Buckley Blog: "Famcation" vs. "Mancation"
4:44 AM March 28, 2008
Really, there's no contest to me. But after today's show, I'll be heading off for a few days of vacation that will include a bit of "famcation" and a bit of "mancation" and I thought I'd share a bit of both with you.
What's a famcation? I define it as a vacation with one's family resulting in great shared experiences, memories to last a lifetime, lots of laughs, and entailing long hours of travel punctuated by the occasional whine: "Are we there yet?"
What's a mancation? Roughly, this: a vacation with one's male friends (without the adult supervision of their wives) resulting in grown men behaving like boys with lots of laughs, unhealthy food, and entailing long hours of...golf punctuated by the occasional whine: "Who drank the last beer?"
The mancation comes at the end of next week. I'm heading to North Carolina to golf with some old friends, to reset the batteries, to hear some "Old Man Buckley" style jokes, and to watch some NCAA basketball on the tube.
The first half of the vacation is with the family. This afternoon, the Buckleys are bound for Vancouver, British Columbia. From there, we're heading up to Whistler to stay with our friends, the Sterns who've kindly invited us up to their home for a few days of skiing and sledding.
I've always loved Canada (have you ever met an unkind Canadian?). Vancouver is one of North America's great cities and I'm looking forward to seeing it again, this time with my wife and sons who are visiting Canada for the first time. Never been to Whistler, but everyone says great things. Everyone in the family is filled with anticipation.
Watching the kids in their excitement as we prepare to go on a new adventure reminds me of my own childhood vacations.
One vacation in particular sticks in my mind to this day. My dad was stationed in Seattle for a few years, and when I was about seven, we piled into the family Chevrolet and headed to Disneyland. It was days to get there and days to get back.
There was no such thing as a DVD player or an IPOD so the many hours spent driving were spent talking or playing travel games or trying to get truckers to honk. A fan belt or a hose or something broke during the trip which added our only bit of drama during the long journey.
Otherwise, each travel day involved rising before dawn and driving for hours. My dad wasn't one to stop to see the sights on a road trip, so our stops for meals and our final stop to sleep were highlights. We didn't do five-star hotels or Michelin-starred restaurants. We did motels and diners. But to a seven-year-old boy, they were as five-star as they got and they couldn't have been more special.
There'd be a stop at some local diner for breakfast. Denny's for lunch. Then, more driving followed by a stay at a Holiday Inn or a Motel 6. I'd jump into the motel's tiny pool with my dad and I couldn't have been happier. (To this day, the sight of a Denny's along a highway or an iconic Holiday Inn sign reminds me of that wonderful trip).
Eventually, we arrived at Disneyland. Today, as an adult, as a Southern California resident, it's easy to take Disneyland for granted. It's a theme park. But for a seven-year-old who'd just made a pilgrimage to get there, it was heaven. And while I didn't realize it at the time, so was the trip to get there.
We're not going to heaven on this trip. We're going to Whistler. But I hope my kids will remember the moments we share this weekend as warmly as I remember my trip to heaven, to Disneyland, when I was a seven-year-old boy.
As for the mancation, my hopes are a little less lofty. I'm just hoping I'll break 90 on the golf course and make it home without a hangover.
See you at 7.
Posted by Frank Buckley | Permalink | Comments (38) | TrackBack (0)
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Hi Frank,
I hope you have a great time in Whistler. It is beautiful there. Since I am from Canada I love the fact that you are coming to my neck of the woods. I hope you will have kind words for us because we are hosting the 2010 Olympics.
Posted by: Debbie W | March 29, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Sam mentioned new management changes. Is he referring to Marsha and Jeff Wald being gone. Things sure were a lot better then. Have a great vacation. You deserve some time without your very opinionated co anchor. Hopefully when you come back the 9 o'clock hour will have the men back on.
Posted by: Kathy | March 29, 2008 at 04:09 PM
I just figured it out!! The 9 o'clock waste of an hour was an early April Fool's joke, RIGHT?? Am i RIGHT?? And on the real April Fool's Day everything will go back to pre 3/17/08? Have a great vacation!!
Posted by: NM of CA | March 29, 2008 at 06:58 PM
rest .... well first .... you have to unplug
everything.... no cell... no Crackberry...
everything... except the iPod.... that will
be needed ... to drown out the " are we
there,yet" pundits....
have a blast,dude
lamesabassman..... live from Maui....
Posted by: lamesabassman | March 29, 2008 at 09:57 PM
Frank have a lovely trip. I guess now would be a great time to take time off.
Last week a lady posted this comment on a blog and I laughed about it for days. I still laugh when I think about some of the 9'o'clock shows. She said, "the 9:00 show is just rotten and it's getting stinkier and stinker".
From dog poop, vagina's and a sleeping Judge Wapner (I love him but he was snoozing) I need some air freshener.
Posted by: LaToya | March 30, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Frank,
Reminiscing about travel:
I remember as a 7-year-old my first trip anywhere, in an old '36 Chevy Coupe with my father and stepmother and two sisters. Traveling from St. Louis to Minneapolis was a family adventure, with long periods of boring silence interspersed with bursts of 'Look!' as something new came along. There were no freeways then, just country roads. I loved it. I remember sleeping up in the back window area--no restraint requirements back then (1947). We had rest stops in gas stations. Trips are a wonderful way for a family to get to know each other. I got a spanking or two along the way...
Posted by: Jim Pankey | April 01, 2008 at 09:30 AM
Frank, the best to you on your vacation. I so love you, Sam, Mark and Eric. Please come back to the 9:00 hour, we need you soooon much. HELP!
Posted by: Debbie | April 01, 2008 at 03:27 PM
Although we'll miss you. We know we all need some good rest. Have fun and be safe. We'll see you soon. We missed ya!
Posted by: Marlen Chavez | April 01, 2008 at 09:28 PM
You know Frank, I was not sure how anyone could replace Carlos...I have watched the KTLA Morning news even when I lived out of state. I was angry when Carlos left to do the 11:00pm then when he left for another network that was just bad form. I have become so impressed with you, Frank. You came in you took the job on and you have done it. Thank you for all of your hard work and I will always be a fan. I havd a family vacation once like yours, and I planning one with my kids for next spring break. You seem like a great guy keep up the good work.
Posted by: Denise | April 02, 2008 at 07:56 PM
Hi Frank. I wish you a fun and memorable famcation.Stay safe and don't drink too much. We don't have cable at home and I live in Santa Clarita, I can't use rabbit ears, but I do have internet, so I watch you on the computer.These last four days,my son who is 13 years old, was hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical center for high fever and infection, of all times for you to go on vacation, I was looking forward to watching you everymorning since I was there. Gosh what timing we have, well maybe next time.....Come home soon.Watching you from SCV....Kells
Posted by: KellieO | April 03, 2008 at 03:10 PM
Have a good famcation and mancation Frank!
I hope to someday make it out that way to Disneyland. lol.
Hurry back I miss seeing your gorgeous face every morning!
Posted by: Jennifer | April 03, 2008 at 06:12 PM
Frank Buckley, what a sweetie you are! I hear you guys talking about your blog entries all the time and just checked them out today finally. Your trip down memory lane; trekking with your family to Disneyland got me all choked up. I look forward to having those kinds of experiences with my daughter. Inspirational! Thank you all for being so great in the morning! The show is better than coffee... seriously!!
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