Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers - ANA GASTEYER Took VW Bug Roadtrips

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

This week on the pod, Seth and Josh welcome Ana Gasteyer! Ana talks about growing up in Washington, D.C., and the road trips and family adventures that shaped her childhood. She shares stories about cross-country drives in a VW Bug, visits to her aunts’ Nebraska farm, trips to national parks, and traveling with her own family through New Mexico and West Texas. Plus, Ana discusses her current Broadway run in the Tony-nominated musical Shmigadoon! Watch this episode on the Family Trips YouTube or Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts! Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 ------------------------- 00:00 Introduction with Seth Meyers and Josh Meyers 05:30 Guest: Ana Gasteyer talks Broadway Mishap: Fainting in Shmigadoon 14:18 Growing Up Three Blocks from the Capitol 17:11 Ulysses’ High-Altitude Summer in a Senior Community 25:56 Academic Brother, Dog-Breeding Mom & Gassy Whippet 27:32 VW Bug Road Trips, Spinster Aunts & Nebraska Farm Life 31:56 Great American National Parks & Vista Point Parents 34:35 Clusterfunk Christmas & Holiday Movie Parodies 34:57 Sugar & Booze: Holiday Albums, Live Shows & Symphonies 39:16 New Mexico Field Trips: Caverns, White Sands & Marfa 52:06 Costco Christmas Houses, Puzzles & Game Nights 56:11 Skiing Comeback in Big Sky & Being a Vista Point Family 1:04:40 Dream Bike Trips & Selling Families on DC ------------------------- Support our sponsors: The Breadwinner From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment The Breadwinner. Straight from theaters, the must-see comedy of the summer is now available to watch at home on digital — to enjoy again and again.Grab your family and don’t miss the comedy everyone is loving, with an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Get it now on Prime Video, Apple TV, or Fandango at Home. Rated PG. First Leaf Stop settling for wines that don't quite hit the mark. Head to https://TryFirstleaf.com/trips to sign up and you'll get fifty percent off your first box PLUS free shipping for an entire year. Hero Bread Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to ⁠https://hero.co and use code TRIPS at checkout. ------------------------- Family Trips is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Theme song written and performed by Jeff Tweedy. ------------------------- About the Show: Lifelong brothers Seth Meyers and Josh Meyers ask guests to relive childhood memories, unforgettable family trips, and other disasters! New Episodes of Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers are available every Tuesday. ------------------------- Executive Producers: Rob Holysz, Jeph Porter, Natalie Holysz Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Coordinating Producer: Derek Johnson Video Editor: Josh Windisch Mix & Master: Josh Windisch Episode Artwork: Analise Jorgensen #familytrips #sethmeyers #joshmeyers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Hey, buddy. Hey, Sufi.

How's it going? Good. How are you? Good. I had the Poncas a visit. Oh, yeah. I had a very fun time with the Poncas and the kids. The kids are so happy to see the Poncas.

Yeah, they get pretty, it's fun to see grandkids get fired up. Fired up. And they definitely do. I've been there for those arrivals. They also, obviously, they see Alexi's parents more than they see ours. And there was a really good moment where Axel said, he was like, I want to go hang out with my grandpa. And Tom was there.

And Tom said, well, I'm your grandpa, Axel. He goes, not the one I see all the time. Yeah, scarcity. They also call, I don't know why, because they are the Poncas, but they just call Mom Hurry, which is great. And they only call Dad Ponky. So Ponky's the best. Yeah.

And then Addy started calling him Ponkey the donkey. Mm-hmm. Outstanding. Yeah. And then I said, what's everybody else? And she goes, hurry the bury, daddy, daddy, mama the llama. And I said, what is Axel? And she goes, the asshole.

So, very good. Also, Alexie, here's what I'm dealing with with Axel. Alexi, you sent me a video because I'm a new. York and they're not in the city. And it was a turkey with its little turkey babies. Turkey chicks. I wonder what you call baby turkeys. Baby turkeys. Sure. Walking behind the mom turkey. And it's just the most beautiful video. And then at the end, you just hear Axel go, oh, that's so cute. Should we cook them? And just the screeching tires of from, should we cook them? Excuse me. They're so cute to sugar cook them.

I mean, he's eating turkey. He likes turkey. Your boy loves turkey. Turkey sandwich. Get that young, get that turkey veal, that little, that young turkey. But it was a wonderful visit. And it's so great to see them. And they're very, the kids are very particular about who picks them up from camp. Who drops them off from camp?

They feel like they want a real fairness as far as who gets to hang out the most of the punkies. Yeah. We also watched the, the, I want to say the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Uh-huh. Because the kids are trying to watch them all this summer. Okay.

Because they've been invited to a birthday party. They've been invited to a birthday party, and they've been told they're watching the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie at the birthday party. Gotcha. So they want to be up to speed. We watched an hour of it one night,

and mom and dad watched with us. And I swear to God, when my kids watch half a movie, the amount they're like, when do we get to finish it? Like, you could not hear them over mom saying, when are we going to finish it? Mom was... Are those movies scary?

Is it scary for the boys? No. Not really. They definitely did a good job of, like, a frightening, not scary. Gotcha. Yeah. But, yeah, it was lovely. How have you been?

I've been good. I'm trying to think of what I've been up to. Yeah, McKenzie's back home. She went home for her father's birthday. That's been fun. Yeah, I don't know. I'm gearing up when this comes out. I'm going to be like almost on my way down to Comic-Con,

which we've talked about how. Yeah. Yeah, it's blowing your mind that I'm going to Comic-Con. But I'm going down to Comic-Con. Looking forward to that. That's great. Yeah, then I'll be coming to the East Coast in August for a big old stretch. We're doing our live shows.

August 11th, August 12th, correct? No, I think it's the 12th. We're in Philadelphia and the 13th we're in Boston. And August 11th, you're out of luck. Yeah, August 11th, I'm flying to Philly. But I'm very excited about that. We're very excited to be doing our live family trips. You did one, I guess, in Amsterdam.

So these are our first domestic live family trips. I'm very excited. Those are at the city wineries. Yeah, city winery in Philly and then city winery in Boston. So that's, yeah, I'm excited about those. And if you're going to the Boston shows, a high probability of a Ponky the donkey sighting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Keep your eyes peeled. Keep your eyes peeled. Well, Anagosteer joined us, and she's just wonderful. Yeah, she's the best. She's still on Broadway and Shmigadoon. She's still smiggin it over on Broadway. Tony nominated. Yeah, remarkably talented.

And a great combo. So enjoy Anagosteer. Thank you guys for listening. Family chips with the mice brothers and chips. Nana. Hi. Sorry, I don't have headphones. That's okay, right?

Yeah, that's it. You're also surrounded by plants, which I love. I did that on purpose to soothe you. Yeah, it is very soothing. It's immediately soothing. Anna, the last time I was supposed to see you in person, and you had a Broadway mishap. What happened?

Well, weren't we all supposed to get together after your show? And you had to bail. You had to bail. That was rough. By the way, I can't believe it doesn't happen more. But did it really, did you have to... It happened at intermission? It happened mid-show.

It was terrible. It was terrible. I've never... Anna is on stage in the Tony Award-winning Shmigadoon. And it's a very exciting time for Broadway. Maya Rudolph is on Broadway. Rachel Dratge is on Broadway. Anna Gas Dyer is on Broadway

And there was going to be cocktails And we received a text From Anna Tell us what happened Why you had to cancel drinks afterwards Well, I'm, you know, I'm glad that it wasn't explosive diarrhea Because you know, that's happening right now

That's what everyone was thinking Up till this happened. Every new story keeps leading With explosive diarrhea parasite Like they don't even like leave it to the imagination Like a gastrointestinal discomfort They just tell you what it is. No, you know what it was?

We, I, I fainted. Mid show or off stage? Yeah, mid show. I think I had like a blood sugar crash or something. Wow. We had just been going. We went straight through, you know, press, press, press, press, Tones, Tories, Tones, Tony's, Tones, Tony's, Tony's,

opening, opening, opening, like all of that. And I really, you know, whatever, we all work hard. But this was like in a career of pretty busy times. Like this was, I didn't have a day off for 13 weeks, I counted. Yeah. Just because we were always doing stuff on Mondays, which is the one day off you get on Broadway. It's supposed to be a rest day. And from speaking to you, from speaking to Dratch, who was also Tony nominated, it does seem like a totally second job that is running in parallel with being on Broadway, which is doing the award press for a show.

Yeah. And they're voting on you the same time that you're doing the press all day. So the shows themselves actually matter quite a bit. Not that shows don't matter, but you have particular stress placed upon those. because a third of the audience is conceivably Tony voters. So it's pretty stressful. Anyway, I was tired, and then we did the Tonys, and then the following Monday we did the cast recording,

and then I came and did your show, and then, you know, just like a lot of running and round and whatever. And I think I just was like under, I really don't know it was like being an active wilting flower. I felt like a cartoon. I was downstairs. There's this little like wardrobe area in the underpass of our show, and we usually sit and enjoy some snacks and chat.

in between entrances, and I was sort of chatting. And in fact, it was hilarious. My friend Richard Goethe, who's in the ensemble, was like, what's everyone's word of the day? And I said, purposeful, meaning like, I'm going to put one foot in front of the other, because I was super tired that day. And I just immediately failed on my word of the day.

Because I wilted, it was like instant. Like, all of a sudden, it was like, oh, shit, I think I'm going to, you know, when you're like, they're going to faint or shit my pants or barf, like something was happening. And remember, I'm in a series of petticoats, a really huge wig and hat. So add all up like that already. I'm like, she's going to blow. Like, I didn't think I was.

It meant what that means is the costume designer was praying for faint over a bar for shirty pants based on the, how expensive your costume wore. We were actually in the wardrobe department and they like zoomed to those barf backs. Like you've never like, I was a trash fan in front of me in a barf bag. And like, it was like faster than a parent with a toddler, a car. sick toddler. Yeah, and then I fainted. And then I went home. And then I just went to sleep. So it was completely fine. Like, I just think I was exhausted. Was there, and did you have more onstage activity to do? No, that's what was so insane was that I was awaiting in act. I have a pretty

light act one, and I was awaiting my third entrance. And it was like, I could hear, I could hear the, you know, the orchestra, and I could hear my cue coming. And, just the sheer panic of like, and then, you know, somebody would be like, we're going to get the stage manager because what do I read with that? You know, like a lot of people be like, hey, hey, do you think you're going to make it? You know, just really stressed, high-pitched, you know,

crisis management. And then, like, them zooming by with my, my understudy is in the ensemble. So, like, her zooming by and then her running up and then hearing my lines out of somebody else's face. Wow. Is that halfway through the show? It was almost end of act one.

So like I said, I've never done this before in my entire career. Like I've never, but it's pretty much just puking or like, like, ankle breaks or something like that. The crazy thing is I went to a couple nights earlier. I had been at Dratchez Show, Rocky Horror. Yeah. And a similar thing happened where one of the leads was, it made it to intermission because, you know, unlike you, a pro.

Yeah. Absolutely. But. I admit it. It was crazy, you know, and I guess just back seized up. And, you know, it really speaks to understudies that, you know, more often than not, obviously. They're just seamless. And they go on and, you know, I think, you know, audiences, especially audiences who see the first act of the star and then the understudy.

Like, obviously they're going to be disappointed to miss you in the second act. But they probably also leave being like, you know what that understudy really knows what they're doing. Like, it's kind of crazy. I mean, I was really like in a. I just sort of slunk home. I mean, I slunk. I literally got out of my costume and got home. And I've been on stage before where you've had a person, a lead, say something, exit,

and then their understudy shows up. And it's a very funny moment. That's no longer the person I was doing the scene with. And half the time, the audience barely notices. But, yeah, it was just dramatic. You know, as Dratch keeps texting me, hashtag blown adrenals. because I think we were both just like our adrenal I mean it's just so much to manage all at once

and my son graduated my baby graduated from high school the Tuesday after the Tony so we just had it was like a very loaded month and it was a great month and certainly it was nice at Shemegadoon one best musical because that you know obviously made it all kind of worth it I actually kind of like it when

sometimes the body of a person like you needs to be like your work ethic and ambition are great, Anna, but we're going to shut things down for a day. My therapist says exactly the same thing. And actually what I will tell you is that, so like I said, we did the cast recording and that I did your show. And then, um, something else. Oh, we went to O'Mary to see Maya because I knew that I had to see her before she left

town and, you know, all that. She finished yesterday, actually. So, um, and, you know, with the two sets of eight show weeks, like your schedules are slightly different. So I was like, could only go on a Monday night. It was the only way I was going to be able to see her. So on Tuesday, I actually texted my co-star Sarah Chase. I was like, oh, my God, I don't think I can do this today.

You know, just kind of in the – sometimes you do that, and the other person was like, yeah, go get your venty coffee and meet me there, you know, and I did. And then the same thing was true when I started the show with my purposeful word of just like, I'm tired, but I just have to slog through this. And then that was it. I think my body was like, remember that time 48 hours ago that you weren't feeling good? Like, that's what this was. So I just ended up taking off the rest of the day, and it was great.

I was like new next day. Are you a fainter historically? No. Okay. I've got a buddy who faints semi-regularly, and he was at his, yeah, his wife's birthday party, and he passed out, and everyone was freaking out. And his wife was like, no, he was due for a fainter. He's just a fainter. Just a fainter.

No. I know some fainters, but no, no, it really, I don't like, you know, I really, it's like, I don't like losing control. what of a big surprise i would you know i i think what would be most disappointing when i if i actually ever saw you faint is that it would be way less of a stage faint like i want to watch you act fainting because i think it'd be very funny doing it but i bet the actual you fainting is scared i've actually fainted a lot in shows but um yeah because it's funny but when you get on a ghastire in a show you like might even write in a faint scene just for the fun you know but in real life

it is you just kind of put your head on the table and say Don't talk to me. Fonk. All right, so you... Sorry, I don't know my... I'm like really... I feel like I'm like... It's not cool.

You're on the stern of the ship. If you're watching this on YouTube, you might faint. Yeah, exactly. You grew up in the D.C. area. I did. But like the heart of D.C. Not even D.C. area.

I mean, not even the area. Yeah, this is like D.C. Like, how far from the capital? Downton. I grew up three. blocks from the Capitol. It's unbelievable. It's crazy.

Like you just don't think about people actually growing up there. No, it's weird. In fact, yeah, it is weird. And I don't think about it very much. But yeah, I did. And so, like, stuff like, of course, we only had stick shift cars because it was the 80s, you know?

And, like, my mom taught me to stick shift on Capitol Hill, which is a terrible idea. Like, at rush hour. You know what I mean? So, like, learning how to, like, shift while you're going up in major, like, with the, you know, Rayburn House office building to your right.

It was strange. Well, you probably got pretty good at it. Very, very quickly. Yeah. Dignitaries, just constantly holding up dignitaries, sitting senators, all honking. Were your parents in politics? Yeah. My dad was a lobbyist, so yes, you're not allowed to say that anymore, but back then it was not an embarrassing job to say your dad had.

But he was a lawyer, and he did, he was a campaign manager for a congressman out of Oregon. And yeah, he was in political sphere. And then I think Seth knows this, but it's kind of cool. My dad had like, my parents had three proper chapters. Like they grew up in the Midwest. They came to D.C. for, you know, political adjacent career, much like people would go to New York for Broadway or L.A. for film or whatever. And then after we left, they raised us, they retreated, I guess that's not quite the right word.

they relocated to New Mexico. And then my dad had a full small town politician life. He was the mayor of Corrales, New Mexico. Yeah, he was two times ago. Which is a stone's throw from where my wife grew up. Exactly. New Mexico. It was like a kind of a really rural, groovy town in New Mexico.

And he was the mayor and stuff like that. So, yeah, I grew up around a lot of politics, big and small. I say this with love. Can I just say, run this theory by you, that people who choose to live in deserts are a little weird? Like in a lovable way And again, my wife's from there I love my in-laws But like to opt into desert life

Is you're kind of like I'm a little freaky Just FYI Yeah, I guess it depends where I mean I think there's like a strong Vane of like American Libertarianism that exists Because it's people that have like

A frontiering capacity to go without water Yeah Yeah, right type of thing. I don't know. It's beautiful. It is beautiful. It's gorgeous. I, but I, I've kind of learned that there's a, what I've learned from my interactions with desert people is, they're, they're going to zig when you, you think they're going to zag. That's fascinating. I find that, frankly, and again, I'll probably get canceled for this, but if this is it, then I'm, that's sort of a sad state of affairs. I find Arizona more zag with Zig than New Mexico.

And I have relatives in both states. but I do find it I find it gorgeous my son Ulysses which he last year did one of the most fantastic old school

17 year old things you could do which is he wanted to do high altitude training I don't know why I put that in quotes because it was actual but up in in New Mexico right so we were looking at all these like he's a cross country runner

and we were looking at these camps in like Colorado and all these places and where my parents live in Albuquerque is like 7000 almost 7,000 feet So I was like, you could go live with grandma and granddad. And he was like, okay, cut to my son living in my parents' senior retirement community for seven weeks. Oh, yeah. In the summer?

Last summer. I mean, that is, first of all, it's so hot in New Mexico in the summer. So for, but I will say if some, it tells me that Ulysses is serious about cross-country running because if you wanted to be better, you'd be like, I'm going to go to the highest. place that is the most uncomfortably hot. Right. We're like $5,000 for like a week. And you really for high altitude training have to be at altitude for a considerable amount of time. Yeah. Supposedly to help acclimate your body. And, you know, plus he gets all the perks of, you know, living in a senior retirement community. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously are amazing. What did he say? What were his like hangouts with your parents? Was he, uh,

it was so funny because it was like he, he was all excited. excited about it. And then because it is so hot, as Seth said, he was like, so wait, I'm going to go running at 6. And then I was like, you're going to start changing someone's password. Yeah. And it'll take you to 415 and that's dinner. I would say he got he got everything you would want out of a cross country camp for free except for anyone to push him physically. you know what it made you like yeah the second fastest person he probably met was like I would say probably 4x to 12x lower than him but he did um he did all kinds of things like he

volunteered because again he was like the he was 17 in a senior community so he was like the star right healthy a healthy like with a huge yeah fix and shit yeah just lots of fixing and moving stuff fantastic here by the way it's like it's it literally he ended up going to like college essay camp. When this is over, just write about this. Wait, so he did, you know what he did? He did a podcast. He did a podcast of his own making that was to interview old people, the questions on

the common app, which is the thing you apply for college. And it was amazing. It was like asking, you know, 86-year-olds, like, what's an event in your life that really changed a perspective on, you know, like shit that they asked the 17-year-olds. And he did this, that's what he ended up doing. It was this like little podcast the whole summer and then writing his college essay about that. Fantastic. That's great.

It was great. I was very smart boy. And he made a lot of friends. He made a lot of friends in their 80s, which was pretty great. Like friends that my parents aren't even really friends with. Like people that he would be like, you know, I'm going to the Western Cafe with Don and. I would say they're going to be lifelong friends, but just on an actuarial. It's going to be short-lived.

Yeah. For Don. For Don. For Don, yeah. I think Don Ulysses will be a lifelong friend. He did volunteer crew on a hot air balloon, which is a very New Mexico. Yeah. Like some random person was like, oh, you ought to go with my friend, da-da, da, da.

And he did. And that was at 5 a.m., just like some weird. And then he said it was great because some of the hot air ballooners had beef with other hot air balloons. By the way, I have such a crippling fear of heights plus balloons. Yeah. That the, like, even a bigger barrier to entry for me would be some random guy. No, all of it. Who has beef with other balloons.

That's the best part. But as you know, my favorite thing on planet Earth is petty rivalry. So, I mean, also, Steph, you were in one of my all times, my, my, my best, one of my best friends favorite sketch of all time. So I've, I know exactly what you're going to say, by the way, ahead of it. Hot Air balloon mystery theater. Yeah, it's one of the funniest stupid sketches we were ever a part of. It was a murder mystery that took place on a hot air balloon. I also want to clarify, Seth, you're not afraid of a regular helium balloon.

No. Okay. Just the ones that take you up. Yeah. That's a fair. Legit fear. Yeah. Mike Sher, it's a Mike Sherr classic.

And the reason I think about it all the time is it was, it was a photo in the S&O hallway for all my years there. But it was Mike Scher wrote it. Ian McKellen played a Sherlock Holmes type guy, and it was called Hot Air. Yeah, who was trying to find a killer in the basket of a hot air. hair balloon. And every single person, that was peak, all of us just crushing it. Everybody was hoping like this. Oh, yeah.

And then I remember there was a chase scene where it was just a lot of people shuffling. Everybody running around inside the balloon. Yeah. Very fun. I like that. I was like, oh, Anna and I, we only overlap for one year. And that was probably our, that was probably our tippity top working together. Sarah Blazin. Oh, Sarah Blazon. Oh, Sarah Blazon. Yeah.

You're in Sarah Blazon. I wasn't Sarah Blazon. I know. We never worked together, which is a tragedy. It's a tragedy. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with the breadwinner. Hey, Buzzie. Hey, Sufi. Very exciting.

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Terms, and more at Applecard.com. In partnership with Airbnb, I'd like to share a travel story. Well, Pasha, the time has come. We've circled the date on the calendar. The NFL schedule is out. We know when we're going to Pittsburgh this year. And McKenzie's going to join us. Yeah, her first time in Pittsburgh.

So this is very exciting because now we're seven. And we've got big plans for this trip to Pittsburgh. And one of the biggest parts is that we're just going to hang out. It's going to be you and your wife, me and my kids, our parents. We're going to play games. We're going to watch movies. We're going to do a lot of things out and we're going to do a lot of stuff in. And every one of our Pittsburgh trips has been made so much better because we have booked a home through Airbnb.

Yeah, it is. We stay in a neighborhood that just allows you and the boys if you want to run out and go to a toy store. It's just right down the road. And we can hang out and wait for you. We can come with you if we want. You haven't been to Pittsburgh until our dad has told you what you. what used to be a pharmacy. We know.

We know because we've been there. Oh, I'm so excited for McKenzie to hear all about it. Yeah. And that'll be good because I've already heard it. Get to hear it again. But you get to discover authentic local experiences and you get to take a trip with the people you want to take a trip with

and you get to be comfortable in a way you want to be comfortable and we highly recommend it. So you grow up in your in D.C. You have one sibling. I do. Older, younger? Older.

How much older? Stephen Gastire. Two and a half years. Okay, gotcha. So you're close? You and Stephen? We are closer than we... Yeah, we're friendly, I would say.

We're very different. He's an academic. He was in the Peace Corps. He's like super actively helping the world. Whereas I wear wigs. Were you guys... Was it contentious, growing up?

No, we've never been contentious. We've never been contentious. But I would say we're closer, weirdly, the older we've gotten, just because we have more, I don't know, like, just like helping old people and stuff like that. It kind of kicked in. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like your son got Stephen the Stephen helping old people, Gene.

He's got a lot of Stephen Gastire in him. He's just really, he's really kind. My brother's definitely the kind sibling. Like, he stays in touch with the other relatives. Like, he reaches out to be. I'm terrible. I'm a terrible correspondent. And, well, you know what, Josh is the Stephen.

I would say Josh has done a lot better job staying in touch with Darkstang. Is that true? Yeah, to a degree. I mean, I'm not, I don't, my board isn't full of gold stars, but I've, yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's good. Yeah.

In the, in the contest with me, you're crushing it. Well. That's all that matters, by the way. When you have one other. Low bar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He lives in Michigan. We live, we all, my family is spread out. So it's very American. in that way, like, very, everybody's sort of spread hither and yawn. And, you know, that was kind of expected of us. Like, you kind of go where work is. And so. Where would the Gosteires go on vacation?

Where were you guys getting away to? So famously, we weren't, my dad was technically a lawyer, but we were not, like, super well to do. But so there were a lot. And the family homestead, like, like, Gastire, original German people that came on my dad's side. landed in Nebraska. So early on, we did a lot of car trips, like in, like not, not well planned and very hot.

And we had a VW bug for a long time. We would drive with two kids and a dog in a VW bug. I mean, this generation, I know this is like the oldest lament in the world, but literally our activity was the game Mastermind. Do you remember that game with a thousand tiny fucking pieces? Yeah. And we'd be in there, like, trying to, like, play mini mastermind. while driving across the Great Plains from Washington.

It's like a peg game, right? Little pegs. It's a tiny, tiny peg game. Yeah. It feels a little bit like it has the, you sunk my battleship kind of. Yes. And my memory of it is only involves like VW exhaust and sort of hot planes air and a little bit of car sickness.

So I am not, it didn't become a lifelong favorite game. We are of the generation when someone talks about pegging. I think they mean playing Mastermind. in the back of a station wagon for a long drive. That's exactly right. And it turns out, I will tell you just from some of the side-eyed looks I get from my younger writing staff, that is not the pegging they're talking about. It's zestier than that.

It's a zestier thing. Who is the dog that was on that ride? Oh, God. So many dogs. It's so weird that I grew up in like a super city urban area. But we always had my mom, this is insane. My mom bred dogs for a while. It's like fun pastime.

In D.C.? I went to, so I went to the public schools through fourth grade and then we were like sort of airlifted out and shoved across town to these fancy schools that were like expensive. So my mom, I don't know, one of her like money making schemes was to breed dogs. I don't know. My mom was a teacher. It wasn't like, yeah, anyway. Yeah, so we had these, we had, we had this really cute. They're called Sealyham Terriers. They were, did you ever read the, like where the wild things are? Sure. Yeah. It's the little white terriers. They're sort of like scruffy bodies. And so, I don't know, we had one. One of them won the Westminster dog show. And so we got one. And then my mom bred that she was bred. I guess if you get like a pure bread dog, you have to breed it by decree or something. And so we ended up having puppies, like a bunch of puppies for a while until they were sold or adopted or whatever. And then, by the way, we've always adopted dogs ever since. And then we had like, we found a collie in, in the middle of downtown D.C. So we had her for a while. And then we had, my mom, they adopted a rescue Whippet for my brother who farted constantly. He was like super skinny and super gassy.

Like just, it was anyway, it was just a real menagerie. Whippet also sounds like the name, the sound it would make. He would just like shook all the time and farted. He had a bad life. I mean, I think we saved him from his sad, like, dog racing life. But I'm not sure there's much of an improvement. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So when he's like, if he could talk, he'd be like, oh, this is because of what happened before I met you? Yeah, 100%. Or I don't even, he also, I don't know how smart he was, to be honest. I think he just was a lot of internalized trauma. So, um, anyway, he was just an athlete first. He was a broken athlete. He had been brought too early.

So, um, yeah, so we just had a variety of dogs. And then we would drive. My grandparents lived in the Midwest. So we would drive to visit them. But they died when I was pretty young. But then after that, we would drive to Nebraska to see these two old spinster ants like out of a, you know, Wizard of Oz or something. They both, they were like little, they were named Aunt Henrietta and Aunt Winifred. And they had a tiny, tiny little farm in Loop City, Nebraska.

And they had a barn that was complete, like at 45 degree angle and a big old green stew to baker. And the only thing, you would go to Phillips 76 for dinner. That would like be the big event because the Phillips had like a little like restaurant. And so we would drive and visit them. And then we did a few like great American car trips like the Grand Canyon and the Grand Teton's and the Badlands and a bunch of those things. Which I'm super psyched that we did because we saw a lot of like American, you know, national parks and things like that. I do want to double back to the fact that you had aunts that were sketch comedy characters. Yeah.

And they had little grainy apple faeces. And they lived together. They lived together. And my dad referred to him as his spinster aunts. And nobody knew, like, who they were related to or whether or not they were actually. I think they were related to my grandfather. I think they were probably my grandfather's sisters. But I didn't know.

But when you showed up, they did know who you guys were. They weren't just. Yeah, they knew who we were. I mean, I don't really remember. We were young. But, and very, very hot, you know, because remember, it was a, I want to rea. a VW bug driving from Washington, D.C., probably like that diesel quality. And there was no AC, right? It was probably like an AM radio.

I think when you see a VW bug now, and I think it gives you a pang of nostalgia, and you might wish you had one, but nobody wishes they had one to drive from D.C. in Nebraska. Yeah. Yeah. Not the old variety. Like there are newer ones. Our mother had one that was like the last bug that they made. Yeah.

They have the little well in the back. Do you remember the little well? I don't know if then modern ones had the well. The shape was the classic shape. Yeah. I do want to just because we're talking about spinster-a-hants. Sure, sure. Just give a quick shout-out to Cluster Funk Christmas.

Oh, my God, Spicer-A-A-A-R-A-F. In this era where there's so many TV shows, our listeners might have missed the Rachel. If they like Holiday Fair. If they like Holiday Fair. Dratch and I wrote a parody of the holiday Homeark movies called A Cluster Funk Christmas and we play the sister's Cluster Funk which is really wonderful.

It's really fun to do. We have another one which I'm really hoping we get to do. We wrote a second one where the spinster ants go to a you know a lot of these holiday movies it'll be like a made-up European country so we go to a tiny European nation and the two princes

is inexplicably fall in love with some middle-aged ladies. Oh, great. Because that's the standard of beauty there. But we go for a struyl contest. Oh, you go to a what concert? A construed. We compete in an international strudal competition. Sure, of course.

As you do. But I'm dying to make it because there's a really good part for you. Great. You're very queen of Christmas. I was going to say, I didn't know when we were going to brush against it. But sugar and booze, your Christmas album, is so good. Yeah. I came to your show when you were at the bourbon room, which is since shut down in Los Angeles.

And I looked up, I like Googled last Christmas, like, oh, is she coming again? Is she doing it again? I'm coming this year. Oh, great. Well, then, yeah. Maybe the long, I can't remember a good venue in L.A. I have two nights there. It's, I will, I will 100% come. It was, you know, I love, I love Christmas and I love Christmas shows and I love getting tickets to sort of unique things.

And I've seen the LA Philharmonic play along with Home Alone at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I've done that a couple times. It's amazing. It's wonderful if you haven't done it. You must. But your show is also like it is top level holiday entertainment. And also you have so many friends that I'm friends with. And it's just so nice to see like your Mike Hitchcock's and your people like that.

It has such a, thank you for saying that. And I'm so happy that it gives people a sense of tradition because it really is rooted in that. And every year I'm like, are people sick of this yet? But the nice thing about holiday is that it grants you this tradition. It grants you the right to revisit something and to be sort of to, we have so few kind of common rituals like that, I feel that it's really nice to be able to do that, you know, together and enjoy the same moments together. So I love it.

We have a lot of dates on the calendar. We're also playing, if you like symphonic, I'm also doing the Long Beach Symphony this year. I know that's out there. So that's, if some of those, some of the songs, we now have symphonic charts. So there's a few symphonic numbers, which is so fun.

Again, and, you know, me, I try to like, nothing cornyer and more hilarious and old old than to, like, make the orchestra do bits with you, which is my favorite. They must love it too. That must be so fun. They're always resistant and then they love it. Yeah.

I did Boston Pops a couple years ago and it was like mind blowing to have, you know, I was, and it's just shtick. It's just literally recycled old bits, but it's very, very fun. Yeah. Did you, when you said the Great American road trip to the Grand Canyon and to the Badlands and Teton, or is that also in the VW? Yeah. So what is, how long is it?

How many nights are you staying? People to Montana. I mean, I don't, I'm not to ask my parents. Was it, was it, did it feel rollicking or did it feel like just a sludge across the country? Oh, sludge. 100% sludge. Okay. Just an agonizing sludge.

Miserable. I, I, but we must have taken another car because we had a super beetle. Okay. For a while. Anyway, all I remember is like a mound of stuff and then a bottle of Jim Beam, which my parents would, we would get to like a motel. and they would get like the ice and put it in the sink and the little plastic cups

and have a little gym beam. I have a strong memory of that. I mean, I don't remember it like in a negative way. I mean, it just wasn't like... I think all road trips in the end probably are more, you know... My brother and sister-in-law

are the most passionate road trippers. They drive from Michigan here. They drive from Michigan. He teaches at Michigan State University. I'm always stunned by it because I'm good for about four hours. And then, you know, kick off like one book on tape. And then I'm, you know, my butt starts hurting and I'm done.

Based on who you are as a person, I could picture the Gostar's like, like show tunes and whatnot. But it doesn't seem like maybe you guys were that family. We had like an AM radio. It was 70s. Yeah. So could you even find like, would you find a music station on the AM radio or just to have something? I really wish I had better stories. I think we probably saying like.

Probably saying like 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Yeah, that's how you know things are dire. Yeah, that's rough. That's what the gym beams for. Yeah, totally. I mean, my family, do you guys do car trips with your kids at all or families? We don't, I would say four is about the limit that what we do. I don't think we've done anything longer than that.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I drove cross country, but just me and my dog. So that's different. That's a whole different deal. That's a whole different thing. That's a different book. Did you, have you done it with your two kids?

Do you and Charlie take them on the road? We, so because I, I'm, we tour, when I tour as a singer, or I'm sure you just stand up or whatever, like, I've done years where I've tried to arrange it around regions. So like, we had an amazing trip that was Memphis, Tallahassee, Tampa, like sort of the South, like Georgia and. whatever, I guess you would call that the pan handle, where we'll do those drives so that, like, so you can drive up the Florida Central Highway, which sounds insane, but, like, there's, you can stop and see alligators,

and, like, there's a ton of, like, crazy good southern cooking and things like that. So we'll have trips like that, and we've done a fair amount of Western, because as I mentioned, a lot of Charlie's family lives in Arizona, and then I have family in New Mexico. So we've driven, like, we did an amazing trip one year where we went from Albuquerque.

There's a lot of, like, there's Carlsbad Caverns. I don't know if you've ever done that, which are these buried caves. And then white sands, have you ever done that, Seth? No, it's talked about it all the time. Yeah. Yeah. If you're ever in New Mexico, it's a good getaway from your in-laws. And it's also, it's really weird and beautiful.

Yeah. We did that drive. and then we drove to Marfa, we drove down to Tucson and then to Marfa along wherever that is in Texas, the bottom of Texas, basically. Now, what are the vibes in the car

with your kids? I mean, obviously, this is a different era. Yeah, different era. I do like a ton of research on a fun bonding book on tape, like a Tony Hillerman. I did Tony Hillerman mystery that way. Nobody listens but me.

And then I talk about it the whole time. We, I mean, I wonder if it's just, And then I'm like, I just loved it the book how I'm that lady, you know. These red rocks remind me of that one scene. We did do books on tape when we would go on drives. We would go skiing and it was like four hour drives to go skiing and we'd wake up, crack it on and we get in the car and we would listen to books on tape. And I mean, obviously pre phones, there were no distractions otherwise. Yeah.

And I loved it. I know. We did actually read Hatchet, you know, the one where the kid gets lost in the wilderness. Anyway, that's a good, like, YA book. We listen, so with my parents, we drove to Durango once just to see, like, an old, old western town. We've done some field trips in New Mexico, too, and there's a lot of, like, Chaco Canyon and, like, those cool. There's some wild, like, prehistoric-y, not prehistoric, but, you know, ancient ruins and things like that, which are cool in New Mexico. But, yeah, I had my book on tape thing, and Josh, tell me, if you think this is true.

Like, I aspired as a kid to have the same taste. as my parents, as our parents. Like, I wanted to like the things they liked. Yeah. So I would, like, push myself to, like, maybe get past the initial, like, resistance to, like, listening to, like, Jeeves and Worcester stories until, like, sort of fell in love with them. Whereas I feel like my kids, anything, anytime I'm like, I like this, they're like, fuck you. By the way, you were probably like that, too. and then later you have appreciation for it.

Do you know what I mean? You don't remember that you were probably scowling. I don't think I was scowling about it, though. I really don't, whereas I feel like they, I don't know. I just feel like we like, like, even today, like, my parents are visiting, and I just have, like, saved, I feel like I get Instagram reels or, like, TikTok. I just save all the things they suggested to me. And it's all, like, like, Don Rickles clips.

Or old Golden Girls clips or thing, like Bob Newhart clips, like things they liked and then I liked. And then the algorithms suggested it to me and I'm showing it back to them. And I just worry that my kids don't care about my taste. They don't like Donald Rackerel's? No, man. They will eventually. They'll get it eventually.

I think your kids are a little too young. Also, I think that we, you know, your kids have so much more access to audiobooks now. Right. They listen there. Your eldest, Seth, like actively listens to audiobooks. And it was sort of, we didn't. That's true. So he understands.

We didn't even know about them. We didn't know that they existed, right? My mom would have to go to the library and get a bunch of cassettes. Tapes, yeah. We listened to a lot of comedy albums. Yeah. My generation, our whole generation did. I mean, that's something you could probably play for the one who does like audiobooks, you know.

You just slip them in there. It is, my, curiously, my mom loves audiobooks. loves them. I actually keep, I have to, it's a whole thing. They have to like keep the audible credits coming because she's, she listens to them all day long. Yeah. All day long. Yeah. Which is great. Real quick question. I know we've talked about it before. If you listen to a book on an audio book, would you tell people you've read it? Would you use the, uh, the word read? Great question. Um, I tend to flip in between. Yeah. I think that's fair. Again, Yeah, it depends on your level of engagement.

I would say yes. I think that's true. I think that's based on how much you're actually listening. So now Kindle does this thing, which is kind of great, where you can whisper sync. So like, right? So if you like get to the point in the book, then I'll do it a lot like when I'm making dinner or doing dishes or whatever. And then I just listen to my book while I'm, you know, doing some other task. And then at night you read the book.

Yeah. And then for a while I would pin, I would, which, like, I could only go on the treadmill if I was listening to the thing. Like, I would try to tag, you know, habit combine or whatever that's called. I think that's right. Habit combined. I think we should start it if it's not what people are saying. I like it. There's a better, it's a better, there's a better term for it.

It's not multitask. It's not multitasking. It's like letting, it's basically to develop a habit, put something nice with the habit that you do. don't like. So for me, that's like, okay, I don't want to go to the gym. But if I, whatever, if I listen to the serial podcast or, you know, family trips with the Myers brothers, I can only listen to it when I'm on the treadmill. Gotcha. So it gives you like a motivation. Is it habit stacking? Have it stacking. Did you Google that? I did. Yeah. I wasn't going to pretend like I just came up with it on my own. Both you like, the way Josh was like, uh, yeah.

No, it's just like you're always Googling. You can always see when Seth is in the middle of an interview. There's a quick checkout. Uh-huh. Habit stacking. But I don't actually think habit stacking, I mean, this could not be more boring, but I don't actually think it covers it. It's about putting something fun.

Yeah, yours is trying. Yours is like habit soothing. You're like you're stacking to sooth. Yeah. Yeah. It's a sooth stack. Is that good, Josh? Sooth stack.

Yeah, it's great. Yeah, thanks. You can trade mark that one because no one wants it. Sue Stack. If you Google Sue's Stack, I hope it says I came up with it. I have a really good friend, and this is not at all what we're talking about, I'm just going to say it. But I was really, we're not that organized because of show business, ruining every vacation always, and or just like having to integrate a lot of our travel around work, like just sort of making the whole thing kind of paste itself together,

which I realize might just be a me problem. But we have a good friend, and there's something I wish I'd always done, which was such a great, you know, there's school holidays. There's like the winter holiday and then the spring break or whatever, the midwinter and the spring. And every midwinter they would do an American city and every spring they would do an international place for travel, which I thought was so cool.

It's just a cool way to like define making sure your kids see the world, you know? Yeah. It's also just a good way to put a, marker out there. Mm-hmm. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from First Leaf. Hey, Pashi.

Yeah, Sufi. How are you? I'm good. You know what I enjoy at the end of the day, Pashi? What's that? I like to reflect back on how close I am with my brother. Oh, that's nice. With a nice glass of wine.

Oh, yeah. But I get a little intimidated by wine, Posh. And, you know, which one to pick. What's good, what's bad? Yeah, we don't know. We don't know. Yeah. We're not that.

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and you get 50% off your first box plus free shipping for an entire year. That's T-R-Y-F-L-E-A-F.com. Trips, tryfirstly.com slash trips. Do you feel like you have a peak vacation you took with your children? Like if you said, if we were to ask them, like, what's the greatest family trip you guys ever took? Oh, my God. I think that Marfa trip was pretty cool. That's awesome.

Because we saw so many, it was well, like, it was well planned. Like, it was the perfect ratio of, like, driving to interesting, weird things. the food was great. And it was like a good combination of like we stayed at a hotel called the dusty boots. For some reason my son always brings up dusty boots. That's great. We have my, our parents once ate at a restaurant called crabby bills. And I feel like it's just like completely entered our vernacular.

It's what we call someone who's being in a bad mood. They're crabby bill. Oh, but you got to pop by crabby bills. Yeah. That's like on the way up to K. cod they have that old English lettering you know when because to indicate that you're in an old timey place and you always know you're close when you hit

the oifter half um we're almost there hey guys it's a oifah half that's just stupid um but yeah I would think I think my kids

probably really enjoyed that um and we did like we did London I had never weirdly I've only been to London once So I sort of had a moment of like we have to go to London because nobody's ever been to London. But it wasn't like our, I mean, we did a lot of like activities on that. And we did like Sherlock Holmes house and like some cool, you know, a lot of Harry Potter and stuff like that. But I bet my kids really loved that that trip the most.

I don't know. My son is like super happy just like some years I, you know, just renting like a big, dumb suburban house. Like sometimes we've done that because my family is spread out. And I'll be like, we're all going to Phoenix. Everybody came in Phoenix. And I got a pool and a basketball hoop. And sometimes those trips are like more successful. People not in their own space.

And so nobody's like feeling responsible or like they have to fix things or plan things. Or, you know, some of those trips are weirdly the most relaxing. It is true. Like I think sometimes when you take your kids on vacation to someplace that everybody is going on vacation, like that's when you're in a tiny hotel room. And the vibe is like, all right, guys, let's. We got to get out. It's the days begun.

Yeah. Whereas, like, if you go to a bigger house where there's a foos ball table, you know. Heaven. They're just like, yeah. And they don't want to leave. In fact, that was a Christmas. And I, like, fully, I just, I just, basically everything we ate was from Costco. I was like, we're getting everything in the first Costco run.

And we're all going to enjoy it. Yeah. And then we did a lot of puzzles and movies. It was great. It sounds really good. Do you guys play games? Are you more a puzzle? Yeah.

Okay. I puzzle. I'm like an old sort of alcoholic who enjoys a late-night puzzle. Like, you know, just like, I don't know this day. I've been trying to get this corner. Do you have a big, do you have a big spatula? No. What do I need the spatula for? I heard of this group of puzzlers that I think Kevin Nealyn's actually part of and Jack McBrayer. And they have like a huge spatula, like an oversized spatula to like move a section of the puzzle. that is ready and you can move it over in front of yourself and be like, I'm going to work on

this section now. That's brilliant. Yeah. I've been, I've spent a lot of years and unsuccessfully so trying to figure out like the perfect puzzle table vibe, you know, what can move with you sections. That's, that's great. I love, I can go into a really happy place. I dream one day of having like a, just a, like being that kind of person.

It's just like the puzzle area of my home. So I puzzle. Everybody says they're interested. two pieces, they usually take credit at the end. You know, that's the other thing. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Like, hey, I finished it. Nothing more enraging to somebody who's been working on it for four days.

But we do play a ton of games. Yeah, I love games in the summer especially. What's your go-to? I like all word-related games. I love like Scattergories and, like, Listical and... Baldur-Dash. Are you a Baldur-Dash family? I love Baldur-Dash.

And actually, one of the reasons I love Balderdash is it's because of the way that it's a very well-designed game for multiple ages. Yeah. So that you can deliberately pick the definition that the nine-year-old will get, you know what I mean? Yeah. Or walk-out or whatever. It's nice. So you can, like, play with lots of different people. I've had lots of fun.

I don't like games that are, I don't like mafia or like traitors. I don't like things where I have to, like, lie to people. I hate it. Yeah. I hate it. I've always hated it. Me too. I feel so valid.

I'm validated right now. I hate the way, I remember, I think I maybe just played once in my life and just everybody, the way that people are like, look at me. I'm your friend. Would I lie to you? I'm like, of course you would. Yeah. It's the game.

It's the grossest feeling. And I hate when I am the traitor. Like, and it's upsetting because it's so in now. Like, I'm sure people say to you, like, you should go on traders. I'm like, absolutely never. And I know whole friend groups. I mean, you probably know them, Josh. Like my friend Tony, the one who,

loves Hutter mystery balloon theater. Like that, like his entire friend group is organized around Mafia. But I was, and every time I go to L.A. and I stay with him, I have to like participate in.

And I like, also, I don't like playing games where you can't chat a little bit. I like the social aspect. So I don't like it when people are like, shut up.

Like, I don't know a lot of hearts. Because people get, like, people playing bridge and stuff, they get really serious. Like, you can't, there's no chit-chat. I like to,

I love Jenga for that reason. Jenga is great because you're just sort of you have this thing in front of you, but there's no conversation has to stop. It just keeps moving. I like hearts in that you play a round of hearts and then you talk during. That's true. Michelle. Like, I'm fine with that, but, you know.

And hearts can go on for hours, which I like about it. Yes. Like, if you wanted to play hearts, if it was raining at, like, a beach day, you could totally play hearts all day and be fine. It's a rainy beach day where I am and my parents are visiting and we've already played hearts. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Swinging back to the National Park trip with your family,

were your parents like, let's get into the Grand Teton? So let's really like hike in here. Are you guys sort of going to parking lots? Vista points. Near the big, yeah, near the big stuff. Are you a hiking family or a Vista point family? Yeah, that's what I was going to. We were a Vista point family.

And I still am a Hista point, Vistapoint family, which is weird because like our best family friends who we travel with, we ski with them and I love it early on they're like really avid skiers and I hadn't skied sorry I'm going a field may I go a field? Permission to go a field permission granted so I feel like you'll enjoy this so we skied on and off

growing up East Coast skiing as you know it's kind of a shit show it's really icy like there'd be like school trips and stuff And anyway, I wasn't like an accomplished skier, but I enjoyed it. And then my at Northwestern, where we all went to college, my R.A. had grown up in Utah. And so my sophomore year, he was like, hey, come, come to Utah and we'll all ski for spring break. We did. We went and lived in his basement and skied super cheap, super fun. Anyway, then I met my husband who has incredibly strongly held opinions.

He doesn't have a lot of them, but they are passionate and deeply meaningful to him. So he denounced skiing early on. I met him when I was 23. So he's like, I hate skiing. We will never ski. I hate the mountains. I hate alpine architecture. I hate anything that has been able to do with you.

I was like, great. Got it. I'm obviously not going to push this. Who cares? And then 30 years later, I was 49, my best friend was like, hey, we have a ski house. and our boys were best friends and they were the same age and you know like boys you're like what are you going to do for it was like a vacation coming up and she was like come stay with us it's super fun it's in montana it's so beautiful the boys aren't ski school all day they'll have the greatest time

and i was like okay but my husband really hates it and then the dad was like i hate skiing too i just ski in the morning and then i like cook and drink beer in the afternoon charlie was like great i'll do the beer and like cooking part anyway by the way we get there 30 years lapse between the two times and skiing is like a bicycle if you've done it, you get up pretty quickly again and you're like, oh wait, I kind of remember how to do this. And my fucking husband, we got like a teacher

the first day just to like get our and the teacher's like, so we really want to make sure that our weight is downhill, you know, whatever. And he's like, for example, look at Charlie and here comes Susie fucking chapstick. He was like a European Austrian like like heading to, I was like, what?

You hate it and you're amazing at it? Like, it's so not fair. Anyway, but this same family loves travel, and they're really, like, good at it. And, you know, you're, like, the organized friend who's, like, great at planning the trips and everything. And so she quickly, and it was terrible because it was, like, the wrong brand. Like, they just assumed, because we did the skiing part that we would want to do the, like, Galapagos and, like, you know, interbased on the Teton trip, which we just really are not. So I've just done nothing but disappoint that friend pretty much ever since. I will say that's such an interesting to say, because I don't like skiing, but I do like alpine architecture.

I think that's the burn on me. There you go. That's the burn. I'd love to live in a, I want to live at a sea level ski house. Oh, well, that's like just an A frame? Yeah, but like I really want to make all my like beach neighbors mad at me. Like I want to have like a beautiful. A chalet.

A chalet, like a coastal chalet. That just like is a real eyesore. And I just want to. I want to be, I want to always be in my front porch drinking cocoa and mold wine. You want it cold at the beach? I don't understand. Is it a seaside? I don't want it cold. I just wanted to be, I just wanted to be unnerving for people who like the beach. I just want to make their day a little bit. I want them to be as confused as you are now all the time. Okay, got it. And will you be wearing like a tight Nordic sweater?

I don't think so. It's a great question. I don't think so. I know, because I don't want to be uncomfortable. So I think I'm just in Maybe it's like, yeah, I'm in a swim Swim chunks drinking But like iced mold wine And And and steaming hot cocoa But it maybe is just a prop

It might just be a regular mug that just I've rigged to have steam come out of it So that people are just Oh that's perfect You can get a little dry ice Yeah, a little dry ice And it's just a good asshole doing Just to piss people off

When they walk by with their surfboards Just go, how the slopes today I definitely am not going to have skis up. I definitely have a lot of it. Fresh pow-pow, huh? Stuff like that? Yeah, yeah. May I ask, were you in Whitefish Mountain or Big Sky in Montana?

You're in Big Sky, which I love. Yeah, I've not been, but I hear it's just great. It's not very shis-she, but it wasn't even when we went 10 years ago. Yeah, Whitefish. Whitefish is a little town. I've been to sort of right near Glacier National Park, but I've not been there in the winter, but I feel like it's sort of as a little hit. More hidden gem than Big Sky.

That's what they say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah, I bet. Like really beautiful. And mountain, true mountains.

Yeah. Montana's great. Nuts. Yeah. Anna, it is, thank you so much for joining us. It is always lovely to see you. But you're not off the hook yet. Great.

Because Josh is going to hit you with our round of a speed round. Lightning round. Okay, here we go. You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous or educational? Educational. What is your favorite means of transportation?

Like to a trip? Sorry, I know it's a speed round. No, just how your favorite way to get around. It could be a boat, could be walking, could be an airplane, car. Or bicycle. If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with? Oh my God. I'm terrible at this.

It's a hard one. Well, because the only family I can think of right now is the Kennedys, but I don't want to go on vacation with them. Yeah, bad stuff happens. Yeah, I feel like it's just a bad scene. Right. Maybe that old, that MTV Vijay Kennedy, maybe go with her, George Kennedy, the actor. No, no, no. And I got to think of a different family.

Okay. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's family. Yep, great. Charlie Bucket. The buckets. Great. Yeah. If you had to be stranded on a desert island.

Because you know. You know. And by the way, before he won, before he won the golden ticket, you want to go with the buckets pre, like, you want to go with the real, the poor buckets. You want to travel with them. Like four grandparents, one bed. That's your bucket vacation. I just think Grandpa Joe was game. He was game.

Yeah. Right? And he was always down for the adventure. Yeah. And Charlie was a very compliant child. Grandpa Joe, if he had been at that New Mexico retirement home would go running with Ulysses, I think. 100%. He would have been in the balloon.

He would be. Yeah, exactly. Following. He would be in the fall of balloon. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be? One member? Yeah. That's really hard because this is like Sophie's choice now.

Oh, so it's definitely not Charlie. Well. Sophie's choice. being a choice between two children. That's true. I mean, I guess it would be my husband because he's very resourceful. But I have to say, as a foursome, we are very compatible. I feel very lucky that way.

Like, it's a pretty agreeable bunch. That's good. Yeah. I mean, they're old. My kids are old. And that's why you get along? You didn't get along when they were little. Meaning we're sort of, we've been through a lot of briar patches.

Like, we're on the fun side. We're like at the most awesome side of teenie. which is where they're pretty self-aware and they know themselves and they're super independent. Yeah, great. The only sad thing is they move out once they're really easy to be around. Yeah, of course. Yeah. It's really sad.

Brutal. But then it'll be that much more special when you go on vacations with them in the future. I want to go on vacation and I also just literally want to buy like a duplex and have everybody live in it together. It's great. Truly. I don't. I'm not going to be able to pull it off, but I'm going to try. What is your dream destination for a family vacation?

I really would like to do, this isn't the question you're asking. I'm a terrible guess. I apologize. I would like next to do one of those like biking through Norway or like, you know, I'd like to sort of do like Ireland or like I like to have like a bike, a little activity with some history and a shitload of good food. Yeah, that's an excellent answer. I want to do that. A bike through Norway sounds fantastic. I don't know of Norway.

Like I'm just like like a cute bucolic area, Slovenia. I don't care. Just like little castles and inns, food, cheese, wine, and a small amount of physical activity. So you feel, you know, like you're taking in the view. And you are from, is Washington, D.C. your hometown? It is. If you had to get more families to come visit Washington, D.C., how would you sell that town? Oh, boy.

This is, well, the biggest thing is this, recent events notwithstanding, the Smithsonian is free. Yeah, that's good. The Smithsonian is free. I mean, it is a, for years, I mean, depending on what's going on in Washington, it is, those museums are incredible. And I grew up going to them with amazing regularity because I grew up right around them. And they were like what you would do on a Saturday because they are free. So anybody that, a number of birthday parties that you would have at, like the Air and Space Museum or the Natural History Museum. They're incredible.

The art museums, all of them have lunch, you know, whatever. So it's a good reason to go somewhere. Even the zoo is free there. Great. Perfect answer. And then Seth has... Thank you so much. I feel validated.

I know the question was, have you been to the Grand Canyon? I know the answer is yes, but there is a follow-up, and the follow-up is, was it worth it? Yeah, it's absolutely worth it. Okay, great. I actually think, I'm going to go further than that, which is to say, have you done Chaco Canyon or have you done... Mm-mm. There's... Canyon DeShay is like out.

What are the two big monuments? I know Canyon to Shea, that's what he was called in high school. Now he's Chaco Canyon. That was his second album. When he got to college, he's like, call me Chaco Canyon. I'm like, all right. Just wanted to reinvent himself. Wait, somebody looking up.

Mr. Looking Up. Mr. Loken Up Club. Look up the two. Look at the, look, it's the, there are two ancient sites in New Mexico. One is Chaco Canyon and the other one is. Chaco, Pueblo Benito, Casa Rinconada. Nope. Okay.

You can edit this. No, this is good. I just want people to know how good I am at Googling. Can it make more of a clicking sound, please, with your fingers? Mesa Verde. Yeah, Mesa Verde. And what does it say about Mesa Verde? Often the one of the two that is forgotten, compared to Chaco Canyon.

Mesa Verde. has to be Googled. Mesa Verde is in southwest Colorado. It's known for its well-preserved ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, notably the huge cliff palace, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum has exhibits on the ancient Native American culture. Mesa Top Loop Road winds past. Great.

Now, you're done. But super interesting. And also Chaco is interesting. What does it say about Chaco? Oh, you're going to make. Make him read again? Yeah. Went so poorly last time.

No, this is good. Chaco Canyon, born Canyon to Cheyenne, is great. All it says is it's great. Really? Usually there's more information. It doesn't say like a lot of fun. It says it's great. It says, it says, it says, I'm just going to read what it says, and you guys can judge me.

Like, not worth Googling. You have to see it to believe it. Three stars Three out of five One of the best bits in the world Love you Anna Love you, congrats on Shmigadoon

And I'll see you this Christmas Can't wait Thanks all right Bye Family Chips Brothers Up right near the capital Learn to drive Toll street where streets are full

And while she might not pop the club The brother Stephen stays in touch He'll have a chat and call them back. Drove to Nebraska from D.C. With a whip it who was gassy kept whipping out those nasty tudes As dusty boots

One's a spell, one's a motel, Sometimes just rents a big dumb house On Costco don't go out But they show up when it's all done Of what I did Damn those kids I'm a cook She listens to Audi habit suit

I take that back It's a habit stack Have it stack, have no what's nice