Since Miss Kim is on her way to Cleveland this morning, I'll knock together a Faux Friday Five in her honor. Today's theme -- Summer Vacation:

1. What summer vacation trip was your all-time favorite? I'd say spending a week or two at the Jersey shore beats any other American vacation! Sun, sand, warm surf, nothing to do all day but lie around and read, play mini-golf and eat ice cream at night, watch movies, play games -- total bliss.

2. What did you do as a kid on a typical summer day? Woke up late, ate cereal and watched reruns for a while. Walked or biked a few blocks to the local playground, where there was a swingset under a big shade tree -- we would swing as high as we could and fling off our shoes, which sometimes landed atop the fieldhouse, and we'd have to throw rocks and branches up there to knock them down. In the afternoons, it was too hot to play outside, so we'd go home and eat lunch, then my mom would pack us all into the car and drive over to the pool club we belonged to, and we'd stay until dinner or later -- sometimes my dad would drive out after work and we'd order pizza to the front gate. If it rained, we'd drive my mom nuts playing in the house -- sometimes she let us rollerskate around in the basement! We went to the movies on the weekends with my dad, and my mom liked day trips to New York or to a museum or to visit friends. Our vacation was either at the shore or camping at a lakeside state park. We went to day camp and made crafts, spent hours in the public library, caught lightning bugs and played badminton in the yard until it was too dark to see. It always seemed like it would go on forever.

3. Where are you spending this year's summer vacation? In 13 days Nat and I head off on our Midwest Ramble, with stops in Durand, IL (for obvious reasons), Madison, WI, the twin cities and the Minnesota State Fair, Davenport, IA, and culminating in Chicago, a.k.a. SherTown. Can't wait!

4. If you had $5,000 to spend and the next two weeks off work, where would you go? Despite the constant allure of a return trip to Australia, I think given the season I'd rent an RV and extend the Midwest Ramble with a cross-country swing, from Chicago to L.A. then up to Seattle, Kerouac style.

5. What was your favorite item for back-to-school as a kid: spiral notebooks? new lunchbox? I was always a sucker for a new backpack. I also spent weeks, literally, deciding what to wear on the first day of school. On my first day of high school, my ultra-preppy ensemble (plaid shorts, white button-down, black penny loafers) caught the eye of my friend-to-be Paul McRae, a hunky junior, in Choir class, who teased me for wearing "a Catholic school uniform" until I almost burst into tears (he apologized profusely, that's how we became friends). Good times!