Still Married Heats Up

A couple years ago, Craig and I played an evening parking lot gig in Anderson in July. Because my husband has a bit of a sadistic streak, he brought a thermometer onstage, and at the time we finished our 2-hour set, the temperature was 109 degrees.

The restaurant is long gone, (I don't think THAT was our fault), but the memory of that scorching day is indelibly burned in our minds. Craig positively wilts in the heat, and I made a solemn promise to NEVER, EVER agree to a free, outdoor gig in the summertime.

I kept my promise, because I'm a Good Wife. Then this very interesting opportunity came up: Play at Redding's Fourth of July Freedom Fest. For hundreds of people. Good Wife morphed into Whiny Wife: "C'mon. Pleeeeeze? It'll be fun! You believe in Freedom, don't you?"

So we'll be there. And just to make it interesting, we're running a contest. Be the first commenter to correctly guess what the temperature will be at the end of our set (7:55 PM), and win a lovely Chisum Trail Neck Cooler. We love these coolers for beating the summer heat -- soak them in water and get instant relief.

Enter your guess in the comment section below. One guess per person, please. If no one nails it exactly, the prize will go to the person who gets closest to the temperature without going over.

Read Trip

We're sticking pretty close to home this year - taking one brief sojourn to to LA to reconnect with family and friends. But I've already enjoyed several virtual vacations, thanks to some brilliant writers.

My current favorite traveling companion is Bill Bryson - I've accompanied him on the Appalachian Trail in A Walk in the Woods and through Europe in Neither Here Nor There Travels in Europe. His knack for observation and witty exaggeration make all his books utterly delicious reads:

"You turn any street corner in Rome and it looks as if you've just missed a parking competition for blind people....Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap."

Reading vacations have given me the opportunity to dive for poisoned sea snakes and search for Bigfoot with Tim Cahill in A Wolverine is Eating My Leg. I survived a harrowing crash landing, air battles and deadly snakes with Roald Dahl in Going Solo.

A couple other places I'd like to experience this summer: Ireland and Alaska. So I'm looking for reading recommendations - books that'll take me there, allow me to savor the flavor of the place. Bonus points: the books are available at our Redding library.