All Good Vacations Must Come to an End

I had a dream about work Sunday morning, which must mean vacation is coming to an end. I had a fantastic time, but when we go to Columbia, we hit it hard, and I think I'm ready for it to be over.

Just as a fair warning, this is going to comprise of lists, so if you don't care, go ahead and skip this one.

We saw 12 films this year, which is probably the most we've ever seen. As a testament to me getting older, the seats seemed to bother my hips and knees much more than previous years. After our forth film on Saturday, I was done with being in a theater.

The theme this year should've been Death and Despair. Somewhere around half the films were about former Soviet states on the brink of civil war or entire villages going bankrupt or people / animals dying.

So, in order of best to worst film this year:

1. Crash Reel - About a former snowboarding champion and overcoming an accident.
2. Twenty Feet to Stardom - About backup singers that have been on just about every major recording in the past 60 years. 
3. After Tiller - Humanizes the last 4 Late Term Abortion doctors in the country.
4. The Moo Man - A British farmer has a unique way with his cows.
5. I Am Breathing - A Scottich man documents and deals with losing control of his life while dealing with a motor function disease. 
6. Secret Screening Gold - Can't tell you anything about this one, which is why its secret. 
7. Which Way is the Front Line from here? - Portait of a combat journalist who died on site.
8. Winter Go Away - 10 film makers show the political climate in modern Russia from different views. 
9. Northern Light
10. Computer Chess
11. Village at the End of the World
12. The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

And arguably the more important portion of our vacation, we like to hit up all of our old favorite places to eat and drink. We always miss out on one or two places, but this year we came down a day earlier so that we could hit everything. 

The highlight being the return to C.C. City Broiler. This is the fancy restaurant I took Sal to the night I asked her to marry me. We figured for our five year anniversary, it was time to return... and my god... the steak... it just melts in your mouth... and lobster mash potatoes ... and I swear, the best baked potato I've ever had... and that salad... basically, best food ever.

So, if you want to know our guide to Columbia, here are the essential places (AKA, everywhere we went while here)

• Bangkok Gardens - Best Thai food I might have ever had. 
• C.C. City Broiler - HOMG... the steak, the lobster mash potatoes, the baked potatoes, the salad... it all just melts... basically digests itself
• Ernies - Best breakfast you can get. I had 5 different things and my meal was less than $5. 
• Kampai Sushi - This is a newer place we discovered two years ago. 
• Gumbi's Pizza - My favorite pizza in town.
• Uppercrust - An old mainstay, Sallie's old place of employment. 
• Flatbranch - I have some of my best memories at Flatbranch. Unfortunately, quality has taken a slight dip in past years. 
• Noodles and Company - Not my favorite, but we didn't have a ton of time to eat anywhere else.
• Addisons - Been off the regular rotation for a few years, but I think its earned its spot back.

The only place we didn't get to eat that we normally do is Tellers. We just ran out of time and didn't have as much time between films this year as we normally do.