot how big the Everglades are,
like it's gigantic, huge,gigantic, and I didn't even go
through it, like I haven't evengone.
Now our daughters live downthere for a couple years, but
it's like I haven't even gone inthere yet.
Yeah, and I'm going to at somepoint.
I just never have.
(12:40):
But, um, just super interesting,and I did get to release and I
didn't get to, you know,disconnect for a while and do
that, which I think was helpful.
Can you actually drive throughthe everglades?
Is there?
I mean, is there?
There is a road that kind ofdoes i-75, kind of curves around
it and goes down to Miami, butthere is another highway that
goes through.
But everybody that you talk toit's a little bit of a little
(13:03):
sketchy, which, well, it couldbe, but it's more of the roads
that I'm used to.
You know what I mean and that'sthe other part of it.
Is that when you were talkingabout the last couple days of
vacation right, the last coupledays of vacation was always
driving home.
Yeah, well, this time I flew,right, so I didn't really have
to worry about that, like, like,that was in the plan, like okay
(13:25):
, I've got to do this, yeah,which that, for me, was we never
flew anywhere.
I mean, growing up we flew toFlorida once and that was a
whole other story, but it waslike we went and flew back.
But even my dad I just learnedthat that was one of the things
and we always took.
We talked about values.
That was one of us for, for ourfamily.
(13:47):
Which we all joke about now iswe took the scenic route Right,
absolutely Always, which I lovedoing.
But you know, it was kind ofnice for this one because I got
to not travel most of my trip.
Chuck (13:54):
You know it was a few hours at the front and a few
hours at the back well, we wentto florida a number of years ago
with the family and we were inthis rented minivan and we got
on this back road that I'm not.
Luke (14:05):
I think it was through the everglades, but there were
bodies of water that like weredeep and encompassed the entire
road, which was probably a carand a half wide yeah, that's
what I've heard about this roadit took us forever, yeah,
forever, like two and a halfhours probably to get through
(14:25):
this, and I mean that might havebeen where it was, because if
you look at a map which I didafter the fact, there really is
only one other road that kind ofgoes through there.
Chuck (14:33):
That's probably what it's like and our intent was to to
find some alligators we justwanted to see.
We'd never seen alligators.
We got so tired of seeingalligators that we were just
worried about getting off.
They were all over, all overthe place stretched across the
road.
You know, I mean you had to getout and kick them to, not
really, but you can see chuckout there kicking an alligator.
Luke (14:54):
We saw an iguana across the road and Really and it was a
big one, he was probably fourfoot long, but it was funny
because I kept saying so thatseven-mile bridge that goes to
Key West, so you're justsurrounded by water and it's not
like a bridge, like it's way upin the air, it's on the water.
But we kept seeing signs forkey deer which are endangered
(15:15):
species.
John (15:16):
And I'm like oh, I want to see a deer across the road key
and they look.
Luke (15:19):
they look a lot like a whitetail, but their face is a
little different.
But then there was a sign for aGuana crossing and I thought it
was kind of a joke and I'm likeman, I haven't seen anything
across the road.
And there's all these signs andthen the car in front of us
(15:40):
cause you can't, there's onlytwo lanes so you can't pass
anybody so I'm stuck behind likean airstream and a something
else.
You know, I'm driving back inthe car in front of me, I see
him kind of swerve and I look,I'm like, oh, and there's the
iguana and he was probably Idon't know as long as this maybe
six foot long, wow, waddlingacross the road like hey, you
don't see that in iowa is thatk-e-y, deer, k-e-y, deer, k-e-y,
yeah, key, key West, andthey're endangered, apparently.
(16:00):
So, and roosters everywhere.
John (16:04):
Roosters Interesting I got a question.
Chuck (16:06):
That's the wildlife?
Huh, I wonder.
So we went to Belize one timeon vacation and there's the way
they spell key.
It looks like K, like C-A-Y-E Ithink, and all of their islands
are like K something.
And I was pronouncing it K andthey said no, you pronounce it
(16:27):
key, but in Florida you said KeyWest I wonder if it's like a
derivative or a variation ofthat word island, I don't know,
just got in my mind Could be.
John (16:42):
Well, hey, you've talked a lot about a pretty memorable
vacation.
It sounds like, which is prettycool, Chuck, what's your most
memorable vacation you took?
You talked about going down toBelize.
Chuck (16:57):
That was super fun.
My wife and I we went byourselves and it was an
incredible trip.
We went down to an Islandcalled San Pedro and um stayed
in a a condo and walked prettymuch everywhere.
Uh, there was one day we renteda golf cart, went to this
(17:20):
soccer game local soccer gameand that got a little sketchy.
I mean, those people take theirsoccer seriously, they do.
And it was like my wife washolding on to me as we were
leaving because, I mean, peoplewere out there fighting, it's
kind of like pickleball onCouncil bluffs.
Luke (17:39):
Are you serious?
I am serious.
John (17:41):
Uh, yeah, I wouldn't want to be a referee down there, but
that was such.
Chuck (17:49):
And the referees man, they just got, oh they got
pummeled.
It was like my wife and I wegot to get out of here.
This isn't safe anymore.
But it was such a that was sucha fun trip and we really
enjoyed that.
John (18:02):
Was it what you saw or who you were with, or a little bit
of?
Chuck (18:05):
both.
It was mostly who I was with,for sure, but what we saw was
absolutely beautiful.
We walked the beaches and, man,there was this one beach called
Secret Beach that we went to,and we went kind of early in the
morning and did you guys knowthat there's these things called
sea roaches?
Have?
John (18:22):
you ever heard of them, yep?
Chuck (18:27):
And we got to this beach before the sea roaches, so they
come in to the shallow water atnight because it's warmer, and
then they go out to the deeperend during the day.
And we must have gotten therebefore they got out.
And we were just loving thisbeach out there and there's
these things like crawling onour skin.
We're like what the hell arethese things?
(18:47):
Yeah, and we asked the lady,like there's something in this
water, and they're like theystart sucking your skin Really,
like almost like leeches, andthey so we'd pull them off and
we did not like that.
So we got out of the wateruntil those things.
Luke (19:01):
You know, a couple of years back we were down, we went
to Florida again, but we wentacross the state to the eastern
side, to what's the place calledwhere they launched the.
John (19:14):
Oh, cape Canaveral, cape Canaveral yeah.
Luke (19:16):
So we were on that beach.
So it was a little different,because right over there you see
the sunrise, right.
So we get up in the morning,we're all kind of sideways and
go down to the beach and it waslike ghost crabs and they dig
these little holes and they'respitting the sand out.
I mean, they're little, they'relike this, but it was hilarious
(19:37):
because I'm like get thosethings away from me.
But they were all over theplace.
Chuck (19:40):
Now they weren't sucking my skin off my body, so that was
a plus.
Yeah, this was prettydisgusting, but you know, after
those things got out and it gotlater in the day, it was
absolutely wonderful.
People would come out and serveyou drinks.
You know, you had picnic tablesin the water.
That was super fun.
Saw a stingray, so that was thatwas cool, that is cool so that
was probably like one of myfavorite vacations that I had
with jen um.
(20:01):
When you talk about travel, wetry.
I traveled.
One time.
I did some work down in umthat's a mission work down in
paraguay and I went to theaguazu falls.
You guys ever heard of those?
Never heard of it.
It's in Brazil and they're thelargest falls in the world, like
one of the eight naturalwonders of the world.
(20:22):
Wow, and it's in Paraguay.
There's a city called Cia deLeste and we crossed the border
into Brazil from there and sawthese falls.
That were absolutely incredible.
Yeah, that's cool.
That's probably one of theprettiest places.
John (20:38):
Sea Falls, that is pretty cool.
What about you, john?
Oh one of my favorite placesthat I've been is the Holy Land
and again it was with peoplethat I enjoyed being with my
wife and we went on a trip withsome other friends that we had
met and just seeing thebackground and the geography and
(21:06):
the religious background of theHoly Land that was just a
really neat trip.
I remember you talking about itand it was one that actually, as
an educator, you usually don'ttake uh trips in january or oh
yeah, or during the school year.
I I got like 10 days off duringthe school year I remember that
(21:29):
, john, I took them, yes, and I.
I have not lived that no, youhave not.
Luke (21:33):
No, you know, but it was great hearing from you after it,
because it is cool it.
John (21:37):
It is just a neat place to go and such history.
I never used to like historybut, man, I love going places
and seeing the history of thatplace and seeing how it has
shaped humans over time, shapedhumans over time.
(21:57):
Just a really, really neat tripand a really fun trip and a lot
, of, a lot of places that youcan see in the Holy land, so
that that was one of myfavorites, favorite trips.
Chuck (22:10):
Are you more of a mountain person or more of a
beach person, John?
John (22:14):
Um, I've been to both.
Yeah, I love the, the nature ofthings.
I guess I've been to.
My mom actually is from Hawaii,so I visited Hawaii a few times
and talk about a fall, as youremember, and, and you guys
remember other people may not onthe podcast, but uh, do you
remember.
And, and you guys rememberother people may not on the
(22:35):
podcast, but uh, do you rememberfantasy island yes, remember
the fantasy island falls theplane.
yeah well, the fantasy islandfalls.
Let's talk about m&ms.
Now our on kawaii.
That's where my mom grew up, sowe spent a lot of time there
and my cousin took us back intosome of the sugar cane fields
and we walked on this trail andwe're walking a ways and pretty
(22:59):
soon we get to the top of thisfalls and you can go out.
It like splits and you go outon the rocks right at the edge
and we're looking out there andthere are people looking up at
us and we're on the top ofFantasy Island Falls.
Pretty cool stuff.
It was really neat.
That is neat.
Chuck (23:17):
Yeah.
John (23:19):
I like the beach, I like the mountains.
Been to Colorado, been to SantaFe, been to Alaska.
Alaska is like Colorado onsteroids.
Luke (23:32):
Yeah.
John (23:32):
It's just a beautiful, beautiful place.
When we went, to Florida.
Chuck (23:37):
Jen and I went to Florida by ourselves when we were
emptying esters and we went tothe Clearwater Beach area and
there's a place I think it'scalled Dundian or something like
that, but just past that it'scalled Honeymoon Beach.
It's a state park like hardlyanybody knew about.
We were there and we were oneof maybe 30 people on this
(24:00):
entire beach.
Luke (24:00):
Yeah.
Chuck (24:02):
And that's probably been one of our favorite places to go
.
Luke (24:05):
I think when you say that you know what do you prefer the
mountains or the beach?
It's kind of like that for me,Like if there's a ton of people
at the beach, that's not me.
Yeah, I'm not that person I'mnot now, you can still enjoy
yourself.
I mean, we'll walk.
My wife and I walk along thewater.
She loves it and it's.
And it's one of those thingswhere I know how much she loves
(24:28):
it, so I also in turn love it,because I know how happy she is
and how, how it's going.
John (24:34):
But when there's a ton of people.
Luke (24:37):
Luke, that's awesome.
It's when there's a ton ofpeople it's like, yeah, it takes
the luster out of it.
John (24:44):
You know what I?
Luke (24:44):
mean, yeah, um, but I think that the beach is cool
when you can see it when it's alittle more secluded.
And me growing up in northernMichigan, on Lake Michigan, near
a place called Traverse City,there's a thing called the
Sleeping Bear Dunes, so that wasthe beach that I grew up with.
Now that water's a little cold,okay.
John (25:07):
Maybe just a little bit.
It's not like warm.
Luke (25:09):
I mean, even in the summer , at the hottest day in the
summer, that water might bePretty chilly Might, you know 50
.
Oh, it gets close to 60.
But still it's not warm, right.
But that beach, you know, likegrowing up, but you'd have these
people on the dunes, and thedunes are gigantic, they're huge
, like you could go for milesand not see anybody, which I
(25:29):
really like that.
But the mountains and nature tome is a different level of
things, because to me you'resurrounded by creation, right.
John (25:39):
It's like this is amazing to me.
Luke (25:41):
And I can the hunting part .
I love to hunt and I love to dothat.
But to me, as I, especially asI get older, I can sit in a tree
stand.
I never used to be able to sitfor that long.
I was always the dog.
I was always out still hunting.
I'm the one out kicking stuffup.
Now I can sit in that treestand or somewhere, cause I just
enjoy, I just breathe.
(26:01):
It's like taking it all in, andin my spot I can see the
sunrise coming up through thecorn.
You know, I can see all thisand it's just, I just melt Like
it just takes everything, it'sdone.
John (26:13):
You know you talked a little bit about that shared
experience and I think, that'severy vacation I've been, on,
every place I've been.
I love to share that with people.
We went out to San Diego and itwas just.
It was nice to share that timewith people and get to know
(26:34):
people really, really well.
I think you get to know peoplein a different way when you go
on vacation with them or you go.
We were, we were happened to beat a conference.
But when you go to a conferenceand you travel, you get to know
people a little bit in a littledifferent way.
Chuck (26:52):
Yeah, it's a different setting and you get to know
people a little bit in a littledifferent way.
Yeah, it's a different settingand you get to know people in a
different way and John and Ifound a common place to hang out
.
Luke (26:58):
We did, we did.
John (27:00):
You might have a few of those glasses.
Yeah, they're hanging aroundhere somewhere.
Luke (27:04):
Like you said, I think that that's an example of where
you go somewhere and youdisconnect.
So you see a different side ofpeople.
You see some things, and Ithink for me in you know, my
wife and I talk about it a lotand sometimes she'll say you
still seem kind of wound tight,you know, like you're kind of
and I have to unwind leave alittle bit and be like, yeah,
(27:27):
maybe I'm a little edgy still.
I need to calm it down and justrealize, you know, and I enjoy
it and I and I really do.
But I think as I'm gettingolder, I'm also learning to
appreciate it more.
Chuck (27:38):
What's the longest you guys have been away from your
cell phone when you're onvacation.
Luke (27:46):
Well, that's hard for an old guy like me to think about,
cause I did vacations before,before cell phones were there.
But since you, you've had one.
But since I've had one, I don'tthink I've ever really
completely been 100% away fromit.
Chuck (27:59):
Yeah.
Luke (28:00):
Just because I mean it's there and I, you know, now I
have that, I don't have to takea camera with me Right, Sure?
John (28:06):
So it's still with me, right.
Luke (28:08):
Right, but I think on this trip I mean there was a few
here and there, but you know thephone was in the bag, like to
the beach.
I don't have to worry, it's notin my pocket.
Chuck (28:16):
That, to me, is one of the biggest distractions.
A hundred percent, A hundredpercent.
John (28:19):
And that's part of disconnecting right.
Luke (28:22):
Yeah.
John (28:22):
I think that we are so connected in this world today
that you just have to let thephone go, you have to say I'm
not going to use it.
And one thing we talked aboutwhen we went to Israel you know
you can take a lot of pictures,you can really get into the
picture taking stuff.
Luke (28:43):
Sure.
John (28:44):
What we said is we want to be a pilgrim, not a tourist.
Chuck (28:51):
So two things.
There's actually a tourist.
So two things.
There's actually a study.
I read a study about two yearsago that says when you
concentrate on taking pictures,you actually take yourself away
from the moment Yep, yep.
And that's.
I've tried not to practice that.
So when I'm with my grandkids-yeah.
I take less pictures, I justwant to experience the moment
and make memories, and I foundthat to be super helpful.
Luke (29:13):
And I think on this trip I didn't take a ton.
Really, what it is is my wifeand I in a sunset, Like there's
a few, like it's more of just Ionly saw a chicken and an iguana
.
You did see those.
You did see those, Cause it wasat the pool where we were at
together which was hilariouswhen the iguana came out.
(29:39):
I was at the pool.
I didn't really understand whatwas happening, but one of the
best vacations I took.
Chuck (29:42):
When I asked that cell phone question, I actually left
my cell phone at home.
That's a great.
I didn't take it with me and wewe drove in my jeep down to
Arkansas, down to JasperArkansas, and stayed in a cabin
down there and our intent was togo do some um jeeping in some
of the parks that are aroundthere.
But I found out my jeep wasn'tlifted enough and all that kind
of good stuff.
So we just ended up seeing abunch of more waterfalls and
(30:03):
probably saw six or seven thatwhile we were down there.
But I was away from my cellphone for shoot.
I think it was probably seven,nine days something like that
yep and uh.
Man, that was one of the bestvacations I think I can remember
.
Luke (30:17):
And I think that, going back to what I started to say, I
think that's the hardest part,but I realize the benefit of it
is really being able todisconnect, to do it, and I
think that I also learned whichwas kind of funny there was and
if those people are listening tothe podcast, I'm not going to
apologize there were some textmessages that I completely
(30:39):
ignored because I wanted to getthe point across.
Chuck (30:42):
Yeah, okay, I'm not there .
John (30:44):
Stop, and it's, and it's okay, you know everything will
be fine, I'll be back.
Well, and we, we need that, andif there's importance, if
there's importance.
Luke (30:52):
there's importance, you know, if one of my kids or what
is you know, something was goingon, I mean, I get it, but so
many times and not just aboutvacation, but any time I
realized that for years, decades, people didn't have instant
access.
John (31:08):
You know what they did?
Okay, yeah, they did, they didjust fine, you know they did all
right.
Luke (31:12):
And I realize now like we kind of lump ourselves into that
thing.
But I'm like you know, yeah, wedon't always need that.
Chuck (31:21):
We don't always need that .
My wife took her cell phone onthat vacation, yeah, but I ended
up not taking mine, yeah, guys.
So I mean, I don't know.
Luke (31:33):
It's vacation time, I mean , and now we're back at work and
things are.
Things are rolling.
You know, we're getting throughto the end of the school year,
we're getting close.
John (31:40):
I know that, uh, that Luke has to work in the summer, but
Chuck and I get the summer offbecause we're in education, we
get a little bit of summertimeand yeah, I think that.
Luke (31:52):
no matter what, though, even when before I was an
administrator, I felt like Istill worked in the summer as a
teacher, I mean there's thingsthat you have to do, and there's
things that you need to takecare of.
John (32:03):
I don't think anybody.
Luke (32:03):
Sometimes it's training, sometimes it's educating,
sometimes it's conferences.
I mean, you're planning for thenext year.
I mean there's a lot of stuffthat I think that some people
just think, oh, you know, theyget three months off in the
summer.
Yeah, they really not anymore.
They happen.
I mean, it might have happenedback in the day where things
were going on, but anymorethere's a lot of things that are
(32:24):
still expected of you whenyou're off, whatever you want to
say.
But yeah, I'm a I'm a 12 monthemployee now, so I still get
some time.
You know, and I'll take alittle bit, we have dead week in
there, which is the first weekof August right in there, so
we'll be somewhere doingsomething one way or the other.
(32:44):
I think we're going to do thecircle tour around Lake Michigan
.
We're going to go up across theMackinac Bridge and do the Upper
Peninsula, come up throughMinnesota.
Come down through Minnesota,come down through Wisconsin.
Yeah, we'll go Chicago routearound up north and then come
down through Green Bay.
We'll go to Door County inthere, which is the other side
of Lake Michigan over there, soI can pick up some spotted cow
(33:05):
on the way home, which is alwaysimportant.
Pick up a case for me, I willthere, you go me, I will come
back through and wind up backhere.
So that that's, that's the planright now.
But again, plans are overrated.
Right, that's right.
John (33:17):
That's right, that's the plan.
So I knew I know the podcast isdoing pretty well.
We've got a lot of downloadsand we've we've increased our
downloads.
We always want you to listen.
Any shout outs for anybodyalways want you to listen.
Chuck (33:34):
Any shout outs for anybody?
Yeah, john, we got peoplelistening to us from Lenexa,
kansas, bedford, indiana,rochester, michigan, orlando,
florida, tip City, ohio.
There's quite a few people outthere so always want to say
thank you Wait.
Luke (33:48):
what was the name of that town in Ohio?
Tip City.
What, the Tip City?
Chuck (33:55):
It's pretty close.
It's just north of Dayton,that's awesome.
John (33:58):
That's awesome.
Luke (34:00):
Quote of the day JR Tolkien right.
John (34:04):
That's a great journey and vacation.
Not all those who wander arelost Absolutely.
I like that.
How about it?
I?
Luke (34:12):
like that.
I mean, I think that that'swhen I you know, when we talked
about the vacation thing when itfirst started.
That's one of the things I lovefinding something off the path,
off the beaten path.
I mean, yeah, you're going to govisit some of the things that
maybe are a little bit of a tourthat you want to see, but I
really enjoy and again, john,like you said, doing it with
(34:34):
somebody who you're really closeto, who you love, who you love
spending time with finding thosethings that they don't write
about.
You know what I mean.
I love that idea.
John (34:44):
I think it's great.
Shared experiences Absolutelythat's what it's about.
So, hey, thanks for hanging outwith us here at Half Century
Hangout.
We appreciate you listening tous where you find your favorite
podcasts and make sure you likeus and go out to Facebook and X
and Instagram.
Luke (35:04):
What else and give us feedback.
Give us feedback, write it down.
Chuck (35:07):
That's probably one of the things we're missing the
most is just feedback from someof those we're on YouTube now as
well.
We're missing the most is justfeedback from some of those
we're on YouTube now as well.
And so if you search out HalfCentury, Hangout on YouTube.
John (35:19):
you'll be able to leave some comments on that as well.
Yeah, we'd love to hear fromyou, I'd love to hear what you
think of our podcast.
Luke (35:24):
So hey, let us know what your favorite vacation spot is.
Perfect, you know.
That's some good feedback tohear, because you never know,
maybe it was one of ours at somepoint or we were there and
you're helping us out, and maybethere's a travel agent
listening.
Hey, let us know.
Chuck (35:37):
Let us know where the spot is.
Luke (35:38):
We'd be glad to give you a shout out 100%.
John (35:40):
You, betcha Well, have a great day and thanks for
listening to us here at HalfCentury Hangout.
Peace out.
Welcome back to Half Century Hangout.
Luke, we were on spring break.
What did you do over springbreak?
Luke (00:09):
Oh, a little toes in the sand, you know, yeah, drinking
my hand.
It was all good, it was fun, Ihad a good time, really great
time, with my wife Took off andfirst time I had to go back in
the old uh history book to gothrough it.
It was since high school that Iactually took a whole week off
(00:30):
to go to spring break.
Chuck (00:31):
Seriously.
Luke (00:31):
Haven't done it since high school which is going to segue
later, but I don't want to ruinit for right, right, that's
awesome.
John (00:37):
You know, it was great, had a great time, chuck, you,
you uh put a closet in.
Chuck (00:42):
Yet we tore out a closet and put a new closet system in
with a built-in and some nicedrawers, and it turned out
really good.
We painted the room and pulledup the carpet.
We're going to refinish thefloors later this summer because
they're a mess, but just thispast weekend we put the blinds
(01:02):
and curtains in.
Luke (01:03):
Nice, and that's your bedroom.
Yeah, that's our bedroom, nice,good for you, that's awesome.
Chuck (01:08):
It's really nice.
My wife did a really good job.
John (01:10):
A little more usable space , way more usable.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I did get my appointments doneand I had a window guy come over
because we're looking atgetting new windows.
Luke (01:22):
Oh, that's fun, I went.
Chuck (01:24):
Yeah, no fun.
Luke (01:27):
Went did a lot of Speaking of that.
Are we monetizing the podcast?
Yeah?
John (01:32):
We might need to.
It's called the.
Luke (01:34):
John Window Fund.
John (01:35):
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah, we aren't doing them all.
I was going to say that's over,over time.
Luke (01:41):
Yeah, I was going to say you might have to, you might
have to phase that.
I was going to say that's aphase at one time that's a phase
.
Kitchen would be just huge.
Yeah, yeah we aren't.
John (01:51):
We aren't doing them all, but some things need to be
replaced.
Luke (01:54):
Yeah.
So the windows and the thingsgot me thinking about stuff here
.
You know we're back in thegarage, we're here and I've got
projects in here, but spring'scoming.
It's supposed to be 70 degreesthe rest of the week, you know,
and I got projects around thehouse to do in the spring and
getting stuff ready and gettingflowers and doing stuff.
John (02:12):
Got your yard work all done, ready to go for spring.
Luke (02:15):
I have to dog proof now.
I have a different dog now.
My other dog passed away lastyear.
He was a different kind of dog,so now this one's a little bit
of a digger, so I got to changesome stuff around.
Yeah, I already got one mole,got him yesterday.
Chuck (02:30):
So we're good.
Yeah, moles have killed my yard.
Yeah, yeah, they are brutal.
Luke (02:35):
Absolutely.
They're brutal.
Brutal's right, they are brutal.
I hate moles.
John (02:39):
We're going to do a podcast on vacations.
What we like to do when we getaway and you heard that Luke got
away for a whole week it's hardto do sometimes is to get away.
You know it's hard to take thattime for yourself.
Luke (02:57):
I think that the biggest thing when we were talking about
this and I actually had aconversation with my daughter
about it when I was down there-in.
Florida.
It's, it's the disconnectingpart.
Yeah, yeah, that's the hardestpart for me, just because I
don't generally do that, right.
I mean I work.
You know all the people thatsay, oh, you know teachers, they
(03:19):
get some.
Well, I don't get the summeroff, okay, right, but it's it's
most of us, no matter what, andI know we're going to go into
that a little bit but thatdisconnect thing, I've really
never gotten to do it or evenhad the experience of it.
Really to do that, like when Igo hunting for a day.
I get a day of it, right, it'snice, but I never really fully
(03:42):
quite disconnect, right.
So it took a couple days toactually do that, but once I did
I felt great it was awesome,well, and it's even harder to
disconnect today than it used tobe.
John (03:54):
10, 15 years ago because we're so connected in different
ways with the world it's justhard to disconnect.
This is the first time.
Luke (04:06):
You'll laugh at this.
You're kind of a tech guy.
This is the first time and Ididn't know how.
I didn't know how to do it.
I'm self-reporting.
I said cachet once.
Right, I have never set myemail to.
I'm out of the office and I'llreturn.
I've never done that.
John (04:21):
Vacation mode.
Luke (04:21):
it was the first time I did it first time I ever did it
and I did it right.
It actually turned back on theday I came back.
Yeah, it was amazing.
Yeah, but it was cool because Inoticed all of a sudden my
inbox wasn't nearly as full asit usually had been.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's kind ofkind of wild.
It is awesome, yeah people stopsending stuff yeah email oh my
gosh so it's interesting.
Chuck (04:41):
You mentioned the um, the disconnect's hard to kind of
like get away because you spendso much time thinking about what
it is that you do and usuallythere's not enough, there's not
a big chunk of a time.
So I found I was just talkingto somebody about this this
morning I found that youactually have to there's two or
(05:02):
three, maybe four days,depending upon what you do that
you are able to kind of put allthat stuff in the background and
you're able to kind of put allthat stuff away and stop
thinking about it, because it'sjust you're not there, you're
(05:24):
not facing those samecircumstances, and so you're
able to kind of put it away,which allows you to probably
take four or five, three or fouror five days to, you know,
actually just rest and kind ofinvolve yourself in what you're
doing, whether you're at thebeach or the mountains or
whatever it might be.
But then last two, three daysof that I find myself thinking
about okay, here's what I'mgoing to be facing when.
I come back into the office andso for like a vacation really to
(05:47):
be a vacation it's almost likeit's got to be three weeks long.
Luke (05:50):
Yeah.
Because you're, and sometimesyour vacations are, like you
said, if they aren't long enough, they they aren't very relaxing
because, you're running andtrying to get all this stuff in
and create those memories thatvacations do, but it's kind of
funny because in the middle well, I guess it wasn't in the
(06:13):
middle, it was towards the endin the last couple of days of
the vacation there was somethingthat happened with work but it
was via text message and therewas some stuff that was going on
right happened with work, butit was via text message and
there was some stuff that wasgoing on Right and it kind of
drew you back in, yeah, but Ireally didn't want to, I wasn't
ready.
So I called somebody.
(06:33):
This was I've never done thisbefore.
Well, I guess I probably have,but not in the same vein.
I called this person to talk meoff the ledge, like, hey, I
need 10 minutes of your time forme to vent, get this out of my
system so I can go back tofinish my vacation.
Yeah, and it it sort of workedlike it it kind of did, but it
(06:55):
only took me, eh, you know,maybe a few hours.
If you ask my wife probably bea little different, but it was a
few hours until it got out ofmy system.
Right and then I was like youknow what I can deal with it
when I get back and it'll beokay, but I did start to in the
last couple of days, especiallywhen you're sitting in the
airport and I'm delayed and I'mmessaging you guys, I'm like,
(07:19):
hey, I'm stuck in the airport,you know, you're sitting there
and you're kind of lookingaround and's going on.
Chuck (07:23):
Yeah.
Luke (07:23):
So that for me is a little bit hard to let that go and
realize they're they got snowsomewhere and they had to de-ice
the plane.
I'm in Florida, like de-icingthe plane you know, I'm sweating
sitting in the airport, youknow, and I'm like, but that's
the way it is, and so you justkind of chilled and some things
(07:43):
are out of your control.
Chuck (07:51):
Do you guys like to plan out your vacation like day by
day, minute by minute, or is itjust like, okay, we're going to
go to this spot and then we'rejust going to kind of feel it
out, to kind of see what we wantto do?
How do you guys like tovacation?
John (08:01):
I think it depends.
It depends on where I'm goingand what I'm looking to do.
Yes, I think it's important toplan, but I also think it's
important to have some time thatyou allow for things to just
happen, built in flexibility.
Yes, I'm more of a.
(08:22):
I go on vacations because Ilike the experience and the
different experiences, and so Idon't necessarily like to plan
every waking moment.
No, so I like to be able to say, yeah, I want to go see
downtown Santa Fe, see downtownSanta Fe.
(08:43):
So I'm going to just go intotown and walk around and see
what's going on and what theyhave, and how cool a place it is
and yeah, so yeah, kind ofgetting into the last few days.
When I get somewhere and I onlyhave I don't know five days or
whatever, I'm already thinkingwhat do I have to do after?
Chuck (09:07):
that.
John (09:07):
And and that I need to be able to say I'm not in control
of that, I'm not planning forthat.
I just need to have fun andrelax and create those
experiences here's what I'venoticed.
Chuck (09:24):
For me, when I go somewhere, I do need probably a
longer chunk of time, because ittakes you longer to decompress
and then to actually enjoy thetime, but when I'm staying like
this was a stay vacation state,is that what they call?
It yes, where we did ourrenovation in our bedroom, it
was easier for me to get toforget about work stuff because
(09:47):
I was working with my handsputting thought into
measurements and yeah, cuttingstuff and screw dry, you know
all that kind of thing.
That was twice cut once, yeah,exactly, and so it's easier for
me to kind of forget workbecause I'm working with my
hands.
I think that was.
Luke (10:02):
I think for me and my wife and I would probably differ a
little bit with this, whereshe's more of a planner, but I
think the more that we've gottencomfortable with the idea
there's plenty of times whereit's like we're just going to
roll.
See where it takes us, andespecially beach life.
(10:24):
Right, I mean, we're there.
It's like, hey, guess what Ifthe waves are kicking today and
the sun's out and we're going,we're going if it's, if it's
cloudy and raining and cool.
Well, we got to do somethingelse, Right, yeah, so we went.
We went to Key West, which I'venever been.
That was the furthest SouthI've ever been and
geographically in my mind I hadno idea how far South it was.
(10:45):
I thought that the South pointof Texas was further South.
Oh, wow.
Like on a map I'm thinking inmy head.
Chuck (10:50):
It looks down there a little ways.
Luke (10:52):
We were 90 miles from Cuba .
John (10:53):
Yeah, yeah Close.
I had no idea.
Luke (10:56):
I just really didn't have this whole thing, and so I think
that, for me, that vacationpiece I think, like you were
talking about how your hands,like you, were able to, to let
go of work, to do that I thinkfor me and this is probably one
of the first times that I'vebeen able to do this I immersed
(11:16):
myself in the culture of whatwas there and of the people, and
it was there's a Cuban culture,right, there's a.
There's a Hispanic culture.
It's this thing and it was socool, like it was so different
than what I'm used to here.
Chuck (11:29):
Is there a port like around the Key West where people
receive like people come infrom Cuba to Key West Is?
Luke (11:36):
that.
Oh yeah, well there.
Well, there's a base there too.
There's a naval base therewhich I didn't know, but there's
a naval base there too.
Now, when I say it's thefurthest southern point, it's
the furthest southern point ofthe continental United States.
There's more keys after KeyWest, but you can't get to them
by car, gotcha, either boat orplane or something.
Chuck (11:56):
That's the furthest southern.
You can't get to them by car,gotcha.
Luke (11:58):
Either boat or plane or something.
That's a further south you candrive to, you can drive to, and
so now I have all the way fromthe north I-75 in Michigan.
I have driven every mile ofI-75.
Wow, so that was this was thelast piece that I had to do.
Wow Was from well, from Tampato Fort Myers and then down
through.
But we went down through Miamiand then went, but my geography
(12:20):
was all over the place.
It's not like my geography ofsouthern Florida is very good,
because I really have learned alot how big the Everglades are,
like it's gigantic, huge,gigantic, and I didn't even go
through it, like I haven't evengone.
Now our daughters live downthere for a couple years, but
it's like I haven't even gone inthere yet.
Yeah, and I'm going to at somepoint.
I just never have.
(12:40):
But, um, just super interesting,and I did get to release and I
didn't get to, you know,disconnect for a while and do
that, which I think was helpful.
Can you actually drive throughthe everglades?
Is there?
I mean, is there?
There is a road that kind ofdoes i-75, kind of curves around
it and goes down to Miami, butthere is another highway that
goes through.
But everybody that you talk toit's a little bit of a little
(13:03):
sketchy, which, well, it couldbe, but it's more of the roads
that I'm used to.
You know what I mean and that'sthe other part of it.
Is that when you were talkingabout the last couple days of
vacation right, the last coupledays of vacation was always
driving home.
Yeah, well, this time I flew,right, so I didn't really have
to worry about that, like, like,that was in the plan, like okay
(13:25):
, I've got to do this, yeah,which that, for me, was we never
flew anywhere.
I mean, growing up we flew toFlorida once and that was a
whole other story, but it waslike we went and flew back.
But even my dad I just learnedthat that was one of the things
and we always took.
We talked about values.
That was one of us for, for ourfamily.
(13:47):
Which we all joke about now iswe took the scenic route Right,
absolutely Always, which I lovedoing.
But you know, it was kind ofnice for this one because I got
to not travel most of my trip.
Chuck (13:54):
You know it was a few hours at the front and a few
hours at the back well, we wentto florida a number of years ago
with the family and we were inthis rented minivan and we got
on this back road that I'm not.
Luke (14:05):
I think it was through the everglades, but there were
bodies of water that like weredeep and encompassed the entire
road, which was probably a carand a half wide yeah, that's
what I've heard about this roadit took us forever, yeah,
forever, like two and a halfhours probably to get through
(14:25):
this, and I mean that might havebeen where it was, because if
you look at a map which I didafter the fact, there really is
only one other road that kind ofgoes through there.
Chuck (14:33):
That's probably what it's like and our intent was to to
find some alligators we justwanted to see.
We'd never seen alligators.
We got so tired of seeingalligators that we were just
worried about getting off.
They were all over, all overthe place stretched across the
road.
You know, I mean you had to getout and kick them to, not
really, but you can see chuckout there kicking an alligator.
Luke (14:54):
We saw an iguana across the road and Really and it was a
big one, he was probably fourfoot long, but it was funny
because I kept saying so thatseven-mile bridge that goes to
Key West, so you're justsurrounded by water and it's not
like a bridge, like it's way upin the air, it's on the water.
But we kept seeing signs forkey deer which are endangered
(15:15):
species.
John (15:16):
And I'm like oh, I want to see a deer across the road key
and they look.
Luke (15:19):
they look a lot like a whitetail, but their face is a
little different.
But then there was a sign for aGuana crossing and I thought it
was kind of a joke and I'm likeman, I haven't seen anything
across the road.
And there's all these signs andthen the car in front of us
(15:40):
cause you can't, there's onlytwo lanes so you can't pass
anybody so I'm stuck behind likean airstream and a something
else.
You know, I'm driving back inthe car in front of me, I see
him kind of swerve and I look,I'm like, oh, and there's the
iguana and he was probably Idon't know as long as this maybe
six foot long, wow, waddlingacross the road like hey, you
don't see that in iowa is thatk-e-y, deer, k-e-y, deer, k-e-y,
yeah, key, key West, andthey're endangered, apparently.
(16:00):
So, and roosters everywhere.
John (16:04):
Roosters Interesting I got a question.
Chuck (16:06):
That's the wildlife?
Huh, I wonder.
So we went to Belize one timeon vacation and there's the way
they spell key.
It looks like K, like C-A-Y-E Ithink, and all of their islands
are like K something.
And I was pronouncing it K andthey said no, you pronounce it
(16:27):
key, but in Florida you said KeyWest I wonder if it's like a
derivative or a variation ofthat word island, I don't know,
just got in my mind Could be.
John (16:42):
Well, hey, you've talked a lot about a pretty memorable
vacation.
It sounds like, which is prettycool, Chuck, what's your most
memorable vacation you took?
You talked about going down toBelize.
Chuck (16:57):
That was super fun.
My wife and I we went byourselves and it was an
incredible trip.
We went down to an Islandcalled San Pedro and um stayed
in a a condo and walked prettymuch everywhere.
Uh, there was one day we renteda golf cart, went to this
(17:20):
soccer game local soccer gameand that got a little sketchy.
I mean, those people take theirsoccer seriously, they do.
And it was like my wife washolding on to me as we were
leaving because, I mean, peoplewere out there fighting, it's
kind of like pickleball onCouncil bluffs.
Luke (17:39):
Are you serious?
I am serious.
John (17:41):
Uh, yeah, I wouldn't want to be a referee down there, but
that was such.
Chuck (17:49):
And the referees man, they just got, oh they got
pummeled.
It was like my wife and I wegot to get out of here.
This isn't safe anymore.
But it was such a that was sucha fun trip and we really
enjoyed that.
John (18:02):
Was it what you saw or who you were with, or a little bit
of?
Chuck (18:05):
both.
It was mostly who I was with,for sure, but what we saw was
absolutely beautiful.
We walked the beaches and, man,there was this one beach called
Secret Beach that we went to,and we went kind of early in the
morning and did you guys knowthat there's these things called
sea roaches?
Have?
John (18:22):
you ever heard of them, yep?
Chuck (18:27):
And we got to this beach before the sea roaches, so they
come in to the shallow water atnight because it's warmer, and
then they go out to the deeperend during the day.
And we must have gotten therebefore they got out.
And we were just loving thisbeach out there and there's
these things like crawling onour skin.
We're like what the hell arethese things?
(18:47):
Yeah, and we asked the lady,like there's something in this
water, and they're like theystart sucking your skin Really,
like almost like leeches, andthey so we'd pull them off and
we did not like that.
So we got out of the wateruntil those things.
Luke (19:01):
You know, a couple of years back we were down, we went
to Florida again, but we wentacross the state to the eastern
side, to what's the place calledwhere they launched the.
John (19:14):
Oh, cape Canaveral, cape Canaveral yeah.
Luke (19:16):
So we were on that beach.
So it was a little different,because right over there you see
the sunrise, right.
So we get up in the morning,we're all kind of sideways and
go down to the beach and it waslike ghost crabs and they dig
these little holes and they'respitting the sand out.
I mean, they're little, they'relike this, but it was hilarious
(19:37):
because I'm like get thosethings away from me.
But they were all over theplace.
Chuck (19:40):
Now they weren't sucking my skin off my body, so that was
a plus.
Yeah, this was prettydisgusting, but you know, after
those things got out and it gotlater in the day, it was
absolutely wonderful.
People would come out and serveyou drinks.
You know, you had picnic tablesin the water.
That was super fun.
Saw a stingray, so that was thatwas cool, that is cool so that
was probably like one of myfavorite vacations that I had
with jen um.
(20:01):
When you talk about travel, wetry.
I traveled.
One time.
I did some work down in umthat's a mission work down in
paraguay and I went to theaguazu falls.
You guys ever heard of those?
Never heard of it.
It's in Brazil and they're thelargest falls in the world, like
one of the eight naturalwonders of the world.
(20:22):
Wow, and it's in Paraguay.
There's a city called Cia deLeste and we crossed the border
into Brazil from there and sawthese falls.
That were absolutely incredible.
Yeah, that's cool.
That's probably one of theprettiest places.
John (20:38):
Sea Falls, that is pretty cool.
What about you, john?
Oh one of my favorite placesthat I've been is the Holy Land
and again it was with peoplethat I enjoyed being with my
wife and we went on a trip withsome other friends that we had
met and just seeing thebackground and the geography and
(21:06):
the religious background of theHoly Land that was just a
really neat trip.
I remember you talking about itand it was one that actually, as
an educator, you usually don'ttake uh trips in january or oh
yeah, or during the school year.
I I got like 10 days off duringthe school year I remember that
(21:29):
, john, I took them, yes, and I.
I have not lived that no, youhave not.
Luke (21:33):
No, you know, but it was great hearing from you after it,
because it is cool it.
John (21:37):
It is just a neat place to go and such history.
I never used to like historybut, man, I love going places
and seeing the history of thatplace and seeing how it has
shaped humans over time, shapedhumans over time.
(21:57):
Just a really, really neat tripand a really fun trip and a lot
, of, a lot of places that youcan see in the Holy land, so
that that was one of myfavorites, favorite trips.
Chuck (22:10):
Are you more of a mountain person or more of a
beach person, John?
John (22:14):
Um, I've been to both.
Yeah, I love the, the nature ofthings.
I guess I've been to.
My mom actually is from Hawaii,so I visited Hawaii a few times
and talk about a fall, as youremember, and, and you guys
remember other people may not onthe podcast, but uh, do you
remember.
And, and you guys rememberother people may not on the
(22:35):
podcast, but uh, do you rememberfantasy island yes, remember
the fantasy island falls theplane.
yeah well, the fantasy islandfalls.
Let's talk about m&ms.
Now our on kawaii.
That's where my mom grew up, sowe spent a lot of time there
and my cousin took us back intosome of the sugar cane fields
and we walked on this trail andwe're walking a ways and pretty
(22:59):
soon we get to the top of thisfalls and you can go out.
It like splits and you go outon the rocks right at the edge
and we're looking out there andthere are people looking up at
us and we're on the top ofFantasy Island Falls.
Pretty cool stuff.
It was really neat.
That is neat.
Chuck (23:17):
Yeah.
John (23:19):
I like the beach, I like the mountains.
Been to Colorado, been to SantaFe, been to Alaska.
Alaska is like Colorado onsteroids.
Luke (23:32):
Yeah.
John (23:32):
It's just a beautiful, beautiful place.
When we went, to Florida.
Chuck (23:37):
Jen and I went to Florida by ourselves when we were
emptying esters and we went tothe Clearwater Beach area and
there's a place I think it'scalled Dundian or something like
that, but just past that it'scalled Honeymoon Beach.
It's a state park like hardlyanybody knew about.
We were there and we were oneof maybe 30 people on this
(24:00):
entire beach.
Luke (24:00):
Yeah.
Chuck (24:02):
And that's probably been one of our favorite places to go
.
Luke (24:05):
I think when you say that you know what do you prefer the
mountains or the beach?
It's kind of like that for me,Like if there's a ton of people
at the beach, that's not me.
Yeah, I'm not that person I'mnot now, you can still enjoy
yourself.
I mean, we'll walk.
My wife and I walk along thewater.
She loves it and it's.
And it's one of those thingswhere I know how much she loves
(24:28):
it, so I also in turn love it,because I know how happy she is
and how, how it's going.
John (24:34):
But when there's a ton of people.
Luke (24:37):
Luke, that's awesome.
It's when there's a ton ofpeople it's like, yeah, it takes
the luster out of it.
John (24:44):
You know what I?
Luke (24:44):
mean, yeah, um, but I think that the beach is cool
when you can see it when it's alittle more secluded.
And me growing up in northernMichigan, on Lake Michigan, near
a place called Traverse City,there's a thing called the
Sleeping Bear Dunes, so that wasthe beach that I grew up with.
Now that water's a little cold,okay.
John (25:07):
Maybe just a little bit.
It's not like warm.
Luke (25:09):
I mean, even in the summer , at the hottest day in the
summer, that water might bePretty chilly Might, you know 50
.
Oh, it gets close to 60.
But still it's not warm, right.
But that beach, you know, likegrowing up, but you'd have these
people on the dunes, and thedunes are gigantic, they're huge
, like you could go for milesand not see anybody, which I
(25:29):
really like that.
But the mountains and nature tome is a different level of
things, because to me you'resurrounded by creation, right.
John (25:39):
It's like this is amazing to me.
Luke (25:41):
And I can the hunting part .
I love to hunt and I love to dothat.
But to me, as I, especially asI get older, I can sit in a tree
stand.
I never used to be able to sitfor that long.
I was always the dog.
I was always out still hunting.
I'm the one out kicking stuffup.
Now I can sit in that treestand or somewhere, cause I just
enjoy, I just breathe.
(26:01):
It's like taking it all in, andin my spot I can see the
sunrise coming up through thecorn.
You know, I can see all thisand it's just, I just melt Like
it just takes everything, it'sdone.
John (26:13):
You know you talked a little bit about that shared
experience and I think, that'severy vacation I've been, on,
every place I've been.
I love to share that with people.
We went out to San Diego and itwas just.
It was nice to share that timewith people and get to know
(26:34):
people really, really well.
I think you get to know peoplein a different way when you go
on vacation with them or you go.
We were, we were happened to beat a conference.
But when you go to a conferenceand you travel, you get to know
people a little bit in a littledifferent way.
Chuck (26:52):
Yeah, it's a different setting and you get to know
people a little bit in a littledifferent way.
Yeah, it's a different settingand you get to know people in a
different way and John and Ifound a common place to hang out
.
Luke (26:58):
We did, we did.
John (27:00):
You might have a few of those glasses.
Yeah, they're hanging aroundhere somewhere.
Luke (27:04):
Like you said, I think that that's an example of where
you go somewhere and youdisconnect.
So you see a different side ofpeople.
You see some things, and Ithink for me in you know, my
wife and I talk about it a lotand sometimes she'll say you
still seem kind of wound tight,you know, like you're kind of
and I have to unwind leave alittle bit and be like, yeah,
(27:27):
maybe I'm a little edgy still.
I need to calm it down and justrealize, you know, and I enjoy
it and I and I really do.
But I think as I'm gettingolder, I'm also learning to
appreciate it more.
Chuck (27:38):
What's the longest you guys have been away from your
cell phone when you're onvacation.
Luke (27:46):
Well, that's hard for an old guy like me to think about,
cause I did vacations before,before cell phones were there.
But since you, you've had one.
But since I've had one, I don'tthink I've ever really
completely been 100% away fromit.
Chuck (27:59):
Yeah.
Luke (28:00):
Just because I mean it's there and I, you know, now I
have that, I don't have to takea camera with me Right, Sure?
John (28:06):
So it's still with me, right.
Luke (28:08):
Right, but I think on this trip I mean there was a few
here and there, but you know thephone was in the bag, like to
the beach.
I don't have to worry, it's notin my pocket.
Chuck (28:16):
That, to me, is one of the biggest distractions.
A hundred percent, A hundredpercent.
John (28:19):
And that's part of disconnecting right.
Luke (28:22):
Yeah.
John (28:22):
I think that we are so connected in this world today
that you just have to let thephone go, you have to say I'm
not going to use it.
And one thing we talked aboutwhen we went to Israel you know
you can take a lot of pictures,you can really get into the
picture taking stuff.
Luke (28:43):
Sure.
John (28:44):
What we said is we want to be a pilgrim, not a tourist.
Chuck (28:51):
So two things.
There's actually a tourist.
So two things.
There's actually a study.
I read a study about two yearsago that says when you
concentrate on taking pictures,you actually take yourself away
from the moment Yep, yep.
And that's.
I've tried not to practice that.
So when I'm with my grandkids-yeah.
I take less pictures, I justwant to experience the moment
and make memories, and I foundthat to be super helpful.
Luke (29:13):
And I think on this trip I didn't take a ton.
Really, what it is is my wifeand I in a sunset, Like there's
a few, like it's more of just Ionly saw a chicken and an iguana
.
You did see those.
You did see those, Cause it wasat the pool where we were at
together which was hilariouswhen the iguana came out.
(29:39):
I was at the pool.
I didn't really understand whatwas happening, but one of the
best vacations I took.
Chuck (29:42):
When I asked that cell phone question, I actually left
my cell phone at home.
That's a great.
I didn't take it with me and wewe drove in my jeep down to
Arkansas, down to JasperArkansas, and stayed in a cabin
down there and our intent was togo do some um jeeping in some
of the parks that are aroundthere.
But I found out my jeep wasn'tlifted enough and all that kind
of good stuff.
So we just ended up seeing abunch of more waterfalls and
(30:03):
probably saw six or seven thatwhile we were down there.
But I was away from my cellphone for shoot.
I think it was probably seven,nine days something like that
yep and uh.
Man, that was one of the bestvacations I think I can remember
.
Luke (30:17):
And I think that, going back to what I started to say, I
think that's the hardest part,but I realize the benefit of it
is really being able todisconnect, to do it, and I
think that I also learned whichwas kind of funny there was and
if those people are listening tothe podcast, I'm not going to
apologize there were some textmessages that I completely
(30:39):
ignored because I wanted to getthe point across.
Chuck (30:42):
Yeah, okay, I'm not there .
John (30:44):
Stop, and it's, and it's okay, you know everything will
be fine, I'll be back.
Well, and we, we need that, andif there's importance, if
there's importance.
Luke (30:52):
there's importance, you know, if one of my kids or what
is you know, something was goingon, I mean, I get it, but so
many times and not just aboutvacation, but any time I
realized that for years, decades, people didn't have instant
access.
John (31:08):
You know what they did?
Okay, yeah, they did, they didjust fine, you know they did all
right.
Luke (31:12):
And I realize now like we kind of lump ourselves into that
thing.
But I'm like you know, yeah, wedon't always need that.
Chuck (31:21):
We don't always need that .
My wife took her cell phone onthat vacation, yeah, but I ended
up not taking mine, yeah, guys.
So I mean, I don't know.
Luke (31:33):
It's vacation time, I mean , and now we're back at work and
things are.
Things are rolling.
You know, we're getting throughto the end of the school year,
we're getting close.
John (31:40):
I know that, uh, that Luke has to work in the summer, but
Chuck and I get the summer offbecause we're in education, we
get a little bit of summertimeand yeah, I think that.
Luke (31:52):
no matter what, though, even when before I was an
administrator, I felt like Istill worked in the summer as a
teacher, I mean there's thingsthat you have to do, and there's
things that you need to takecare of.
John (32:03):
I don't think anybody.
Luke (32:03):
Sometimes it's training, sometimes it's educating,
sometimes it's conferences.
I mean, you're planning for thenext year.
I mean there's a lot of stuffthat I think that some people
just think, oh, you know, theyget three months off in the
summer.
Yeah, they really not anymore.
They happen.
I mean, it might have happenedback in the day where things
were going on, but anymorethere's a lot of things that are
(32:24):
still expected of you whenyou're off, whatever you want to
say.
But yeah, I'm a I'm a 12 monthemployee now, so I still get
some time.
You know, and I'll take alittle bit, we have dead week in
there, which is the first weekof August right in there, so
we'll be somewhere doingsomething one way or the other.
(32:44):
I think we're going to do thecircle tour around Lake Michigan
.
We're going to go up across theMackinac Bridge and do the Upper
Peninsula, come up throughMinnesota.
Come down through Minnesota,come down through Wisconsin.
Yeah, we'll go Chicago routearound up north and then come
down through Green Bay.
We'll go to Door County inthere, which is the other side
of Lake Michigan over there, soI can pick up some spotted cow
(33:05):
on the way home, which is alwaysimportant.
Pick up a case for me, I willthere, you go me, I will come
back through and wind up backhere.
So that that's, that's the planright now.
But again, plans are overrated.
Right, that's right.
John (33:17):
That's right, that's the plan.
So I knew I know the podcast isdoing pretty well.
We've got a lot of downloadsand we've we've increased our
downloads.
We always want you to listen.
Any shout outs for anybodyalways want you to listen.
Chuck (33:34):
Any shout outs for anybody?
Yeah, john, we got peoplelistening to us from Lenexa,
kansas, bedford, indiana,rochester, michigan, orlando,
florida, tip City, ohio.
There's quite a few people outthere so always want to say
thank you Wait.
Luke (33:48):
what was the name of that town in Ohio?
Tip City.
What, the Tip City?
Chuck (33:55):
It's pretty close.
It's just north of Dayton,that's awesome.
John (33:58):
That's awesome.
Luke (34:00):
Quote of the day JR Tolkien right.
John (34:04):
That's a great journey and vacation.
Not all those who wander arelost Absolutely.
I like that.
How about it?
I?
Luke (34:12):
like that.
I mean, I think that that'swhen I you know, when we talked
about the vacation thing when itfirst started.
That's one of the things I lovefinding something off the path,
off the beaten path.
I mean, yeah, you're going to govisit some of the things that
maybe are a little bit of a tourthat you want to see, but I
really enjoy and again, john,like you said, doing it with
(34:34):
somebody who you're really closeto, who you love, who you love
spending time with finding thosethings that they don't write
about.
You know what I mean.
I love that idea.
John (34:44):
I think it's great.
Shared experiences Absolutelythat's what it's about.
So, hey, thanks for hanging outwith us here at Half Century
Hangout.
We appreciate you listening tous where you find your favorite
podcasts and make sure you likeus and go out to Facebook and X
and Instagram.
Luke (35:04):
What else and give us feedback.
Give us feedback, write it down.
Chuck (35:07):
That's probably one of the things we're missing the
most is just feedback from someof those we're on YouTube now as
well.
We're missing the most is justfeedback from some of those
we're on YouTube now as well.
And so if you search out HalfCentury, Hangout on YouTube.
John (35:19):
you'll be able to leave some comments on that as well.
Yeah, we'd love to hear fromyou, I'd love to hear what you
think of our podcast.
Luke (35:24):
So hey, let us know what your favorite vacation spot is.
Perfect, you know.
That's some good feedback tohear, because you never know,
maybe it was one of ours at somepoint or we were there and
you're helping us out, and maybethere's a travel agent
listening.
Hey, let us know.
Chuck (35:37):
Let us know where the spot is.
Luke (35:38):
We'd be glad to give you a shout out 100%.
John (35:40):
You, betcha Well, have a great day and thanks for
listening to us here at HalfCentury Hangout.
Peace out.
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