Should you stay or should you go with Comedian Tim Robinson? I'm staying

If you are in need of some absurdist comedy, look no further than Season 1 of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson on Netflix. Better yet is that each episode in the six-episode arc is only about 15 minutes. So if you hate it, which some will, it is almost no investment of time.

If you're on the fence for trying out this material, I recommend you start with these even shorter bits (pretty much everything is also on YouTube): 

• Will Forte makes an insta-classic appearance as an old weirdo who has held a lifetime grudge against a baby who is now a man on an airplane.
• Tim's job interview seems to be going very well until the door swings both ways.
• I can't stop watching the T.C. Tuggers feature in which a teacher tells some students about his trendy new shirt, which also has a lively commercial spot that caters to middle-aged male fashionistos.
• A car-design corporate brainstorm is taken off the rails a bit by some of the far-out ideas of one of the participants. This is similar to several other corporate meeting settings throughout the season and also nods a bit to one of my favorite beyond-silly shows, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.
• The Little Buff Boys competition is nuttily brilliant and about as borderline inappropriate as nearly everything else in this show, although I don't think the whole sketch is on YouTube.

If you aren't inspired to watch the entire season after seeing those shorts, then I can't help you, but I give it ...

4 out of 5 stars

Packing a bit of Yellowstone, Montana, and Wyoming into a day

The best things about early Friday morning were that we woke early and it was easy to latch down our car-roof tent (rather than tearing down a normal tent) and get quickly to the south gate of Yellowstone National Park. At 7 a.m., we were the only ones in line!

Heading up the Grand Loop on the west side, our first stop was the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which I highly recommend early in the morning when nobody else is around. Because of the stillness and early-morning quiet, this series of geysers that we viewed from a boardwalk were almost as great as our next stop, Old Faithful. I didn’t recall such an extensive series of boardwalks, but the amount of geysers surrounding Old Faithful, which blew about 30 minutes after we arrived and typically goes off about every 70 minutes, is pretty awesome.

The can’t-miss part of our relatively short swing through Yellowstone was maybe not even Old Faithful. Just a little further north of there is the Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin. Somehow my dad and I missed this one back in 1995 when I was last in Yellowstone. We parked on the main road and walked past a long line of cars waiting to enter the small lot. Once past the lot, we made our way through the tourists, not expecting a whole lot. But while on the boardwalk, we witnessed an unbelievable pool of scorching water steaming up at us in brilliant blues and greens and yellows and oranges.

We were out of there in under 45 minutes and shortly thereafter I spotted a prehistoric male bison in the distance. I got out and watched it come out of the forest and graze on grass in the field. Eventually it started walking towards us and cars started lining up on the road. By the time the bison crossed the pavement, dozens of cars and tons of people had pulled up and were cheering it on.

We veered west at Madison out of the park, into the town of West Yellowstone for coffee and t-shirt purchases, and then north up 191 to the Montana-Wyoming border. Rachel was set on doing a hike in bear country from the Fawn Pass Trailhead, where many years ago she led a conservation crew in building a bridge. She thought the bridge was only a few miles out, but we ended up walking further and never finding the it. No matter, the hike ended up being really cool, through a narrow backcountry trail, as we sang and whistles and clapped to keep bears from potentially appearing over the many crests of high brush.

We were a little leery of what our campground would be like on the last night of the trip, because we knew it was going to be really close to the busy and loud traffic of 191. But it ended up being a stunning place. Yes, it was close to the road, but there was a huge cliff face on the other side of the road and a rushing stream mere feet from where we pitched the tent (where we watched a bald eagle fly all the way up the river and right past us). There were only a few other sites and the guys next to us were really nice and getting set to run some rivers in rafts and canoes in the coming days. We put in some earplugs and slept like babies and the next morning we woke up early to get breakfast at an excellent coffee shop on Main Street in Bozeman before our uneventful flights back through Denver and on to Baltimore.

A Grand Teton boulder hike for the ages

On Thursday, it was time to get serious for our most epic hike of our week out west. Leaving Gros Vendre Campground after three nights there, the cloudless skies parted as we neared the mouth-dropping Grand Tetons.

We parked at the Lupine Meadows Trailhead, which is a gorgeous walk up through the woods that continuously climbs on long switchbacks for about three miles before our turn off the trail to an epic nearly mile-long climb through steep boulder fields. The boulders were definitely not for the faint of heart, but I think it was my favorite part of any of our hikes. It’s such a challenge to figure out the puzzle of which rock to step on, while avoiding the ones which may be wobbly.

Many people had recommended this climb to Delta Lake as one of the region’s best. And it was true. These photos don’t even tell half of the story. A few people were jumping into the glacial waters. But none of them stayed in for long. We ate our lunch on a rock in the lake, with Grand Teton looming overhead.

On the way back, I got my only minor injury in four days of hiking. We followed a boulder field that overshot the path we needed to get back down the 8-mile round tripper. We battled back uphill through tall grass and steep rocks, and I slipped on a sharp log hopping back onto the main trail, leaving a bloody but minor cut on my shin.

We rewarded ourselves by sneaking a beer along with some chips tailgating at our car at the bottom. And before we pulled out, we noticed a good-sized and mangy fox sitting under the tree no more than 10 feet from where we had been sitting out in the open. It then hopped up, circling our car and clearly scrounging for any scraps we may have left.

Finally, we ended the day by staying in a small and cute cabin in the Headwaters at Flagg Ranch campground. It was nice to get a change of scenery from our car tent. Plus it was the only site we could find online at the last minute. Not to mention it was strategically located near the South Gate of Yellowstone National Park, which we would be entering the next morning.

How to spend a pretty great day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

On Wednesday, we headed south from our campsite at Gros Vendre to spend the day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the fancy western spot I hadn’t visited in 28 years. It’s about the same as then: ritzy and country and western.

We grabbed breakfast then headed straight for the Crystal Butte Trail on the edge of town, which ended up being a pretty exhausting 6+-mile out-and-back climb. It started with switchbacks and led to an open, steep hill with beautiful views of the whole town, the Snow King Mountain Ski Resort, and even the Grand Tetons in the distance. It ended up possibly being the second-most difficult of our four significant hikes.

For the afternoon, it was what qualifies as western downtime fun when we headed to Jackson Hole Whitewater for a 7.5-mile raft ride down the Snake River with our guide Roslyn and a nice family from Texas. As we navigated Class 4 rapids, we also enjoyed some calmer waters, nice conversations, four eagles, and some egrets too.

We finished off the day by devouring some excellent BBQ and Roadhouse Brewing Co. beers, making some purchases for the kids, and heading back to crash hard at camp.

RIP William Friedkin

Being a graduate of Georgetown University, I of course must salute William Friedkin, who shot several scenes of his most famous movie, The Exorcist, in the Washington D.C neighborhood. When I started school there, one of my first stops had to be to the famous long, steep, concrete staircase, the "Exorcist Steps," located at the corner of Prospect and 36th Street NW, right behind The Car Barn, where most of my media-studies classes were held.

RIP Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson’s famed country-rock group The Band never really swayed towards my taste much. But my love of latter-day days bands that were surely influenced by them - bands like Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, and Drive-by Truckers - helps make me forever appreciate of his pioneering sounds.

Hiking high above Jenny Lake in the Tetons is the start of the adventurous part of our trip

On Tuesday, we waited out a short rain storm before heading out to cross famed Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The short ferry ride arrives right at the start of the iconic Cascade Canyon Trail, which is a hike I did back in 1995 with my dad.

Jenny Lake is a glacier-fed natural lake that freezes in the winter and is about 60 degrees in the summer. It reaches a whopping 250-feet deep.

Once across, our chosen trail for the day (so many trails to choose from in Teton/Yellowstone) starts out as a crowded route for the first mile up to Inspiration Point. Once past that, the crowds thin out and the trail opens up to breathtaking scenery and abundant wildlife as it winds through the canyon surrounded by majestic mountains and ending 5 miles in where we had lunch on rocks above a beautiful waterfall.

We saw a momma moose and her baby. Then later, Rachel stopped to go to the bathroom behind a high rock. She looked not far down the hillside and there was a huge male moose with massive antlers chowing down on the plants. We also saw a badger and plenty of pika and birds, but no bears on this hike.

The hike was definitely challenging, especially the higher up we went and since it had been a while since my legs had endured a significant western hike. But it was well worth the effort, and it made the night’s beer, Manhattan, bison burger, and shrimp and grits at The Mangy Moose in Teton Village all the more rewarding.

Trying a new way to get around the Tetons and Yellowstone

I picked up our wild rental vehicle steps away from the baggage claim at Bozeman’s fancy log-cabin themed airport.

It was really easy to reserve the Subaru Forester (same car we have back home) through Outdoorsy. The main differences in ours and this one - the pop-up roof on top and the camping supplies in the back.

It was great not having to worry about hotels, sleeping at the Gros Vendre Campground under the Grand Tetons mountain range, and packing up to leave and unpacking when we return very quickly. It’s also been easy to head out and then tailgate once we’ve secured an all-valuable parking spot wherever we go and then tailgate breakfast once we arrive.

I didn’t expect to watch a Judy Blume movie on my trip to Montana

Well, my last post about Bozeman took a little detour the rest of the day Sunday. My St. Louis to Denver flight on Southwest was delayed just long enough for me to barely miss my Denver to Bozeman one. 

“Sleeping” in the Denver airport seemed it would be possible. There are lots of couches and there were hundreds of travelers splayed out on them, but it was impossible to sleep with endless loudspeaker announcements and the drilling and hammering of construction. I slept in a row of my own on a reroute from Denver to Las Vegas at 6 a.m. Monday morning, then squeezed in for the final leg to Bozeman, arriving at noon. After reaching Rachel at Gran Vendre Campground in Jackson Hole, I had been officially traveling for 33 hours.

Missing parts of vacations seems to be a running theme through most of my recent flights on my tenuously favorite U.S. airline. To look at the bright side, I got to finish Are You There God?, It’s Me Margaret, on my unexpected Monday flights. I only made it halfway through on my Sunday night flight.

Back in 2013, I read the book and reviewed it:

When we had our baby girl three-and-a-half months ago, I figured I better finally get off the snide and learn a thing or two about what it's like to grow up as a girl. After all, it won't be too long before Zoey will be confronting these issues. I shouldn't be clueless.

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret is essential reading for any pre-teen girl. It should help them recognize that the way they will soon be acting is laughable but serious as well.

Another review of this material is handy now, as my daughter Zoey has grown up and just turned 10 last month. The movie is enjoyable and the acting is pretty good. Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret is worth the price of admission alone and could be a star in the making. 

The film is certainly a worthwhile use of time for an entertaining and touching guide to parenting. And it’s pretty hard to believe it’s one of the most banned books in the country, being both sweet and educational. For parents not to talk to their kids about what to expect as their bodies change is really irresponsible. And to not give kids any say in their religious beliefs may be even worse. This movie addresses those issues in a bold way.

4 out of 5 stars

A few things to know about Bozeman, Montana

I’m going to need to shift gears pretty quickly. After a long weekend of no physical activity with my oldest friends at our annual Ozarks getaway, I had a seven-hour wait for my plane in St. Louis to then get through Denver and on to today’s final destination of Bozeman, Montana.

Bozeman, after I get in at my scheduled time of around midnight local time (2 a.m. Eastern on Monday), is where I’m going to get our rental vehicle for the week - a Subaru Forester with a tent on the top and kitchen supplies in the back. Then I’ll sleep for a handful of hours in a hotel before heading out on a 4 1/2-hour drive south to meet Rachel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Since I’m going to head right out of Bozeman, a city I’ve never seen, here’s a little bit of what I should see if I ever have more time to go back.

Montana State University is apparently pretty nice to take a look at. But the real draw is the recreational activities that surround the city of nearly 60,000 in population, including stunning mountains ideal for hiking, skiing, fly fishing, and mountain biking.

Bozeman’s nickname is the "Silicon Valley of the Rockies,” and that tech and entrepreneur scene has provided strong economic growth. Its other nickname is “Boz Angeles,” due to an influx of Californians and celebrities.

Bozeman’s surrounding region has been a hotspot for dinosaur discoveries, with several paleontological sites and museums throughout the area for fossil lovers. Much of that area is called the Gallatin Valley, which was named by Lewis and Clark after Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin.

Hilarious comedy/history writer Sarah Vowell is one of its most famous residents, and she wrote in 2021 in The New York Times that the town is simply booming and that median single family homes have blasted up from $485,000 to $704,000 in almost no time. Those numbers are also pricing out many of the people working to ensure excellent outdoor recreational activities can continue.

Also of note are a few other Bozeman celebrities:

• John Mayer, whose last album was a yacht-rock masterpiece, is also pretty darn great in Dead and Company.
• Actor Bill Pullman, who was in Independence Day and Spaceballs.
• Actor J.K. Simmons spent part of his childhood in the city and is known for Whiplash and Spider-Man.