Road Trip Games

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For those of you road-tripping this summer here’s some game suggestions for the car! Several are listed here. Also if you love casino gambling, visit https://www.666casino.com/games/blackjack now and you might find something that interests you. Comment below if you’ve got some more.

The first one below comes from a night Betony and I were at a restaurant and our waiter gave us this game. It was really fun to try to figure them all out.

Three-Letter Body

Name 10 Common Body Parts that are three letters long:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

The iPod Shuffle

The modern person’s “Name that Tune”. Put your iPod on shuffle and see who can guess the song fastest. Take turns using different iPods to avoid advantages.

Daring Hang Man

Smashing two favorites into one

game. Whoever loses the hangman

round must take a “truth or dare”

from the car!

Memorize a Poem or Rap

To pass the time in a car ride my wife would choose a rap song and memorize the whole thing. When we first met she had several charts she could perform. It was one of the many things that won me over about her.

Choose a rap song or a poem and repeat it over and over (perhaps put it on repeat?)

License Plate Decoder

Pretend that every license plate is a personalized message and decode it. “HDR 732″ might stand for “Hairdresser Diva Roller-derby, 7 days a week, 32 hours a day.”

Road Trip Game: Banana

Look around until you find a yellow colored vehicle. Shout “BANANA!” when you notice a one. If you don’t, it does not count, and someone else can call it. Whomever gets the most points is declared the “Top Banana”.

Other Road Trip Games: 

Twenty Q’s

I Spy

Riddles

I’m Going on a Picnic and…

Alphabet Game (can be played with signs, animals, cars, etc.)

License Plate Game (try to find all 50 states)

Telling your favorite jokes

Crosswords

The Quiet Game

Pick a letter and a topic: what songs, movies, other things come up?

The Cow Counting Game (and you lose your cows if you go by a graveyard…)

Truth or Truther: Like Truth or Dare except you are opening up for REALLY personal questions. Good to play late into the night with close friends willing to become closer.

Road Trip Game: Squares on Dots

squaredotgrid

Each person gets to draw one line, dot to dot (only vertical or horizontal) at a time. When your line completes a square put your initial inside it (and you get to go again!) The person with the most squares wins.

July Playlist: Road Trip Songs

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This was a really fun playlist to put together. A longer (much longer) version of it is on our Spotify (look up Betony Coons). Enjoy hitting the road this summer!

On the Road Again • Willie Nelson
Here I Go Again • Whitesnake
I’ve Been Everywhere • Johnny Cash
Take Me Home, Country Roads • John Denver
Life is a Highway • Tom Cochrane
Can’t You See • The Marshall Tucker Band
Joyride • Roxette
Ride Like the Wind • Christopher Cross
Song for the Road • David Ford
Jerry was a Race Car Driver • Primus
I Can’t Drive 55 • Sammy Hagar
Route 66 • Chuck Berry

Spicy Glazed Chicken Skewers Recipe – BBQ

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There are really three High Holy Days of Barbecue. Labor Day and Memorial Day are the “lesser” encounters of the grill; a wondrous pair of Mondays we all look forward to honoring. The grandest and holiest of them all is, however, July the 4th. It seems absolutely appropriate that the culmination of pride for my country is best celebrated with fire and delicious meats. The corn, biscuits, chicken and steak are the best fair our great country has to offer. I will showcase my nationalism this year, same as years past by setting this good table.

May your charcoal be hot and your propane plentiful.

-Tim

You can’t go wrong with these Spicy Glazed Chicken Skewers. They always turn out amazing. The yogurt dipping sauce is the perfect cooling complement to the kick from the chicken.

Spicy Glazed Chicken Skewers

Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2013

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1/3 cup hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)

1/4 cup fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)

1/4 cup Sriracha (or less if avoiding spice)

2 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs trimmed of fat

       cut into 1 1/2-inch–2-inch pieces

8 bamboo skewers soaked in water at least 1 hour (or metal if you have them)

PREPARATION

Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Whisk brown sugar, vinegar, chili paste, fish sauce, Sriracha, and ginger in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Thread 4 or 5 chicken pieces onto each skewer.Transfer marinade to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until reduced by half (about 1 cup), 7–10 minutes.Grill chicken, turning and basting often with reduced marinade, until cooked through, 8–10 minutes. Serve with garlic yogurt sauce.

(Original Recipe – http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/sambal-chicken-skewers)

Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Just trust me on the anchovy and mayonnaise. It won’t be what you expect. 

Whisk one finely grated garlic clove, 1/2 finely chopped anchovy fillet, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup plain

whole-milk yogurt, and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice in a medium bowl; season with kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper and more lemon juice, if desired. Cover and chill.

The Winners of Our #mundania Photo Challenge!

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For our June Almanac we did a photo challenge called “mundania”. It was all about finding the majestic in the mundane. The photo prompts included things like laundry, dishes, favorite place to sit, pet, etc. (To see some of the photos we loved and highlighted go here or here. Or look up the hashtag #mundania on Instagram.)

It was tough to choose the winning photo. Below are the runner’s up. They will each receive a FREE limited edition art print from Almanac. Then above is the winner and she will receive 3 FREE limited edition art prints from Almanac and a copy of the album!

Above: Naomi Boyer submitted several great photos for #mundania. We LOVED this picture. It’s composition is beautiful, it gives you a sense of nostalgia, and the subject of “everyday life and play” is strongly captured. It’s a photograph you’d see on Instagram and stop for a moment because you’re arrested over the fact that our normal, everyday life is quite remarkable.

Below: Katrina Steele submitted several beautiful and well composed photos. This one was so clean. She made laundry and everyday chores look beautiful.

clothesline1

Below: We don’t personally know Andrea Mouser from Louisiana, but we know she’s married to a chef. And we know she can take an engaging and joyful photo of just a pile of dishes. What a great picture!

dishes

Many thanks to everyone who participated. What a great thing to get to witness. Enjoy your common (not so common) summer!

July Almanac Theme: Go

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Each month for our Almanac we choose a theme that fits the season then present things around that theme. This month our theme is “go” and we filled our paper publication with pages about road trips and games you can play in the car and all other sorts of get-out-of-the-house material.

And what’s funny- we stayed true to our theme. This is the FIRST post about “go” we’ve had a chance to do because we’ve been traveling so much! Things have slowed down now, so more posts will be coming… but goodness, what a first few weeks!

Here’s the poetic intro that gives insight into the theme:

July is an open road

with a sun setting and music blaring
like a panoramic scene from a movie loved

An expanse is calling out
about new constellations and colors unseen

with no need for a map, just feet for streets
because every town becomes a one-horse town

when you’ve stayed for too long

and in traveling miles there’s the discovery
of something that has been there
all along

The road is begging for distance gained
and is offering a revision of how sweet home truly is upon return

so head out

go

 

Giants & Pilgrims Great North Central Tour: Day 11

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Above picture is from Escape to the Lake. And this is our traveling caravan of Giants & Pilgrims (two cars worth of family and fun).

Captain’s Log. Giants & Pilgrims have fulfilled all their obligations and engagements. Moral is sooo daaannngg high.

What a wonderful and wondrous trip. Craig Basarich (trumpeter) and I are in a bookstore in Kansas right now (Blue Bird Books in Hutchinson). We’ve been recounting great memories from the trip all last night and today. And my family rolls into town tonight. I’m so very excited.

The highlights of our tour? Too many to post, but overall by far the greatest highlights were touring with amazing friends (and growing even closer with these friends) and all the people that we met who we just fell in love with. We were so supported, so kindly received, and so well fed everywhere we played. And with so many meaningful conversations about music, art, faith, love and life.

My pool of friendships and family has expanded tremendously this trip.I truly believe if I returned to any of these folks who hosted us we’d have a free place to stay on some random weekend. And I may take them up on that.

Here’s some pictures from the last half of our tour: concerts and people and I’ll hit on some strong memories too. Enjoy and thank you to all of you who made it possible to travel and do this music.

Below: we played at this coffee shop in Libertyville (close to Chicago). Stellar place. A band called The Ache opened for us. They had an awesome sound

hansa

After playing at Hansa with lots of Craig’s friends, family, and Chicago connections we headed to Escape to the Lake, a festival put on by Under the Radar. It was the main reason for this trip! And it was such an amazing time. Photo by Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Kinsly shot

worship

I met Mary last year on a Chicago trip. This year at EttL she wanted a “selfie” with me after we led worship. I was so honored. And I had to show you all it here:

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From Escape to the Lake we did a couple shows in Minneapolis. The first with Gabriel and his band Ancient Mariner. Then at our drummer, Mary’s family home. A really prominent memory for us was swimming at the lake where Mary would go when she was little. It was the perfect way to end the tour!

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July 4th Playlist

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American classics and bits of musical Americana to ignite your summer

Stars & Stripes Forever • John Phillip Sousa

This Land is Your Land • Woody Guthrie

America the Beautiful • Ray Charles

Party in the USA • Miley Cyrus

American Girl • Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

America • Simon and Garfunkel

Born in the U.S.A. • Bruce Springsteen

American Pie • Don McLean

America • West Side Story

Firework • Katie Perry

Living in America • James Brown

Star Spangled Banner (Live at Woodstock) • Jimi Hendrix