Glad to be home again

We had a great time on our vacation in Appleton, Wisconsin, visiting relatives and then in Muncie, Indiana to see some friends. It is a three day drive each way to get to Appleton, so we passed the time listening to some audiobooks. Growing up my sister and I never missed the Brady Bunch on Friday night at 8:00, so I was very interested to listen to Maureen McCormick's (Marcia) memoir Here's the Story. Brady Bunch fans will also be interested in Barry William's book, I was a Teenage Greg. Williams book is really focused on the Brady Bunch years, whereas McCormick's tells her whole story - and what a story it is- very unBradylike.

Additionally, we listed to Don't Know Much about Geography by Kenneth C. Davis, which was quite enlightening, although, according to my Geographer husband does contain a few mistakes, but mostly is very accurate, although it was published in 1992. We were loaned a variety of audio books from my friend Elizabeth who has quite a collection. From her picks we listened to The Cat who Came in from the Cold by Deric Longden and The Cat who went to Paris by Peter Gethers. Neither of these is related to the Lilian Jackson Braun mystery series. In fact, both are memoirs, which kind of fit in well with my dog memoir theme for the month.

We also listened to Garrison Keillor's book Liberty about Lake Wobegon's fourth of July celebration. He sure can spin a yarn. This one has a bit of ribaldry as well. It is laugh-out-loud funny, and at 7 1/4 hours, a perfect story for a road trip. Also, courtesy of Elizabeth, we had a CD of jokes called Pretty Good Jokes from Keillor's radio show Prarie Home Companion.

I'd forgotten how much friendlier folks in other parts of the country are. I guess I'm used to the New England standoffishness, but it was very pleasant traveling to other places and talking to people who appeared to be genuinely pleased to meet me.