A Special Pre-Vacation One More Thing

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "A Special Pre-Vacation One More Thing"

Date: June 25, 2026
Host/Guests: Armstrong, Getty, Michelangelo (Board Operator), Mike Hanson (Executive Producer)

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Episode Overview

This episode is a relaxed, pre-vacation chat focusing on family vacations—childhood memories, the meaning behind vacations, and reflections on how "Vacation You" compares to everyday life. The hosts and crew reminisce about their favorite childhood trips, discuss the value of simple family time, and explore why it's so difficult to carry vacation attitudes into regular life. The tone is nostalgic, humorous, and candid, providing both laughs and poignant moments about time, parenting, and freedom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vacation Mindset and Self-Control

(01:15–01:54)

• Vacation = Excuses for Excess: The crew talks about how easy it is to let go during vacation, eating more or spending recklessly.
  • "It's so easy to slide into that, 'It's vacation, let's have donuts or cake.'" – [D], 01:18
• Trying not to let the "vacation mindset" lead to bad habits.

2. The Importance and Fleeting Nature of Family Vacations

(01:54–02:36)

• "Limited Summers" Philosophy: As a parent, [D] reflects on how few vacations remain with his kids.
  • "I've only got a couple of vacations left with my kids... You count how many summers you got left with your kids. It's shocking." – [D], 01:59

3. Favorite Childhood Vacations—It's the Simple Things

(02:36–03:42)

• Michelangelo's RV Adventure:
  • "We went in an RV together up to the Oregon coast. It was an adventure because my dad didn't know how to drive the RV and actually ripped the mirror off." – Michelangelo, 02:36
• Mike Hanson's Okoboji Memories:
  • "We were a simple people there in South Dakota... There’s a place called Lake Okoboji... old carnival, totally worn out rides... but for a little kid, it was a pretty neat place." – Mike Hanson, 03:07
• [D]’s Point: Extravagance isn’t what creates memories—togetherness is.

4. Nostalgia for "Vacation Dad" and the Effect on Kids

(03:42–06:04)

• Transformative Nature of Vacation:
  • "My dad... you could see his jaw moving when his mouth was shut... under stress. On vacation that would go away... He'd become a different person." – [D], 05:09
• Even small indulgences ("get a can of coke") are special on vacation.

5. "Vacation Mike" and How Time Off Changes You

(06:04–06:25)

• "My wife refers to me as Vacation Mike... so happy and so well adjusted." – Mike Hanson, 06:04
• Discussion: Should we try to be our "vacation selves" more often, or is this just how life works?

6. The Limits of Vacation for Routine-Lovers

(06:25–06:44)

• Michelangelo: Likes vacation but quickly craves routine. "It drives me crazy to not do anything." – Michelangelo, 06:35

7. Parenthood and the Loss of Spontaneity

(09:03–10:18)

• "You were comfortable in whatever environment you were in... Now, with kids, I'd be constantly thinking about them, and it’s difficult to relax." – Mike Hanson, 09:03
• "I couldn’t enjoy [the beach] because I was constantly thinking of... is this one safe? Is this one sunburnt...?" – Mike Hanson, 09:52

8. The Joy of Unplanned Road Trips

(10:18–11:25)

• Spontaneity is more valuable than rigid planning:
  • "I don’t have a schedule... I have no idea how far we’re gonna drive... It’s fantastic." – [D], 10:18
  • "Lack of planning allows the spontaneity and that... allows for those moments you'll never forget." – Mike Hanson, 11:07
• Example: Stumbling on a nightly rodeo in Cody, Wyoming.

9. Plans for Vacation Time

(11:47–12:24)

• Michelangelo: Some reading and relaxing.
• Mike Hanson: Jokes about needing Michelangelo's "reassurance, warmth, and musk." (Light banter.)
• The crew jokes about Jack leaving, to collective, comic relief.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On fleeting family vacations:
  "You count how many summers you got left with your kids. It's shocking." – [D], 01:59

• Vacation transformations:
  "My dad... you'd see his jaw moving when his mouth was shut... under stress. On vacation, that would go away." – [D], 05:09
  "My wife refers to me as Vacation Mike... so happy and so well adjusted." – Mike Hanson, 06:04

• Importance of simplicity:
  "We didn’t do anything extravagant either. We drove to grandma’s house, but we’d stop at some tourist trap things along the way, and you stay in a hotel like a Super 8 with a pool... It was freaking fantastic." – [D], 03:42

• The planner vs. the spontaneous:
  "I don’t have a schedule when we go on these road trips... If you’re in the mood to drive, you drive a long way... Get a room. Yeah, fantastic." – [D], 10:18
  "Lack of planning allows... those moments you'll never forget." – Mike Hanson, 11:07

• Parental anxiety on vacation:
  "I couldn't enjoy [the beach] because I was constantly thinking... is this one safe? Has this one drowned yet?... Is my wife happy? Is my mom happy? Just checking on everybody..." – Mike Hanson, 09:52

• Retirement preview:
  "That's exactly it—complete loss of sense of time... They don't keep track." – Mike Hanson, 08:00

• Humorous closing:
  "I'll be here with Michael. He usually holds me for many hours and just kind of reassures me that everything will be all right. I need his musk." – Mike Hanson, 12:01
  "We've all been waiting for you to leave town, Jack." – Michelangelo, 12:15
  "Let's end this on musk. Good lord." – [D], 12:18

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Segment Timestamps

• Introduction & Pre-vacation Mindset: 01:15–01:54
• Counting Down Family Summers: 01:54–02:36
• Favorite Childhood Trips: 02:36–03:42
• Vacation as Transformation: 03:42–06:04
• Trying to Be 'Vacation You' in Real Life: 06:04–06:35
• Personality Types & Vacation: 06:35–06:44
• Parental Responsibilities vs. Past Freedom: 09:03–10:18
• Unplanned Road Trips: 10:18–11:25
• Vacation Plans/Banter: 11:47–12:24

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, humorous, self-deprecating, and warm—just like a group of friends telling stories before heading out for the summer.
• Frequent nostalgia and gentle ribbing among colleagues.

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Takeaway

A heartwarming—and at times laugh-out-loud—reflection on how the simple joys of togetherness, lack of rigid plans, and being present can make vacations the most memorable. The hosts encourage listeners to appreciate the fleeting opportunities for family travel, to embrace spontaneity, and, if possible, bring a little “Vacation You” into every day.

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Transcript

[A]

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[D]

edition of One More Thing.

[E]

Armstrong and Getty. One more Thing.

[D]

With me, board operator Michelangelo and executive producer Mike Hanson joining us today. One thing I gotta do, I gotta, it's, it's, it's important that I not get in the mindset of its vacation. So you need to eat more or, or, or eat crappier. So easy to slide into that. It's vacation. Let's have donuts or a cake or whatever the heck. So I'm trying to fight that or

[E]

spend any amount of money on all kinds of stuff like food or T shirts or that extra little whatever fun thing that you don't need to spend money on.

[D]

Yeah, I give halfway on that. But yeah, it's very easy to go too far. So here's my questions before I head out on vacation. Part of it is because I want to. I've only got a couple of vacations left with my kids. Hanson, you know how this is. He's. You count how many summers you got left with your kids. It's shocking. Yeah. And you think I only have this many more summers of vacations with them. I may never go on vacation with them again in my life after a couple of years from now. It's really quite shocking. What's the best vacation you ever went on as a kid or the One that you remember the most as a kid with your family. Michelangelo, you go first.

[F]

We went in an RV together up to the Oregon coast. It was an adventure because my dad didn't know how to drive the RV and actually ripped the mirror off. Yeah.

[D]

Was that the enjoyable part or just a side memory?

[F]

It's just a side memory. There's a lot of good memories, but it was stuff that I thought was funny, you know?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, that. That does. That sounds fantastic because you all got to be together when you're in rv, and it's the being together part that, like, really makes the vacation to me, I think. But. Hanson vacation.

[E]

See, we were a simple people there in South Dakota, so vacations didn't happen all that often. A lot of them revolved around. I guess if it was a vacation would be more like going to my dad's softball tournaments. But there was. There is a place called Lake Okoboji. It's pretty cool. They have this old carnival, totally worn out rides, super dated. They had a. Like, bumper cars that hadn't worked in 30 years, that kind of thing. But for a little kid, it was a pretty neat place to hang out. So going to Okoboji was always a good time.

[B]

You.

[D]

You both have made my point, though, that I wanted to make is like my memories of the vacations. We didn't do anything extravagant either. We drove to grandma's house, but we'd stop at some tourist trap things along the way, and you stay in a hotel like a Super 8 with a pool and just stuff like that. It was freaking fantastic. It was fantastic. And I know all y', all, some of y' all don't do that. I. I know somebody who's taken their kids to the south of France for the vacation. And fine, you know, if.

[E]

If you.

[D]

If you got the money, but I just. I don't know, do you get more memories out of that as a kid? Does that matter more to you than just just hanging out with the family, doing stuff? You're at a restaurant, you're at a pool, you're in an RV or whatever. My youngest son loved our longest road trip we took. We went through Wyoming and Montana and all across South Dakota. We stopped over Custer's Last Stand was. Then we went to Mount Rushmore and. But just. It was just a road trip. And when you're a kid, every stop at Big Giant Truck stop is fun because there's a slushy machine and just whatever. It's all fun. And I love those memories. Now, my oldest He's. He has a little more expensive taste. He really liked when we went to New York City and. But he likes Hubub. He likes the crowds and noise and cars and stuff like that. But I don't know, I just. I don't feel like it takes a lot if you're together and you're hanging out and you're laughing and you just have that vacation vibe, but we got nothing to do. You know One thing that really sticks out in my mind about vacations, though, My dad. So my dad, my whole life, you could see his jaw moving when his mouth was shut because he was under stress. You could see this little moving right here. Just. Just under stress. Just kind of daily on vacation that would go away. I always noticed that his little jaw stress thing that he had days when he worked was gone on vacation. And he'd become a different person. Where he'd be just. He was just like, sure, get a can of coke. Like normally be. Can I get a can? Go, no, we're not gonna spend money on coke. Vacation. We did, and it was just so exciting.

[E]

My wife refers to me as Vacation Mike. I know what you're talking about.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

I had a long vacation before I started working with you guys on the shows. Like about three months. And she said Vacation Mike was one of the best Mike's I've ever known. She said, you. You were so well, so happy and so well adjusted. And I was like, well, yeah, I guess, you know, I had nothing to do. But yeah. Vacation Mike.

[D]

Yeah. Is that something we should work on all the time to be more like Vacation Jack? Vacation Mike, Vacation my dad all the time, or is it just part of life? Michael? Michelangelo.

[F]

See, I only like vacation for a short time because it drives me crazy. I have to stick to my routine. I think that's why I work all the time. It drives me crazy to not do anything.

[E]

Gotta tell you what, I got used to being on vacation for three months. It was pretty freaking awesome, actually.

[D]

Well, you weren't exactly doing nothing because he had two young kids, so.

[E]

No, I was doing close to nothing, Jack. I really stayed up late. No, I see. We actually. I continued with their, you know, kind of to Michael's point. I didn't want to disrupt them. So we continue to take our kids to daycare and just, you know, like, let's. Let's keep their social existence together. Meanwhile, I just. I had a guy coming over to work on our house, and otherwise I would go out to coffee and I'd fart around and stay up Late and watch every show that I hadn't watched over the past couple years. And I, it became a lifestyle that I really, really enjoyed.

[D]

I should talk to my dad about this. I've never said anything to him about it, but it was vacation dad. He was a different guy on vacation. He would, he would, he would just relax in a way that he normally didn't. And you know, when you're a parent, you, you know that feeling you got, you got, you got your life, you're doing your life, you're doing your job, you're doing your got to get kids here and you got this paperwork to fill out and we got things to do and just you got to get to bed on time and got to get to the pharmacy because your medicine's almost out. Just all these different things. And on vacation all that goes away and just a new thing happens. Think that's what retirement will be like? Yeah, I don't know.

[E]

Yeah, that's, that's exactly, exactly it. Complete loss of sense of time. I know my in laws, I'll often they'll tell me what day of the week is this? I was like, what? They don't know what day it is.

[F]

Right.

[E]

It could be Sunday, it could be Tuesday, it could be noon, it could be 10 o' clock at night. They don't know. They don't keep track.

[D]

The only reason my parents keep track is because they know what days they have what at the senior center to eat lunch. So it's Wednesday, so they have, you know, roast beef.

[F]

I picture my Walmart job as, as my retirement. I'll be a greeter with no filter.

[D]

Basically somebody, you're not a good relaxer.

[F]

No, I'm not.

[D]

Yeah, I'm not really.

[C]

I can do it for a day

[F]

or two, but then that's about it.

[D]

I love road trips. I know a lot of people hate them, never do them. Try to avoid having to drive anywhere. I love man when we get in the car and we head out. My, my youngest is on a boy scout trip, so my oldest Sam and I are gonna go to Nevada and ride dirt bikes. But just get on the road. I get a cup of coffee, he gets an energy drink and you listen to some music and just. I freaking love that.

[E]

See you. You traveled a lot before you had kids. You traveled a ton on your own solo trip. Spontaneous. You just went, yes. And you were comfortable in whatever environment you were in. You, wherever you went, you were like, this is great. I love this. I could sit down for five minutes if there's Some scenic spot that you stopped in and sit and appreciate it and not think about anything but that moment.

[F]

Right.

[E]

That that's how it was with you, I'm assuming, because I have that same sensation. I did similar trips. You and I probably went up and down the coast to similar places before we had kids. If I were to make those trips now, I'd be constantly thinking about them, and it's difficult to relax or to set. Like, we went to the beach last weekend. I couldn't enjoy it because I was constantly thinking of, is this one safe? Is this. Has this one drowned yet? Was the sunburn. What's going on? Do they need to eat?

[D]

Like, what you know is one's gonna get a sunburn?

[E]

Is my wife happy? Is my mom happy? Like, all these things and just checking on everybody, that was impossible. I took about five minutes to just sit there and listen to the waves crash into the beach. And I was like, this is really cool. I remember I used to do this for hours.

[D]

Yeah.

[F]

Is that a shark out there?

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

No, really?

[F]

That.

[E]

That thought crossed my mind too. I was scanning the. The waves. I make sure there's no shark in my son. I.

[D]

So I've always done this. I think my parents did this too. Yeah. Back in the day, you had to. But I don't have a schedule. When we go on these road trips, I have no idea how far we're gonna drive the down or we're gonna stay. And I mentioned that to some people that were just blown away by the. You don't have your hotels booked along the way. I've never even crossed my mind to do that.

[E]

They. That's the best way to do it. It's. It's. It's. To me, it's the only way to go. The only bummer is when you can't find a place. You know when something's booked up.

[D]

But that's happened, like, once in my entire life. That's what they said. What do you do if you can't. That's happened once in 60 years of. Well, I haven't been traveling, but in 40 years of traveling like this, it's happened to me one time.

[F]

Yeah.

[D]

So it's not like it's a common occurrence. I like the. If you're in the mood to drive, you drive a long way. You get tired early, you shut her down. Call it good. Get a room. Yeah, fantastic.

[E]

It's difficult when you have a plan to be able to stop at that one quirky place that you see and you go, oh, that'd be really cool. I hope to stop there again on the way back. You never do not never ever have a chance to get back to it. So correct lack of planning allows the spontaneity and that. That allows for those moments you'll never forget.

[D]

I didn't know Cody, Wyoming has a rodeo every single night all summer long. It's America's rodeo. I didn't know that. And we saw the big banner when we pulled in the town. I thought, we're doing that. I got a hotel room. We went to the rodeo that night. It was super fun. The kids had a good time. It was awesome. Yep. I love traveling like that. So are you doing anything at all, Michelangelo? During vacation?

[F]

I'll do something. You know, it'd be much. You know, the show's not live, so

[D]

to be relaxing, do you read? Do you stare at the wall?

[F]

No, I'll read. I mean, it'll be great. It'll be great.

[D]

What are you doing, Hanson?

[E]

I'll be here with Michael. He usually holds me for many hours and just kind of reassures me that everything will be all right. I can't really leave. I need his reassurance. I need his warmth. I need his musk.

[F]

We've all been waiting for you to leave town, Jack.

[D]

We will leave on musk. There's no doubt about that. Let's end this on musk. Good Lord.

[F]

Well, I guess that's it.

[C]

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