There are few feelings quite like leaving for vacation when you’ve been counting down the day, especially when that means returning to America.
By the middle of July in France, we had already endured two brutal heat waves and were heading into a third. Needless to say, our family was more than ready to escape the Paris heat. We packed our bags and set off for five weeks across Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, and more Texas, a mix of work, family, and much-needed time away from the day-to-day routine.
Back in Texas
The first stop was Texas. Greeted by Hailey’s parents at the airport… we were home. First order of business. Ice water and AC.
Shortly after landing, I headed to Houston for a couple of days in the Houston office before returning to celebrate Hailey’s 32nd birthday with her family. It was exactly what we needed. We were surrounded by family, swimming, great food, and of course cake!
A Week in Wisconsin
A few days later, we were up at 4:00 a.m. for a 6:30 a.m. flight to Chicago before driving to Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin always feels like home for me, and its a trip I have made all but 1 year since birth.
We spent the week catching up with family, seeing my mom, my sisters, my nephew Jake, Madison’s husband Jared.. We enjoyed time together, games, stories, cooking at grandma’s, ice cream, and continued one of our family’s longest-running traditions: seeing who could discover the oldest forgotten item hiding in Grandma’s refrigerator.
One afternoon we visited “The Barn” and spent the afternoon in the pool and drinking Fiji water. IYKYK.
One of the highlights was simply spending time with Grandma Mary and letting the kids experience Wisconsin. Complete with catching fireflies and eating Ice Cream from the Chocolate Shoppe We also made a trip to the Henry Vilas Zoo with my Mom.
It was a short but awesome trip and we cannot wait to get back there again.
Colorado Adventure
On Wednesday morning we flew west to Denver to spend a week with Hailey’s family.
From Denver we drove to Winter Park, where we spent four incredible days.
The Fraser River treated me well with several beautiful trout, giving me a chance to get back on the water after what felt like forever. We explored Winter Park Resort, rode the chairlift, hiked the trails, and the kids absolutely loved the Fairy Trail—a surprisingly magical little hike that quickly became one of the highlights of the trip.
After Winter Park we drove to Buena Vista. Buena Vista has become one of my favorite places in Colorado.
We visited the bison, stopped by the goat farm, spent time exploring town, and tackled several hikes, including the Harvard Lakes Loop. “Epic” is probably the best word for it. Beautiful? Absolutely. Easy? Not even close. The trail was steep, relentless, and left us all feeling like we’d earned dinner that night.
Of course, there was plenty of fishing.
I spent time on the Arkansas River and Chalk Creek, catching a handful of trout while introducing the kids to more time around rivers and mountains. They loved throwing rocks, splashing through the water, and simply being outdoors.
And no evening in Buena Vista ever seemed complete without a stop at Louie’s Ice Cream. On vacation calories don’t count – just ask Louis – if you want to know nutritional info, eat broccoli!
Actually Disconnecting
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the trip was how little I worked.
For nearly two full weeks, I barely opened my computer.
The only consistent work I did was adding new users to the AI agent I built for work, which has been exciting to watch as adoption continues to grow across the organization.
Beyond that?
Almost nothing.
That is very unlike me.
Normally, I’m constantly checking emails, Teams messages, and trying to stay one step ahead. Even with Outlook and Teams now living on our phones—making it nearly impossible to be completely disconnected—I made a conscious effort to leave the laptop and apps closed.
Why America Feels Different
As much as we’ve enjoyed our adventure living abroad, it felt incredibly good to be back in America.
It’s difficult to explain until you’ve lived overseas for an extended period.
You don’t fully appreciate understanding every conversation happening around you until you’ve spent months hearing a language you only partially understand. It can be surprisingly isolating.
Simple things suddenly become enjoyable again.
Driving.
Going shopping without planning your entire day.
Walking into a grocery store where you know exactly where everything is.
Ordering something from Amazon and having it arrive the next day.
Recently, the cork handle on one of my fly rods broke. ChatGPT recommended the right epoxy, I ordered it on Amazon, and it showed up at my door the next day.
That level of convenience is something I completely took for granted before moving overseas.
Even grocery shopping feels easier.
In France, every trip requires planning reusable bags, figuring out how you’ll carry everything home, often by foot or bicycle, and thinking carefully about what you can realistically transport.
Don’t get me wrong.
I actually enjoy biking to work in Paris, and there are many aspects of European life that I genuinely love. But there’s something incredibly satisfying about loading groceries into the back of a truck, SUV, or even a rental minivan and driving home.
You don’t realize how much mental energy small conveniences save until they’re gone.
Appreciating What We Have
Living abroad has reminded me of something I first realized years ago while living in India.
I wrote a blog post back then called Life Without Toilet Paper, and while the title got plenty of laughs, the message was simple: we rarely appreciate the ordinary comforts of everyday life until we no longer have them.
Living in France has reinforced that lesson.
France is an incredible country with amazing food, history, public transportation, and culture.
But America has its own strengths that are often overlooked.
Convenience.
Space.
Friendliness.
Efficiency.
The ability to simply hop in your car and go wherever you want.
None of those things are perfect, but they are easy to take for granted until you’ve lived somewhere different.
A Few Thoughts on AI
One other thing that’s become increasingly clear over the past few months is just how useful AI has become.
Is ChatGPT perfect?
Absolutely not.
It gets things wrong. It occasionally sends me down rabbit holes.
But between ChatGPT and Claude, I’ve been able to answer questions, analyze ideas, brainstorm projects, troubleshoot problems, and dramatically reduce the amount of time I spend searching forums or digging through dozens of websites.
More importantly, I think we’re only scratching the surface.
Beyond generative AI, I believe artificial intelligence as a whole will fundamentally change how we work, solve problems, and interact with technology over the next decade.
It’s an exciting time to be paying attention.
What’s Next?
We honestly don’t know.
Living overseas has been one of the greatest experiences of our lives, but every trip back to the United States reminds us how much we love home.
We’ll see where life takes us.
For now, we’re simply grateful… for family, for mountains, for trout fishing, for ice cream, for time together, and for the reminder that sometimes the greatest luxuries are the ordinary things we stop noticing.