With summer almost at its end, let's get some GMTAN summer 2025 reviews.....
3/5 stars
Highlights:
Two trips to the south central Oregon Coast, one with wife and kid, one without. Both with dog.
Best meal - Oregon albacore steak seared rare, aji verde, cured cucumbers, butter lettuce, brioche bun, fries from Ona Restaurant and Lounge in Yachats, OR. Ordered a cantaloupe daiquiri which was....interesting. Did not have another.
Trip up to Seattle with all four sons + future SIL to a Mariners' game. Took the train up and back and stayed in a nice downtown hotel with city views. Nothing like a ballgame in Seattle in the summer with your sons.
Oldest son graduated from University of Oregon cum laude and was pleased to learn is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He leaves for Valencia, Spain next month to teach English for a year, maybe more. Very very proud.
Wife took the little kids to Michigan for 18 days/nights. I was home alone with the dog and my older boys. It was.....relaxing, peaceful, quiet and so freeing not having to do anything for anybody. Hit several restaurants my family would never try and had lunch with my oldest twice, which was nice. Trying to spend as much time with him as I can before he leaves for Spain. Must have played 15 rounds of disc golf whenever I wanted and for however long I wanted to play. That's choice!
Lowlights:
My old man fell and ruptured his spleen in late June. Taken to the ER and immediately taken to ICU where I was told to bring his advance directive, power of attorney and any other pertinent docs because they didn't think he would make it. Well, he did, but he was hospitalized for almost 2 weeks and then I moved in with for another week to help him recuperate. Not fun. Cleaned up more ****, piss and blood than I bargained for. And I got to officially change a grown man's diapers. Some things I'll never unsee, but we do what we can for family. He's on the mend now, but thinks he has bladder cancer. Sigh....81 good years, I imagine most news with him won't be the good kind. So it goes.
No camping trips this summer. That bums me out. My daughter has been in treatment for anorexia and another eating disorder since December and her anxiety is through the roof. I stayed home with her twice so my wife and little kids could go on camping trips. Thought maybe we'd bond while they were away, but unless she needed me to kill a spider, she wanted nothing to do with me. Also called me a "B!tch @ss Ho" when I refused to leave her room unless she gave me an idea for dinner. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind.
Somebody was tasked with watering all of his wife's plants in the front and back while she was away. That somebody only got half of the memo. The plants out front are thriving. The plants out back are fried. That somebody isn't getting an colored dots this week.
Whatcha got?