My family does not watch a lot of TV. We mainly watch sports. We are not those smug people who judge people for watching TV. There are a lot of great shows out there. I wish I watched more than I do. I just have trouble focusing. I blame menopause. I find menopause can be blamed for most anything.
It all started when we got our daughter. We wanted to limit her screen time, and the side effect was our screen time was also minimal. Turns out, I didn’t miss it that much. I read more. Plus, with a small child, I really just wanted to sleep.
Fast forward to summer vacations. The Traver Family is a big fan of travel and we’ve had a summer vacation every year since we got our daughter, except for two. COVID took our 2020 vacation. Then, last year, both our HVAC and septic tank needed to be replaced. We call those things Vacation 1 and Vacation 2. Blah!
When we went on vacation, we started the tradition of picking a show to stream and binge in the evenings. It could be anything—game shows, which my daughter loves, cooking competitions, murder mysteries, etc.
We just returned from our 2025 vacation to Spokane, Washington and Glacier National Park. It was amazing! I can’t recommend both enough. Glacier is life-changing.
Anyway, on our first night in our tiny house in Glacier, we cozied up on the couch and went to Netflix. My daughter immediately spotted the season of Top Chef that was filmed in Kentucky. We were in. For the next nine days, we watched two episodes a night and cheered on our favorite chefs. We also totally hated on one obnoxious chef who actually used a flat iron on his hair (insert eye roll emoji here). After it was all over, we were pleased with the outcome.
A couple of years back, we discovered Only Murders in the Building. What a gem this turned out to be, and we have watched all the following seasons. To be able to introduce our daughter to Steve Martin and Martin Short was a dream. It even resulted in us showing Josie some of Steve Martin’s old stuff on YouTube. She fucking loved it. We were definitely proud parents.
For short trips, not necessarily vacations, we gravitate toward game shows. Josie is competitive AF. Once, I feared getting thrown out of a Best Western for how rowdy we got during an episode of Press Your Luck. We were screaming, “Big bucks, big bucks, no whammies!” at the top of our lungs. The guy on this episode turned out to be an all-time big winner. He won everything. It was crazy. Josie and I were exhausted when it was over from all the excitement. Shew.
There is so much to love about travel. I’ve seen so much cool stuff in my life. Traveling with my family is my favorite, but there is also something to be said for the downtime when we are not out exploring. I love cuddling up on the couch with my husband and daughter and cheering on contestants or trying to solve a mystery.
Embrace all the aspects of travel, including TV. It is something to look forward to and something to look back on and relive. I wouldn’t change any of our vacations except for maybe the sprints through the airports to make connections. The time with my family, including binging our favorite shows, I would not change one bit.
Angela Traver
What is this blog about? Well, it's a general blog, but it is also a very specific blog. If you get that reference, you get a gold star! I have been a public relations professional and writer of press releases for more than 20 years—primarily in the booze biz. I decided to do some writing for fun and embrace the humor that gets me through most days. Hopefully it will make you chuckle—or at least smile. I’m a certified crazy magnet, and more than a little nutty myself, so buckle up. Also, I have two vices—profanity and red wine/whiskey. You’ve been warned. It should also be noted, that I’m a HUGE Bob & Sheri fan. I’ve been a listener for more than 20 years. This opportunity is a dream come true and it may have made me cry. That being said, I cry at everything. If you are into booze, dogs, food and/or knitting, hit me up on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (although I’m terrible at Twitter and it scares me) @kyspiritsgal. You can also find all my previous blog posts at www.kyspiritsgal.com.
