Guest Patrol

While on a family emergency trip to Beaumont, Texas, we had the fortune of finding the Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen which was at the same exit as our hotel.  Pappadeaux’s is a small chain based out of Houston, Texas.  The restaurant concept was founded by the Pappas brothers who have created a group of different small restaurant chains that serve seafood, Italian cuisine, Mexican cuisine, steaks, BBQ and burgers. They had their start in Houston in 1967 with the opening of The Brisket House in Houston.

What exactly is a heurigen? It’s Austria’s answer to a beer garden - only with wine. A heurigen is one of the best places to sample regional wines and delicious simple home-made cuisine and true “Gemütlichkeit ” - warmth and coziness. Heuriger means “this year” and heurigens began when Emperor Joseph II allowed vintners to sell their new wine directly to customers without any taxes. Families set up tables in their vineyards, gardens and cellars, and hung a wreath made of straw or evergreens as a signal that they were open and ready to serve their family wines.

For my birthday this November I asked my husband for a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada.  Although we’ve traveled extensively during our married life, have lived in 8 states, we’d never been to the falls.  We enjoy driving because we can take our time and think it’s a fun way to learn about our country.  So, even though we could have driven the 600 plus miles in one day, we stopped overnight in Cleveland, Ohio.

On our way to Beaumont, Texas we stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center for the usual rest break. While there, I thought to ask the attendant about Cajun restaurants close to I-10 where we could stop for lunch. She gave me a number of brochures and finally came to one on Crawfish Town. She said that she had eaten there herself and that it was very good. This turned out to be very fortuitous advice because my brief comment on Crawfish Town would be simply OMG!

Angouleme and the towns and countryside around it along the Charente River provide much to do and see. My approach has always been to investigate things in depth rather than trying to see every site available. Also meeting and talking to the locals gives a better feel for the locale. Once again quality is better than quantity.

Debbie Murray is a dog enthusiast from LaGrange, KY. She currently has five dogs - all Miniature Australian Shepherds who share a house with her and her husband Paul. Debbie also breeds her pets on occasion to share this marvelous breed with other dog enthusiasts. Susie is excited because she hopes to be getting another mini Aussie to keep her company from Debbie's  next litter. Debbie has been kind enough to share this article on choosing a veterinarian with the Boomer Travel Patrol.

For more detailed information on Debbie and her dogs you can visit her web site Alangus Mini & Toy Aussies as well as her blog. This article is one recently featured on her blog and offers excellent advice on selecting a veterinarian.

In November of 2005, only a couple of months after returning from Ghana, I was off again on a journey to Angouleme, France to attend and speak at a computer gaming conference, this time on “The Role of Computer Games in Bridging the Digital Divide.”

Many times when we travel we only see the veneer of the destinations that we visit. Much more lies beneath the surface that can add a high level of richness and understanding concerning the places and people that we see in our journey. I always make a point in my travels, whether it is in the familiar territory of my own country, the United States, or in a global destination such as France or Ghana, to speak with the people that I encounter there. The amount of additional insight that we can receive is amazing. Nowhere was this more evident than in Ghana in West Africa.

In 2005 I had the unique opportunity to travel to the nation of Ghana in West Africa. I had been invited by my good friend and colleague, Dr. Godfried Williams, to be the keynote speaker at an information technology conference in the capital city of Accra. The conference was the 1^st International Conference on Advances in Information and Communication Engineering held in August 2005 at the behest of the Ghanaian government. My topic was “Bridging the Digital Divide:  Linking and Closing the Gap between Advanced and Developing Economies.”

There are certainly not many times in life, if ever, that you are looking forward to taking yourself to jail.  But in this case, that is exactly what a happy group of 5 did on a beautiful Sunday in August.  After many, many, many, weekends of rain, Rod, Kathy, Chuck, Chris, and Jeff gathered for a long and beautiful motorcycle ride to a small Brandenburg, KY, jailhouse.