Yes, it’s official. ADDANAC CITY has reached 400 strips! If you haven’t read my super-sized special 400th comic yet, click here.

I was elated to receive this comic commemorating AC’s milestone from Speearr, who is the creator of the webcomic series Terence N. Tijuana. I think it’s hilarious!

If you get a chance, go check out Terence N. Tijuana. It is excellence in visual storytelling. Plus, Speearr’s got a wicked funny bone, to boot. Tell him George said hi.

Our Scenic Lodge

Picturesque Mountains at Camp Cedar Falls

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I wasn’t around here this past weekend. My family and I embarked upon a journey to a mountain retreat. We had a wonderful time bonding with nature and getting back to basics. The retreat took place at Camp Cedar Falls in the San Bernardino mountains in California. Camp Cedar Falls is a Seventh-Day Adventist retreat (resort?). My wife is SDA (I’m Methodist) and she was a sponsor/mentor for the trip.

I really enjoyed our time there even though it felt like we were roughing it to me. We had no cell phone reception and I had no internet access (which just about killed me), but it was rather nice not to be a slave to technology for three days.

Fate also got its revenge on me for the comic strip I made about Hank’s healthy value meal. I am a self-avowed and extremely committed carnivore and all of the meals we were served were vegetarian. People, I ate my first tofu burger Saturday night for dinner. It wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be, and after the first few initial bites (and adding lots of lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, cheese, and mayo), it was somewhat reminiscent to the average burger I had grown accustomed to eating throughout my life. Needless to say, I ate a lot of tofu during this excursion.

My family and I were able to go on a nature hike also. I had that innate fear that we would be the ones who made the evening news for being the idiots who got lost in the woods in sub-zero temperatures at night (somebody has to do it), so our hike was brief. I still enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised and pleased that I did not slip and fall off the face of the earth. I didn’t think anyone wanted to carry my big butt up a mountain to safety anyway.

My wife and I

There was a great amount of worship and fellowship on this journey and I met a lot of really fun, friendly people. I was glad to get home, but I felt that our trip brought me and my family closer together and gave me an opportunity to learn and experience more of the fascinating environs that make California such a beautiful state. If you get a chance to take a trip like that, I recommend that you do so. It’s fun!

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: After we returned from the mountains, we decided to go see the “2012″ movie. I have always been a huge fan of disaster films and Jon Cusack, so I figured it would be worth a watch, y’know? My kids were all excited about it and my son had been watching the Discovery Channel all week researching the Mayan influences and whatnot.

2012 Movie Promo Poster

My personal opinion of “2012” was that it was a great movie! It was formulaic certainly, but how many different ways can you make a disaster movie? The flick got trashed by the critics every now and then, but the purpose of the film is to entertain, and “2012” definitely did that for me.

I’m not gonna ruin the plot or give you any insider details, but I will say that the special effects were top-notch. The story was decent albeit hard to swallow at some points, but I could roll with it. I enjoyed seeing all of the actors who participated in this film. You had the dad from Punky Brewster, the black guy from Slow Burn, Danny Glover, and many other respected and accomplished actors.

So, basically, if you can forfeit scrutinizing logic and just want some good ol’ entertaining excitement, check this movie out!