There’s a moment in every kid’s life — and let’s be honest, every grown man’s life too — where you look at the sky, watch something fast rip across it, and think: I want to be up there. For me, that moment never really went away. It just grew up with me. So when I got the call that I might get to fly with the Blue Angels — the Navy’s flight demonstration team, the gold standard of American aviation showmanship — I felt that kid inside me kick the door open like he’d just bee

Most people talk about America like it’s something you study from a distance. A debate topic. A scoreboard. A list of headlines stacked on top of each other until you can’t tell where one ends and the next panic begins. But that’s not the America I’ve seen. I’ve traveled this country more times than I can count — long stretches behind the wheel, flights to places where the rental car guy calls you “hon,” road trips with friends that turned into overnight confessions, and fam

There are machines you admire from a distance… and then there are machines that reach into your chest and rearrange something you didn’t realize had settled the wrong way. The UH-1H Huey is one of those machines.

Travel used to mean something. It used to be curiosity, risk, discovery — stepping into a place you didn’t already understand. Now it feels like half the internet is just trying to convince you they’ve unlocked some secret lifestyle by pointing a camera at a cappuccino or sitting in a hotel they didn’t pay for. Most “travel content” today is advertising. It’s a performance. It’s a curated feed of perfect meals, perfect sunsets, perfect outfits, perfect couples who somehow nev

There’s a version of America you get handed every day without asking for it. The doomscroll version. The outrage version. The algorithm-approved version where everyone’s screaming, no one’s listening, and everything feels like it’s on fire. I don’t buy it. Not because I’m naïve, and not because I think this place is perfect .I don’t. I’m a dad, a veteran, and someone who’s seen enough real life to know the world is complicated, messy, and full of people doing the best they ca