North Independence or bust

Try as I might I just can't get my daughters off of Tyra Bank's America Next Top Model. They have this ungodly fascination for anorexic women and thoroughly unwearable clothing. And though both my beautiful daughters have what it takes to become models, fortunately they also have a heaping helping of the Siegel cynicism, which allows them to see shear lunacy of it all.

This photo of my oldest, just outside Pearsonville -- the Hub Cap Capital of the World is about as close as either will ever get to a runway. Unless they've been installed at Berkeley or Stanford and no one told me about it.

Pearsonville, for those of you who don't know, is at the lower end of the Owens Valley, one of my most favorite places on earth. Later next week, we're heading 100 miles north of the Hub Cap Capitol of the World, for a camping trip. Where I'll be engaged in Thing Jews Don't Do #11-15: sleeping on dirt, showering in the woods, fishing for trout, drinking beer with breakfast and forgetting about problems.

Have a Happy Fourth of July.