Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to go on a Hanson family hike? How about where the ever-mysterious Ms. Birt might venture to when it gets hot? Are you dying to know how the Cullen clan likes to lounge on a warm summer day? Well, now you can get the scoop. As you read below, try not to be too envious of these three teachers’ amazing summer plans!
Where you’ll be this summer:
Janis Birt: This summer, end of June and early July, I am spending two weeks in Alaska. I will visit the Katmai Peninsula to see bears. The Katmai visit should be a highlight of my trip. I’ve been to Alaska many times but I try to do something new and exciting each time I go. For the remainder of the summer, I will be at home tending my garden and working my way through the stack of mysteries I’ve purchased this year.
Jim Cullen: I’ll be spending the summer with my wife and four kids, one of whom will be home from the University of Chicago (another of whom will be in Form III next year). I’ll be teaching in the Fieldston Summer Academic Program (FSAP) in July. There will be family trips to New England at the beginning and end of the summer, when I’ll be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary.
Meg Hanson: Erik and I will be packing up the boys right at the end of school to drive out west and visit some of the national parks. We plan on staying at Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier. We have about 3 and a half weeks for all of this. We are mostly car camping by staying at tent sites, with a couple of luxury interludes along the way-friends houses or motor inns. I envision lots of hiking, rafting, fighting over radio stations, s’mores, ghost stories, and eating.
What are your favorite summer snacks/sweets:
JB: My favorite summer snack is a peach. Guiltless pleasure!
JC: Iced coffee and bourbon (not together)
MH: Probably ranch corn nuts and BBQ corn nuts – great road trip food.
Song of the summer?
JB: I don’t have a favorite summer song and I am not holding out hope I will find one.
JC: Hopeful about new U2 and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers albums. But I love summer surprises. “I Kissed a Girl” was a great car sing-along with the wife and kids in the summer of 2008. I loved “We Are Young” in 2012.
MH: We are going to need to set some ground rules for the radio. For example: you must change the channel if it’s the third time a song comes on (or whenever certain songs come on at all-if it’s “Ain’t it Fun”, change it immediately-so overplayed!).
Beach or pool?
JB: I am neither a beach person nor a pool person. I do not own a bathing suit.
JC: Pool person. I go to my town pool about 5 times a week.
There you have it. All the summertime secrets you’ve been dying to know… revealed. If you have time and want to try something new, take some cues from these awesome teachers; try a fresh sweet peach, go camping with friends, or blast some classic rock on the radio. Whatever you’re up to, though, I hope you have a great summer!
