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Question #270: Suppose you could be on vacation with pay for the entire summer. Also suppose someone else paid for any summer adventure you could imagine. Where would you go and what would you do?

I think I would grab my passport and head to Europe. Start out in the towns and valleys were my parents were born and raised in Germany. When I would be ready, maybe head to the rolling hills of Tuscany and the canals of Venice. While I'd want to see the typical touristy things the first few days, I think it's almost as much of an adventure to just get to know the town and the culture off the beaten path. I'd bring my camera and computer. I'd want to visit: Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Spain.

If my benefactor would give me two summers I'd tack on a three month trip to Australia next.

Question #259: What is the most beautiful drive you've ever taken?

Almost only one weekend every fall the tall trees in Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo, WI are breathtaking. They have these meandering driving paths around the lake and when the trees are in full color it's almost as if the sky and lane ahead is allowing you to drive through a quilt of burnt umber, harvest orange and squashy yellow. It makes you want to just pull over to the side of the road, get out of the car and lie in the grass and look up at the splendor of the leaves. And the moments when the sun catches the leaves just right make me really appreciate living in a climate that allows for seasons.

Question #249: Which food would you rank first on your list of least favorite foods?

Keeshka - I have no idea what made me leap to this. But my brothers can probably back me up when I say that the nights when mom decided this was on the menu were never exactly our favorite meal and it made the house smell terribly.

Question #350: What is your favorite board game and why? I have to admit I haven't really played a board game in a while (except for Apples to Apples which was really fun but I don't think it had a board.) So typically when we played as kids there were only a few games we would pull out and play I'm not sure I have a favorite so I'll just remember what I liked about a few of them:

Gambler: Now I'm not sure if it was the dice shaker that made this so attractive to us or the fact that most of us in our family rather like to gamble.

Pay Day: Our neighbor Lisa Martin came up with this rather elaborate "town" game that we played with this game. We'd each have an occupation and a mailbox and we'd play the game and be in different parts of the house pretending to be the restaurant, the movie theater, the garage, we'd have to buy the "house" we lived in. It was quite complicated but Lora and I used to beg to play it all the time.

Monopoly: I'm not sure that I ever really liked this game because it always took so long to play. I do know that we'd always squabble about who got to be the race car and the puppy and somehow if I didn't get my way, I'd always end up with the shoe.

Life: Again, we liked the spinner. And the little cars with the little pegs. I'd always end up getting a really high number and a crummy job after college. I'd wind up sort of married, with twins in the backseat who were always costing a lot of money. Amazing how close some of that is to real life?

Stratego: I never did real well with any game like this or monopoly. Maybe I just don't have a poker face but Pete or Jerry always captured my flag way too quickly.

Mensch ärgere dich nicht (kind of a form of aggrevation)- Opa and Oma Strelau loved this game. If we weren't playing rummy 500 in the backyard this game was going on their dining room table. Oma in particular was rather gleeful when she was able to send your player home. I shared this in her eulogy so many years ago however I think there's not one grandchild who played with her that didn't catch her cheating somehow.

A few christmases ago we pulled out a board game and decided to play. We were done rather quickly and both Jerry and I looked at each other and chuckled at how fast it went. What seemed to take eons when we were kids was over in a heartbeat.

I have a list of kids games that fit into the category of "who thought THIS would be fun": Candyland and Shoots and Ladders and pretty much anything Yu Gi OH! or Pokemon would be high on the list. I'll endure them for the sake of the kiddo's having fun but I always try and sneak ways to make the game end more quickly. (Perhaps I have more of my Oma in me than I thought?)