Saturday - Driving to Little Rock, Arkansas

Day 0 - Prepping to Drive Cross Country

Okay, the Griswolds (er, Hass') are prepping today for our trip. Yesterday the kids packed their backpacks with sleeping bags, sleeping pads, rain jackets, rain covers, and warm clothes to sleep in. Our two nights in the backcountry of Yosemite will be above 9000 feet so we expect nighttime temps in the 30s (although it'll warm up into the 70s in the daytime). Tricia and I stuffed the six packs into the cartop carrier this morning while the kids worked on packing their bags. They were instructed to fit everything into two bags (one for Ainsley and Muluken and another for Ty and Harper). The list was as such:

- 4 underwear
- 3 socks
- 2 shorts
- 2 long pants
- 1 sweatshirt
- 1 long sleeve shirt
- swimsuit
- pajamas
- sandals
- tennis shoes
- small pillow
- small pack for playing, drawing, and reading in the car

To no one's surprise Harper was greatly annoyed by the limitations of this list; not to mention the fact she didn't get her own bag. "Two shorts!" she sighed. After going into her room we could still hear her complaining to herself. Tricia tried to explain she'd have one pair already on when we leave. I've already tried to explain the need for simplicity when getting six people and all their stuff into a van for the next three-and-a-half weeks. It's safe to say she either doesn't get it or doesn't care. I won't be surprised if we find later in the week that she snuck some extras into her bag.

Yesterday I showed the kids some pics online of the places we'll see and the things we'll do. We'll begin with a 12 hour drive on Saturday and spend the night near Little Rock, Arkansas.

On Sunday, 7/14 we'll drive 9 hours to Amarillo, Texas. While we won't have much time to look around I'm sure the boys would like to have a Texas-sized steak.

Monday, 7/15 we'll drive just 4 short hours to Albuquerque, NM where we'll see the Rio Grande and enjoy some local cuisine. We should have plenty of time to just walk around and enjoy seeing a part of the country that looks vastly different than the Southeast.

Tuesday, 7/16 we'll drive 6 hours to Flagstaff, Arizona. We're going to the Lowell Observatory in the evening to look through their famous telescopes.

Wednesday, 7/17 and Thursday, 7/18 we'll be in Grand Canyon National Park camping on the South Rim. We have no plans for the park other than to look around and do whatever strikes our fancy. I'm sure we'll find at least a few hikes. And take some incredible pictures.

On Friday, 7/19 we'll drive 4 hours into Las Vegas, Nevada. We won't be on the strip which is not a letdown. Our only reason for stopping here is its geographical placement between the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Still, we'll walk around and gawk at the god-awful atrocity of it all. I'm sure the kids will think it's SO cool.

Saturday, 7/20 through Monday, 7/21 will find us in Yosemite National Park. We're staying in Curry Village in a canvas tent. We'll spend our days hiking, horseback riding, and attending different events put on by the park rangers.

  

On Tuesday, 7/23 - Thursday, 7/25 we'll be backpacking into the backcountry of Yosemite. We're doing a 7.5 mile hike to Young Lakes. We'll  set up our camp at the edge of the lake and then spend the following day exploring the area. We'll have two nights up there before heading back down.

First of the Three Young Lakes

 On Thursday, 7/25 we'll get back to the van and drive most of the way to San Francisco before stopping for the night. On Friday, 7/26 and Saturday, 7/27 we'll be in San Francisco. While there we'll walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, check out Fisherman's Wharf, eat in Chinatown, and take in a Giants baseball game. We'll be there for two full days before beginning our drive back east.

 

On Saturday, 7/27 we'll stop over in Sacramento, CA for the night.  Then we'll drive 9 hours into Salt Lake City, Utah and spend the 28th and 29th there. We're not real sure what there is to do in Salt Lake City but it seemed like a good opportunity to break up the driving. 

After leaving Salt Lake City we'll drive 6 hours on Tuesday, 7/30 to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

On Wednesday, 7/31 we'll drive 9 more hours into Kansas City where we'll stop for the night and rest up for our final four-hour push into St. Louis the next day. We'll be in St. Louis for about a week. Our only plans for this week are to visit family and friends and to see West Side Story at the Muny Outdoor Theater.

In all it'll be 3 books-on-tape, 18 states, 26 days, 100s of mountains, and 1,000s of miles.

And a lot of fun.

Thank You, Howard Zinn

Sometimes we "celebrate" things for so long we forget what we were celebrating. Take Labor Day, for instance. Or Memorial Day. Or President's Day.

The 4th of July seems that way to me. I don't know that we are truly celebrating our independence from England as much as we're celebrating our perceived superiority as a nation. Particularly of interest is the fact so many will watch a grand fireworks display set to Neil Diamond's "Coming to America" while missing the irony that the song celebrates immigration - something that many today question in terms of who is a "real" American and who deserves to be here.

Outside of Columbus Day, July 4th seems the most offensive of all holidays. I distrust the notion of nationalistic flag-waving, pledge chanting, and chest-thumping.

My dad's birthday was on the 4th of July. He used to joke that all those fireworks were actually for him. I wish he were right.

Anyway, I came across this 2005 piece from Howard Zinn today and thought I'd share it. Not surprisingly he wasn't too enamored with our celebration of Independence Day either.

Enjoy.

 ***********************

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?

These ways of thinking -- cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on -- have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and many more). But in a nation like ours -- huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction -- what might have been harmless pride becomes an arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.

Our citizenry has been brought up to see our nation as different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral, expanding into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy.

That self-deception started early.

When the first English settlers moved into Indian land in Massachusetts Bay and were resisted, the violence escalated into war with the Pequot Indians. The killing of Indians was seen as approved by God, the taking of land as commanded by the Bible. The Puritans cited one of the Psalms, which says: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession."

When the English set fire to a Pequot village and massacred men, women and children, the Puritan theologian Cotton Mather said: "It was supposed that no less than 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell that day."

On the eve of the Mexican War, an American journalist declared it our "Manifest Destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence." After the invasion of Mexico began, The New York Herald announced: "We believe it is a part of our destiny to civilize that beautiful country."

It was always supposedly for benign purposes that our country went to war.

We invaded Cuba in 1898 to liberate the Cubans, and went to war in the Philippines shortly after, as President McKinley put it, "to civilize and Christianize" the Filipino people.

As our armies were committing massacres in the Philippines (at least 600,000 Filipinos died in a few years of conflict), Elihu Root, our secretary of war, was saying: "The American soldier is different from all other soldiers of all other countries since the war began. He is the advance guard of liberty and justice, of law and order, and of peace and happiness."

We see in Iraq that our soldiers are not different. They have, perhaps against their better nature, killed thousands of Iraq civilians. And some soldiers have shown themselves capable of brutality, of torture.

Yet they are victims, too, of our government's lies.

How many times have we heard President Bush tell the troops that if they die, if they return without arms or legs, or blinded, it is for "liberty," for "democracy"?

One of the effects of nationalist thinking is a loss of a sense of proportion. The killing of 2,300 people at Pearl Harbor becomes the justification for killing 240,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The killing of 3,000 people on Sept. 11 becomes the justification for killing tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And nationalism is given a special virulence when it is said to be blessed by Providence. Today we have a president, invading two countries in four years, who announced on the campaign trail in 2004 that God speaks through him.

We need to refute the idea that our nation is different from, morally superior to, the other imperial powers of world history.

We need to assert our allegiance to the human race, and not to any one nation.

On the Appalachian Trail: Newfound Gap - Hot Springs, NC

Before heading off for the trail this summer I stopped by the sporting goods store to pick up some extra fuel for my stove. While there I noticed a whole line of "survival" products bearing the name of Man vs Wild star Bear Grylls. It was funny. There were survival kits, knives, machetes (yes, machetes), blankets, and more. Who knew there was such a market for this? Are there that many people who need high-priced celebrity-endorsed survival gear in the wild?

Beyond Bear's stuff there were other products that caught my eye. Take, for instance, the "Survival Kit-in-a Can." 

Or the "Campers Toilet Paper." Okay, this one may not exactly qualify as "survival" gear but it did strike me funny that someone would pay extra for special toilet paper.

The medical kit made sense. I usually just take a sandwich bag with band-aids, ibuprofen,cloth tape, and maybe some Neosporin. However, last spring I broke down and bought an "official" medical kit with tiny tweezers, bee sting treatment, and a variety of other remedies to nature's ailments.

Perhaps my favorite piece of life-saving gear was the "Survival Bracelet." It's basically a long piece of thin rope that has been braided into a fashionably neon-colored wrist accessory. For only $7.99 you would have what would probably be an important piece of survival gear if you had any idea how best to use it (run it between two really small trees and drape across it the tarp you've been keeping in your back pocket to use as a make-shift shelter?).

What would I do in an emergency? Well, we've had quite a few of late and somehow we've always survived by simply using the gear we have, sticking to the well-marked trail, and hiking back out of the woods for the comfort of a hotel room or our car. No bracelet needed.

Day One - Newfound Gap - Peck's Corner Shelter - 10.4 miles

 

In the picture you see the boys and I are holding up three fingers to represent this being our third attempt to hike out of this gap. The first was last year when Muluken and I called our hike quits after walking in both homesick and full of terrible blisters. The second attempt was last spring when our snowy trip was called short by one boy with a sprained ankle and the other vomiting and collapsing into the snow. While this was our third crack at Newfound Gap you'll notice our friend, and hiking buddy Emily, holding up one finger. She proved to be a lucky charm. We finally made it out! This is a touristy part of the trail, in the heart of the Smokies, so we saw about 92 people in our first four miles of walking. Once we got past a well-known lookout on the trail we didn't see anyone else until arriving at the shelter six miles later. The shelter was packed with about 16 people so it was snug, but fun.

Muluken:

"As we were walking we counted how many people passed or went by. It was good to know lots of people are on the trail with you. Most of them were going to Charlies' Bunyan...We went pretty quick like more than one-and-a-half miles per hour and got to our stops a few minutes early and I would be happy. But then all this fog or smoke came. It's called the Smoky Mountains. It got low because we were a few thousand feet in the air. It started to sprinkle....Then we got to the sign that said shelter. It was half a mile off the trail. Jeez. Why would they put it that far away? We finally got there and took our stuff out and brushed our teeth and sat to write. PS There's a guy snoring by us and he keeps stopping and starting again. Weird. PSS There are actually two men snoring!"

Ty:

"We saw 100 people today on the way. When we thought we were at the top of the mountain it would always go up more. When we were close to the shelter we thought we heard a bear. I kind of got scared. We're at the shelter now and we are glad because it started to rain...We have just enough room for the four of us."

Day Two - Pecks Corner Shelter - Cosby Knob Shelter - 12.9 miles

Chris:
"Most of the morning was flat ridge walking with a few small climbs. We stopped at a shelter for lunch and Emily showed us how to Prancer-cise. It was as silly as it sounds. She said it's on YouTube and very funny. There are ankle weights involved when doing it properly. We only came across other hikers three times today. About a mile out from the shelter it began to rain, just like yesterday. We had been hearing thunder for quite some time so we kept anticipating the rain's arrival. While steady, it was more refreshing than anything.

When we got into the shelter there was a dad with his two teen-aged sons and then a group of four people who are quite interesting. They've all been on the trail for four or five weeks which means they have only been averaging about seven miles a day. What do they do with all their time? I said something to the younger guy about how far he might get before he stops at the end of August and he wouldn't commit to anything. "I take my time and see stuff along the way. I'd rather enjoy a nice fire on a clear night than rack up miles." There's wisdom to this plan but honestly, seven miles a day?! Later this same guy, who we are secretly calling Free Spirit stripped off his clothes in the shelter to change. When Emily walked in and saw him he said "Hey, I'm changing here. If you're cool with it so am I." Emily smiled really big and turned away as quickly as humanly possible.

Free Spirit later called us over from our card game to point out two bears over by the privy. When they walked back into the woods he said with a knowing tone "Oh, they'll be back." Later in the evening he walked up to where they were and began grunting and making bear noises as if calling out to them. The rest of his crew made faces at one another as if to say they weren't all that surprised by this behavior. Free Spirit is a character. For real."

Muluken:
"Number of people today: 14. Number of snails today: 16...We walked about five miles to a shelter to have lunch. We walked very fast today and it was hilly, down, and flat. We got to the lunch shelter and made a video for mom and our sisters, saying something about our trip so far and how it was. We got packed and walked pretty fast and we were supposed to see a bald called Cosby Knob but we didn't notic it because we were trying to go through the rain that kept pelting us and making us cold. So we walked so fast that Big D said we would get to the shelter at 6:00 but guess what? We got there at 5:10. Almost an hour less. We got to relax and take our boots off. I put on my flip-flops and massaged by foot because it was aching. It felt good...We are writing in our journals while my dad makes mac 'n cheese."

Ty:
"Today we saw 11 people. If you subtract 100-11=89 so the difference is 89 people less than yesterday. Yesterday we saw 8 snails but today we saw 14. We saw six more today than we saw yesterday. We hiked 13.4 miles today (counting a side trail from the morning's shelter).

Tonight we played poker, Pass the Trash, and Rummy. Then we SAW TWO BEARS! THEY WERE BLACK BEARS. IT WAS COOL! One bear was the mom and the other was smaller. We might see them again."


Day Three - Cosby Knob Shelter - Campsite near Painter's Branch - 12.7 miles

 

Chris:

"One of the guys from the eclectic group had a corn cob pipe sitting out this morning. How perfect is that? I wanted it to belong to Free Spirit but it didn't. There's an older guy in the group who is spending two months on the trail for his 50th birthday. They call him Blue Jay and the pipe was his. Blue Jay carries about a thousand pounds of stuff in, on, and hanging from his pack. I worry he might collapse and die. Literally.

I woke up to a perfect morning. The sun was just coming up and a soft yellow light filtered in through the leaves on the mountain side. I could have stayed in my sleeping bag and watched it for hours. There was also a steady breeze moving in across the mountain making the leaves dance all around. I'm glad we were in the shelter last night (as mandated by Smoky Mountain National Park) because had we been in our tent I would have missed this. All I see in the tent is the rainfly. When I looked over the boys sleeping bodies I noticed Emily was awake and watching the forest wake up as well.

Our first eight miles today were mostly downhill which was easy on the legs but hard on the toes. At the end of this we FINISHED THE SMOKIES. There was no sign to commemorate this but it was still awfully rewarding. A few miles later we came out of the woods and crossed a bridge where underneath us we saw dozens of whitewater rafts floating by. I recognized this spot from our trips down I-40 to St. Louis each year. This part of the trail follows the road for just a bit as we make our way underneath the I-40 overpass and then back into the woods. Well, we're supposed to get back into the woods using a 160 step stone staircase. We somehow missed it and followed a hot sunny gravel road until we picked the trail up again. Guess we're not purists anymore because we missed a 1/2 mile stretch of the trail while walking down that road. Tell you what, though...we finish these 2,170 miles of trail to Maine and I'm not going to sweat that 1/2 mile detour. The mileage was the same and heat was about ten-fold!

We stopped by Standing Bear Farm Hostel to pick up a package I had mailed with our food for the second half of the trip. The owner, Curtis, helped me find it and then held court talking (read: preaching) at us about his views on the hiking community and much more. He told us some people spread rumors on the internet that he's a real jerk. I suppressed a chuckle having read this in numerous places. That said, he's not so much a jerk as a strong personality. We enjoyed his company for about an hour or so and then finished our day with a really hard 2 1/2 mile climb back into the woods."

Muluken:

"People = 9. Snails = 26."

Ty:

"Today we hiked 12.7 miles. Me and Muluken saw some snakes! It was so cool! Right now we have a fire going. It's really warm. Big D's feeding it. We're gathering rhododendron. It's awesome."

Day Four - Campsite at Painter's Branch - Roaring Fork Shelter - 13.0 miles

 Chris:
"We started our morning with a long hard climb. It seems we had only started it last night when getting into camp. Probably for the best we stopped and cut it in half. It was so long.Ty was really hurting - barely moving at all. I started giving him and Muluken math problems to solve in their heads and suddenly the mood improved and we walked much faster. It's amazing what you can do when you don't think about how tired you are or whether or not  the climb will ever end. I told Ty this proves he is physically capable of doing anything out here. We just need to keep negative thoughts out of our heads. He hiked very strong the rest of the day.

At the top of Snowbird Mountain was an FAA installation for air traffic control. It was surrounded by a wooden fence and many signs warning us that our tampering could result in the loss of lives. It's not exactly what you expect to find at the top of a remote mountain. Kind of reminded me of Lost. I wished someone out here (read: Emily) had watched Lost so we could draw parallels.

We made it to Max Patch late in the afternoon. Max Patch offers 360-degree views of the surrounding mountain. It's beautiful. Our plan was to camp up here and see the sun come up in the morning but a thunderstorm was moving in and we didn't want to risk it. A few years back a man brought his girlfriend up here to propose and they were both struck by lightning. I couldn't imagine being in a tent with metal poles would be a good idea. So we walked an easy two miles down to the shelter and set up there. We're the only ones here tonight."

Muluken:
"On the trail we saw three snakes, one tan with red dashes, a tanish-gray one, and then we saw another smaller one. It was exciting seeing all the snakes. After three miles or so we got to a gap that wasn't all that good and it was confusing trying to find the water so we could cook our food. We left and went to the next gap. We tried at Deep Gap but in the end left and went to Brown Gap. It was hard to get water so me and Flash (Ty) made a deep dam where we could scoop the water. The water was cloudy until we walked a few minutes more and found a bigger and easier spot."

Ty:
"When we got to Max Patch it started to drizzle. Dad (aka Big D) tried to get the weather but he couldn't get it on his phone. Emily tired and eventually she go the weather up and a Tstorm was coming in about an hour! So we got out of Max Patch and back to the woods. We hiked two more miles then got to a shelter. We couldn't stay on Max Patch because we were the highest thing around."

What's REALLY inside this government building nestled on top of a remote mountaintop?

Day Five - Roaring Fork Shelter - Deer Park Mountain Shelter - 14.8 miles

Chris:
"We're thinking about a new idea for a coffee table book - Privies of the AT. Seriously, whoever builds these things obviously never attempts to actually use them. While the privies in the Smokies were okay by wooded toilet standards, these privies over the past few days have been subpar to say the least. We've taken to rating each of them on a scale of 1-5. Tonight's is the worst. It's so tiny that when you sit your shoulders nearly touch the walls beside you and your knees stick about three or four inches beyond where the door is supposed to close (to provide you some sense of privacy). That they stink and sit in a cloud of flies, spiders, and other creepy crawlies is a given. But seriously, how much more could it cost to make them about four square feet larger?

Today's hike was our longest of the trip but other than one climb up Bluff Mountain it was fairly easy. We spent most the day laughing at how we think every plant out here is a type of rhododendron. There''s rhododendron actualis and then thousands of other varieties. We thought we might make up a flora book for the Appalachians in which we explain to people not only the names of all these variations (take, for instance, the rhodomaple or the rhodobirch) but the many uses for survival in the wilderness. A few nights ago Free Spirit helped the boys haul some dead rhododendron back to our campsite and explained that although it burns really fast it burns easy. They have since become obsessed with the need for rhododendron when building a fire (of which they did last night on their own). When we made it into the shelter tonight I was concerned they would start to lecture two guys from Asheville trying to build a fire on their lack of skills because the wood they were using didn't jive with what Free Spirit had suggested a few nights ago.

There's a dad here who thru-hiked the AT in 1997. He's section hiking with his 9-year old daughter who had curly red hair, is super excited about everything she sees or hears, and talks to you as if she has known you for years. She's a lot of fun but I'm thinking her dad is probably a little exhausted. He was more than happy to have the boys distract her for a while. He's also hiking with his 10-year old niece, 13-year old nephew, and his father. I believe his father is trying to section hike the whole AT. They're a nice group. It was nice to sit around the fire and talk a bit. We've met some really interesting people out here this trip."

Footnote: 
Rhododendron is poisonous and should never be used to build a fire - especially one you plan to cook over. The boys are very disappointed. Hopefully Free Spirit is still in good health!

Muluken:
"We woke and hiked down to Lemon Gap and right after that up, up Bluff Mountain. When we were half way up we met a big group of fifteen people. They were singing, talking, and laughing and having a great hike going up this mountain like it was a piece of cake. We though how can they be so cheerful? They were going really really fast on teh mountain but when we got to a flat part they went really slow. Weird.."

Ty:
"Today we saw a black rat snake. It was so cool because it passed right in front of us where I was going too steep! It passed on the trail. My hands are so dirty! I have not cleaned them in five days...or six! There's this guy and he can start a fire good and there's so much wood for the fire."

Talking to Mom on one of the rare occasions that AT&T had service on the AT.

Day Six - Deer Park Mountain Shelter - Hot Springs, NC - 3.2 miles

Chris:
"Ty and Muluken found a gravesite just a few yards down the trail from where we slept last night. It seems this land used to be a farmstead. There were two graves. One had deceased in 1966 and the other in 1944. I wonder, were there roads up here back then?

We make quick work of the three miles down into town this morning. We were on Main Street by 8:20. We sat and waited for Tricia and the girls to show up with our hugs, clean clothes, and breakfast. They slept in Asheville last night and made the 45 minute drive into Hot Springs to pick us up and to go whitewater rafting on the French Broad River. It was a 9-mile trip and full of great Cat 2 and 3 rapids and even a few 4s. Muluken fell out twice. In his defense he was sitting on the back of the raft with the guide and that is the bumpiest part of the boat.

At one point we stopped to jump off a ten-foot rock. I was proud to see Ainsley march right up and leap off as if it were nothing. Harper, Muluken, and Ty jumped as well. I did, too. I wasn't so concerned with the leap as I was with the really cold water. At least this river isn't dam-released. Still, it was cold.

We finished our raft and drove Emily back to Newfound Gap so she could pick up her car. I'm really glad she came along. I wish I would have had access to her hiking journal so I could have included her voice in this post. If nothing else she could have better explained the particulars of Prancer-cise.

 Next year's plan is to do thirty-five miles over spring break and another two hundred in the summer. This would put us in Virginia (three states down!) and set us up to have the girls meet us for a couple of days in Grayson Highland State Park to enjoy the feral ponies. This trip of 66 miles was our second longest and 200 would, by far, surpass anything we've done to this point. However, the boys are ready for a two-week hike. I told them after our hike that this was the first year where they were more like hiking buddies than kids. They took care of their stuff and pitched in with all the chores without even being asked. It was a perfect six days.

Terrible Tuesday Nights...

This past semester I engaged in a conversation about silly horror movies with a classmate in my Social Theory class. His name was Gavin and he was a fun guy. He had a carefully manicured beard and enjoyed wearing a wide variety of mismatched patterns and colors with semi-exotic looking loafers. During one such conversation he gave me a list of movies I absolutely HAD to see. I excitedly scribbled the names down into my binder.

I should have known something was up when one of the films he offered not only featured Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman but was titled Repo: The Genetic Opera. He explained that it was a musical about an organ-financing program similar to that of car loans - with repossessions and all. This was a hard sell at home. Even to my buddy Tim who is willing to watch most anything if it's late enough and we can laugh at the movie as much as we laugh with it. Think Science Theater 3000.

We never watched Repo but last night we did finally get around to watching another of Gavin's recommendations - I Spit on Your Grave. This is a film Roger Ebert has long credited as being the very worst movie ever made. To better understand his distaste for this movie consider the following quotes from his review...

"A vile bag of garbage named "I Spit on Your Grave" is playing in Chicago theaters this week. It is a movie so sick, reprehensible and contemptible that I can hardly believe it's playing in respectable theaters..."

"This is a film without a shred of artistic distinction. It lacks even simple craftsmanship. There is no possible motive for exhibiting it, other than the totally cynical hope that it might make money."

"As it was, at the film's end I walked out of the theater quickly, feeling unclean, ashamed and depressed."

"This movie is an expression of the most diseased and perverted darker human natures, Because it is made artlessly, It flaunts its motives: There is no reason to see this movie except to be entertained by the sight of sadism and suffering."

Let me just say that Ebert really hit the nail right on the head. There were times while watching I wished I were watching Deliverance instead for its more light-hearted nature. Seriously, this movie would make Quentin Tarantino blush. Earlier today Tricia asked me how the movie was. I informed her I would not only deny having ever seen it but that in certain company I would pretend as though I had never even heard of it.

While I Spit on Your Grave was a traumatic journey of themes I never wish to revisit I do still love bad movies. A week or so ago I established a new Tuesday night ritual. It began with Tim coming down the stairs and my asking him "Are you willing to sit and watch a movie with us under the provision you are not allowed to ask what it is or to leave the room until it's over?" He thought for only a millisecond before signing on. The movie was the original Karate Kid starring Ralph Macchio and it was great. Afterward it was decided we would take turns picking a movie every Tuesday night that the other two HAD to sit and watch from beginning to end. Of course, Tim and I saw this as an opportunity to punish the others. Tricia, being more civil, will most likely pick movies she really wants to see. 

For Tim's first selection he chose The Lost Boys. Starring the two Corey's, Jason Patric, Jamie Gertz, and Keifer Sutherland, it's a movie about a family who moves to a California town ravaged by young vampires (one of which is Bill from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). Afterward Tricia exclaimed "Well boys...let me tell you, that was a pretty good movie!" The heavy sarcasm in her voice made it all worth the while.

Yesterday I stopped by the movie store to look for some family-appropriate titles over the long weekend. However, during my search I couldn't help but laugh out loud when coming across some awfully good options for our Tuesday night series. Here are a few...