TRAVEL THERE: RICK STEVES SHARES TRAVEL SECRETS AT TRAVEL & ADVENTURE SHOW

Samantha Brown is my travel celebrity of choice, but I think her fans may be outnumbered by Rick Steves‘ fans – if the turnout at their travel show seminars can be trusted.  A couple of weeks ago I attended the Dallas Travel & Adventure Show and a standing-room-only crowd paid breathless attention to everything Rick had to say.

Rick vs Samantha

Were I given a choice between these two travel celebrities as a personal travel companion, I would choose Samantha every time.  Her love of travel is less pedagogic than Rick’s, which means I think we’d have a lot more fun, but when it comes to providing information for the European traveler, Rick has her all beat to heck.

Let’s face it.  I like glamorous things.  From time to time I watch an episode of Rick’s travel shows and he’s always wandering around backstreets, visiting factories and hanging about in somebody’s home – and for the record, the somebody is usually a nobody.  Meanwhile, Samantha sleeps in five star hotels, eats in swanky restaurants and watches the beautiful people sunbathe on a gorgeous beach.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m interested in those authentic travel experiences Rick urges us to experience, but I want them to be sprinkled among a liberal dose of dazzle.  He started his talk by outlining the limit on luggage his travelers must abide by and I knew I’d never go on one of his tours.  Still, I hung on to my seat and kept taking notes, because he is a fountain of travel wisdom.  He just doesn’t understand the value of the right accessory in ones’ vacation pictures.

Full of Good Advice

The most pertinent thing Rick Steves said was that when it comes to travel, we should learn from the mistakes of others instead of experiencing them ourselves.  He spends four months out of the year in Europe to make all the mistakes for us.  Only a third of his time is spent shooting his episodes.  The rest he devotes to checking out all the research he’s done in the months he’s not in Europe.  Here’s a few of his golden nuggets:

• Meeting real people on your travels carbonizes your experience, so get out of your car and sit at the bar.
• Find places with no promotional budget.  Many are just as wonderful and others more wonderful, but you’re mingling with a few natives instead of hordes of tourists:
  • For instance, to see the “real” Germany, cruise the Mosel instead of the Rhine.  The Mosel has the real quaint villages, instead of the faux quaint villages fixed up for tourists.
• See  the front door attractions, but don’t complain about it when you get there.  Instead stay the night.  The tour buses go back to the fancy hotels and you get to enjoy the real destination.
  • Examples:  Toledo, Rothenburg, Venice
• Spend extra money to be in the middle of the action.  It’s a better way to spend – see more of less, rather than barely any of a lot.
• Spend at least half a day in the big city, just to get the feel of how the average person of that country lives – and if you’re already in a touristy city like Vienna, just go over to the modern part of the city.
• Learn enough before you go to understand the basics.  Such as:
  •  Germany used to be 200 independent states, not a unified country.
  • Understand feudalism before you see castles.
  • Know the difference in architecture from the Middle Ages and the Romantic Age.  The buildings will seem to look the same unless you understand what you’re looking at.
• Tourist Information Centers have been transformed into profit centers by selling you tickets to tourist traps.  They can still be a valuable source of information, just don’t fall for the gimmicks.
• Whatever your thing is, pursue it on vacation:
  • Go to church, if you go to church at home.
  • Sports fanatics should go to sporting events.
  • If you nerd out on bones at home, go to a Capuchin Brothers monastery and see what they do with bones.
  • If you sky dive, collect stamps or whatever – bring your passions with you.
• The package tour industry is feeling a pinch, so expect to spend more time on your tour at shopping opportunities than at attractions.  It’s how the guide makes a living. Don’t be a jerk about it – if you don’t want shopping opportunities, don’t go on the tours.  (Hiring a private guide and paying him NOT to take you shopping is an option.)
  • Also, most land travel companies will put you up in a very American hotel out in the middle of nowhere, so they can sell you an excursion to the actual attraction.  Consumer beware.
• A good guidebook is a $20 investment on a $3000 trip, so get a guidebook – but be careful, because most guidebooks are lame.  (You can imagine which guidebook he doesn’t think is lame.)
• Don’t let hysterical news short circuit your brain.  In the last 50 years, 200 tourists have been killed.  There are 1000 people killed every month in the US.  Do the math.  Where are you safer?
• Don’t stand in bank lines.  Use ATM’s.
• Yes there are pickpockets, so don’t be a target, and yes, that beggar is a pickpocket.   Carry a disposable wallet with your immediate cash needs in an accessible spot.  Leave the valuables in a safe or wear them in a money belt UNDER your clothes.  Do not access your money belt all the time, then you’re just helping the thieves by demonstrating where your valuables are.
• When you DO stay overnight at a destination, ask about the paseo.  Most cities have some form of a public evening stroll within their community.  Many of the stroll locales are surrounded by cute cafes offering apertifs that are delicious and affordable – just right for paseo watching.

Seminar?  Advertisement?  Same Difference!

Mr. Steves was pretty transparent about the fact that he’s in the travel business as a profit-making venture.  At the same time, he realizes that most of the people within the sound of his voice are not actually potential customers for his tours.  He said the tours offer “vivid hands-on experiences”, but while they are just right for the right person, they would be awful for everyone else.  I am everyone else.

However, I plan to take full advantage of the resources he makes available to everyone for free.  His website is an encyclopedic resource of information.  I just booked a cruise for April (something he doesn’t strongly endorse), but I’ve already been researching the ports of call on his website.  Plenty there to keep me busy for a while.  I will also buy some guidebooks and will probably include his among my purchases.

His lecture did take a political detour that I could have done without.  He strongly endorses Turkey as a destination, which I can agree with, but not for the same reasons and certainly not because I have a political axe to grind, which it seems he does.  For more information read his book, “Travel as a Political Act.”

So, today I’ve bent your ear longer than usual.  I hope you find some of Rick’s travel tips helpful.  Let me know if you’ve used some of his guidebooks and have found them helpful.  Next week I’ll tell you about Pauline Frommer’s seminar.

AT HOME IN HEATH: PRECIOUS WAS THE BEST DOG – EVER

I didn’t deserve a dog as wonderful as Precious.  I always felt she’d gotten cheated in the Mommy department.  Some dogs spend their lives perfectly groomed, lolling around in a sea of toys, wearing the latest in doggie fashion.  Precious didn’t seem to care about any of that.  She hated grooming, was only interested in her stuffed tiger and barely tolerated it when I insisted she wear her sweater out in the cold.  I refused to feed her tablescraps and her favorite treat was Beggin’ Strips, not some exotic, expensive treat from a specialty boutique.

A Series of Mishaps

When you screw up with people you can apologize.  That doesn’t work with dogs.  Bill and I nearly killed her with soap the first month we had her.  Who knows how many times we stepped on her?  When I would try to trim her up to avoid having to take her to the groomer, more than once I ended up cutting more than her hair.  Talk about unconditional love!  I nearly died every time she experienced one of these unintentional events, but she would immediately shrug it off and wag her tail as if to say, “It’s OK Mom.”  I’ve never understood how anyone could abuse a dog on purpose.

Then there was the day I left her outside all by herself.  My husband and I stepped out onto the driveway at the back of a rental house for a few moments.  We didn’t realize she had followed us out into the garage and onto the driveway.  Then as we discussed whatever had taken us out there in the first place she must have roamed around a corner.  Bill and I returned into the house none the wiser that she was outside.

The driveway was at the back of the house and when we closed the garage behind us, there was no access to house or the backyard on one side.  The fence on the other side of the house had fallen down before we even moved in and even though it angered me the landlord didn’t repair it during the entire twelve months we lived there, thank goodness the fence was down that day.

We had not lived there very long and as far as I know, Precious had never circumvented the entire house.  Nonetheless, she trotted around the house, made her way to the front porch and scratched on the door.  At first I thought it was just someone attaching a flyer to the front door and kept reading the textbook I was studying.  When it continued, I sneaked over to the door to see if I could see the perpetrator.  I couldn’t see anyone from the spyhole, so I sat back down, but the sound came again.  I thought to myself, “That sounds like Precious when she wants to get on the other side of a door.”

I was off the sofa and ripping open the door before I had time to think about it.  I grabbed her up in the biggest hug she’d ever gotten.  I kept saying into her fur, “Oh you precious, sweet, wonderful thing.  Thank you, thank you!”  While I tried to thank her for her stubborn love, I also prayed a million prayers of thanksgiving.

At first I couldn’t even figure out how she got out.  We made an inspection of the fence-line and even though there were a couple of spots where rabbits had chewed on the bottom of the fence, none of them was large enough for Precious to squeeze through.  When Bill suggested she’d followed us out to the driveway I was incredulous.  The sun had set in the interim.  I knew I was very lucky she had found her way to the front door, rather than wandering off like so many dogs would have done.

Her Final Days  

Precious had a bad spell a few years back.  Bill was certain then her days were numbered, but she came back from it.  Never quite as spunky and brave as she had once been, but still just as dear.  When we moved away from our Squaw Valley house and into another rental she didn’t make the transition as smoothly as she had during our other moves.  When when we moved to Heath, I don’t think she ever considered it home, but that’s where we were, so she made the best of it.

Then one day she didn’t want her food.  I tried everything over the next few weeks trying to get her to eat something, anything.  The vet didn’t have much to offer, but I called him from time to time, anyway.  I wore out the folks at Petco trying to figure out something she would eat.  For awhile she’d eat chicken, but she started having bad diarrhea, so I added rice.  That worked a few times, but only for a day or so.  Then she’d take a few nibbles of her old dry food mixed with a senior formula the guys at Petco told me to try.

The day came when she refused water.  She was so weak she couldn’t stand on her own.  She didn’t seem to be in any pain or acute discomfort, so I went about my business, but made it part of my business to never have her out of sight for more than a moment or two.  For most of the day, I’d catch her big dark eyes following me.  When I said a tearful goodnight to her, I thought she might not make it until morning.

But she did.  She was waiting for me when I got up.  She seemed to be in an uncomfortable position so I moved her around until she seemed more easy.  Not knowing how the day would go, I went ahead and put in an hour on my stationary bike, while I did my daily Bible study.  Then I decided to spend some time with her.  Though I didn’t know whether the end was days or minutes away, I thought this quiet time, when Bill was still sleeping, was a special gift.

I wrapped her in a towel and grabbed up her beloved stuffed tiger.  The three of us sat there on the sofa for an hour and a half.  From time to time I would re-position her sweet body, trying to make her breathing as easy as I could.  There didn’t seem to be any part of her that was painful, just a difficulty breathing.  It was a familiar feeling, one I’d had before.  I’d been with my favorite aunt, my dad and my mom as they struggled to breathe in their last days.  The love I felt for that tiny furry body was no less than what I’d felt for the humans I lost.

Precious was waiting for one more thing.  I might have been her favorite, but she also loved Bill.  When he came out of the bedroom, I told him we were near the end and that he should probably call the vet.  He thought he wanted to have a cup of coffee first, but then he came over and looked into those sweet eyes.  He immediately got on the phone, but she was gone before he could explain why he had called.

All that was left was a few logistics.  Now we were a one pet family.  The cat was confused by the changes and still seems to wonder sometimes where Precious might be. The hole in my heart is mending, but this scar, like the others,will never go away.  My love for Precious was all out of proportion, but only a fraction of what she had for me – and I will never understand why.

TRAVEL HERE: SB HALL AT UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

So, a couple of students from India come to a small Catholic University in the US.  There they meet, fall in love and borrow a typewriter on campus to start an international company, which in turn, makes them rich beyond their wildest dreams.  Sounds like the plot to a Bollywood movie, right?  Nope, just another UD success story!

Ribbon Cutting on the Hill

The University of Dallas does a great job keeping their alumni, like my hubby, plugged into their campus.  Just a few weeks ago I reviewed one of their fall stage productions.  In mid- January, we attended the ribbon-cutting for the new SB Hall of the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business.

Remarkably the outdoor ceremony couldn’t have been more pleasant, even if it was in the middle of January.  The day was absolutely perfect – bright sunshine, no wind and you could see forever from the the hill where the new building is located.  Until I attended the ceremony, I did not realize the campus included the highest point in Dallas.

Perhaps even more surprising than the weather was the crowd.  This is Texas after all, so a perfect day in January is remarkable, but not all that rare.  However, hundreds of people showing up for a ribbon cutting at a local university is pretty amazing.  A free glass of champagne is nice, but it was 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.  Where did all those people come from?

I groaned as I sat down and looked over my program.  Welcome and Introduction of, Invocation, Introduction of, Remarks, Introduction of and on and on and on!  Then the remarks started and I was able to start piecing together the amazing story of Satish & Yasmin Gupta.  By the time the principles of the event got up for the keynote remarks I was sitting on the edge of my seat.  Who were these people and what in the world was SB International?

Their’s is an amazing story – the kind we need to hear more of.  Delightfully humble people who get a hand, just when they need it most, and never quit reaching back to give a hand to others.  People who are sincerely grateful for the opportunity to borrow a typewriter.  People who appreciate someone picking a weed and leaving it on their desk as a gift.  In these days of expectations of great entitlement for little-to-no effort, I was greatly refreshed.

As each stepped to the podium they downplayed their spectacular success in the world of business and focused on borrowed typewriters, dandelions and friendship.  The world is full of success stories, but how many of those successful people are well-acquainted with humility, gratitude and generosity.  I seem to see a lot more hubris, greed and excess.

SB Hall, Looking Ahead

Perhaps it’s true that what goes around, comes around.  SB Hall came in on budget, before the deadline and without the need for a single change order.  How often does that happen?  Dallas County has a wonderful new building on its highest point.  Touring the building I was impressed with the careful planning with which it was created and the many innovations included.  Even more impressive were the plans in store for the future as their first doctorate class works toward their theses.

Bill and I are frequently surprised to discover successful people throughout the Metroplex and the world hail from his alma mater.  With the introduction of SB Hall, we believe the university is poised for even greater successes.  Congratulations UD and thank you to the Guptas of SB International.

AT HOME IN HEATH: PRECIOUS COMES HOME TO TEXAS

One of the happiest days of my life was the one on which we decided to move back to Texas.  As it turned out, the move was one of the toughest I had to make, not that I had any regrets.  The whole thing was just a logistical nightmare.  When I finally got back to Texas, and had moved into the rent house I called home for a year, I sent out an email to my friends, to share what happened during the move.  The email was over 5000 words long.  I’ll just touch on the highlights here.

What Do You Mean You Can’t Fit It All into the Truck?

Bill decided, for our return to Texas, he’d move us in a rental truck and he’d tow his car behind him. How hard could it be, right?  HA!  Here’s a few highlights:

• When the loading crew came to load, they couldn’t get everything into the truck – and of course, they figured that out after they’d loaded all the non-essentials.  Resolving this miscalculation made us a day late with our departure and Bill had to be on the plane to his new assignment, at a very specific time.
• At the first stop for gas, Bill wrapped the truck and trailer around the gas pump.  To complicate matters, filling the tank with gas was almost impossible.  The automatic shut off would kick in before he could get all the gas he needed.  He never did figure that out and when we returned the truck he had to have an employee of the truck rental company come with him to fill up the truck.
• Then there was the day we believed a sign that said we’d arrive at a truck stop about 75 miles down the road.  NOT!  Bill pulled into a station on fumes, much further down the road, and nearly had a heart attack at the price of the gas.

Meanwhile, Precious was having a Great Time

Before we experienced the joy of leaving a day late, I had reservations at our first stop for a motel which accepted pets.  Unsure of how far we would get when we finally did leave, I didn’t make any reservations.  At the end of the day, Bill was exhausted from driving the truck and sent me ahead to find accommodations with a parking lot large enough to park the truck.  I chose a Holiday Inn, but I didn’t see a sign about their pet policy.  Bill and I had been discussing the motels on the phone, as I drove along in my search.  He told me not to mention the pets.  Just go see if they had any vacancy.  We’d cross the pet bridge after that.

I parked my car in front of the hotel and Precious peered through the window as I entered.  I expected someone to yell at me, “Get that dog out of here!”  Thankfully, you couldn’t see her through the hotel’s tinted doors and the Holiday Inn had a vacancy.  By phone, I guided Bill into the parking lot.  Then we sneaked in the pets.  I carried Precious wrapped into a jacket.  She thought it was a fun game.  Bill was in charge of the cat.

I fed Precious, smuggled her back out for her potty break and then back into our room.  The next morning we crept out for her morning potty break.  That’s when I saw a guy with a big bulldog on a leash walk right past the hotel clerk at the reception desk.  That’s when I figured out pets were welcome.  I laughed until I cried.  It wasn’t the first or last time on that trip.

Rain in the Desert

To make everything more interesting, we were almost washed off the road as we drove through the desert.  It’s sunny about 80% of the time in Albuquerque and during most of the other 20% of days, it’s snowing.  We went through on one of the few days of rain and I’m telling you it came a gully washer.  I was all for stopping, but Bill was determined to get to Tucumcari that evening.

There was only one problem.  His windshield wipers didn’t work very well and he couldn’t see the signs.  So we put our phones on speaker, he took the lead and I talked him through the city, telling him what lanes he needed to be in.  It was a white-knuckle experience.

As I drove along straining to see the signs ahead of Bill, my mind wandered to my traveling companion.  I’d heard somewhere that animals could sense danger.  I imagined her quaking next me and quickly glanced over to see if she was alright.  To my amazement she was sleeping soundly.  It was the comic relief I needed.  Later a friend told me it was natural for Precious to be sleeping, because she  could sense no danger as long as she knew her mommy was in charge.

Touch & Go in Tucumcari

The rain ended, but the white knuckles did not.  Just about the time we got out of the storm clouds, the sun set in a glorious display.  A few miles down the road we hit a construction zone that made the Albuquerque experience look like a kiddie ride.  I have no idea how 18-wheelers made it down that road, because there was a concrete barrier on one side of the lane and a huge drop-off on the other.  I was having trouble keeping my Jeep on track. I could only imagine what Bill was going through.  At least it was a straight shot and I prayed my guts out.

When we got to Tucumcari we were spent.  It was the middle of the night, but there was no room at the inn – any inn.  Bill parked the truck and trailer in a residential neighborhood and we went looking for a place to stay.  We finally found a rat trap in which to grab a few hours of sleep.  We recovered the truck and left it across the street from the rat trap.  I asked Bill if the alarm was set and he said he didn’t care.

The next morning we figured out just what a dump we’d landed in.  Precious was as happy and carefree as she always was, but the same could not be said for the cat.  That cat hated being in her carrier and hated even more riding in a vehicle.  We knew things were bad when she zipped into the carrier the second Bill opened the door.

We made it to Dallas that day and the trek was over.  I still needed to find a home to live in while Bill completed a year-long assignment overseas, but our pets had made it across the country in one piece.  I can’t say the same for the truck, but that’s another story for another day.

TRAVEL THERE: TRAVEL & ADVENTURE SHOW IS TOO SUCCESSFUL FOR ITS OWN GOOD

For the last few years I’ve spent at least one full day at Dallas Travel & Adventure Show.  Each year I’ve told you to put this on your calendar.  If this year is any indicator of future shows, I might have to tell you to just stay home!

How It Was Before

Several years back, when I attended my first Travel & Adventure Show, I was blown away.  They had reps from all over the world, right there for me to visit with.  I’d go from booth to booth, loading up on brochures and chatting with the travel reps from all the various locales.  And there were adventures to sample.  One year there was zip lining.  Another year they were offering Segway rides throughout the exhibit space.  I loved the Global Beats state where I saw belly dancing and lovely Mexican folk dancing.  I thought it was one of the coolest events I’d ever attended.

How It Was Last Weekend

A lot of people must have taken my advice about attending the show, because when we arrived, a little before the opening, we found a line stretching into the horizon.   I live in Dallas, so I’m used to lines; however, this was our first clue that things weren’t quite what they used to be.

Enter the camel! Yes, a camel.  I’m lucky to have had my camel riding experience at the Pyramids in Egypt and I hate to be an adventure snob, but somehow, riding a camel around a small space that didn’t look much bigger than my living room didn’t seem like much of a thrill – even for folks who’d never had the opportunity to ride a camel at all.

You could also ride a Segway in a similar space in another part of the exhibition – way sad considering they used to wander all around the exhibition.  There was a small pool for a scuba experience (BYO swimsuit & towel).  There may have been a rock climbing tower, but I didn’t see it.  I did like the green screen photo booth where we got our picture a la Thailand.

Then there were the booths – which should have been travel booths – but instead spread among safaris and cruises, were exhibitors who wanted to speak to you about getting your house remodeled or refinanced.  Or replacing your tub with a walk-in version. Or getting rid of your time share.  Or…well you get the picture.  REALLY??!!??  An entire corner of the show was some sort of retail space for farm products with a few live animals for kids to pet.  Come on people!!  There was supposed to be a cultural exhibit filled by reps from China and Mexic0, but it was empty.

The Taste of Travel stage seemed to be a big hit, which I didn’t get at all, because it was cooking demonstrations.  I don’t want to learn to cook grilled cheese sandwiches from a Dallas food truck proprietor at a travel show.  Perhaps I’d sit through a demonstration by a Thai chef from a restaurant in Bangkok, but a local food truck’s grilled cheese sandwiches? PUH-LEEEZ!!

Then there was the Romance Travel booth focused on destination weddings and other love-related events.  I would have said that the brides stayed home in droves, except that I figure they were actually over at Market Hall at the Bridal Show.  Someone didn’t do their homework.

Making it all  more unbearable than before was that even the travel booths disappointed me.  While there were some (make that a few) very inviting travel booths with enthusiastic travel reps, they were the exception rather than the norm.  There were a lot more gimmacky booths with people giving away “free” travel for the spin of wheel or some other schtick.  There were also more people trying to sell me travel packages than there were people trying to teach me how to be an informed traveler.  And get this, many of the booths required you to sign up with your contact information before they would give you a brochure.  NOT!!

The final bit of indignation went back to my first complaint – where did all these people come from?!?  I couldn’t even get up to several of the booths I was interested in, for all the people standing in front of them.  I guess that’s good for the booths with that problem, but access is the name of the game.  I’m there to get information and if I can’t get it, then I will stay home.  I am perfectly capable of inputting my information and ordering brochures online.  It’s just that it was so much more fun to do it live – heavy on the WAS!

I did take advantage of the opportunity to hear Rick Steves and Pauline Frommer and I’ll give you the low down on those very informative seminars over the next couple of weeks, but all-in-all I was disappointed.  Come back next week to get the highlights from Rick Steves’ about traveling Europe, but don’t bother marking your calendar for next years, unless you need to remodel your bath or are particularly fond of crowds.

TRAVEL HERE: NEW FACE IN A FAMILIAR PLACE PUTS THE TOWN EAST RED LOBSTER BACK ON THE LIST

Her name was Francesca.  It was just another visit to another Red Lobster, but great service made all the difference.  Red Lobster has been a perennial favorite with us, but she took an old favorite to a new level.  

When Didn’t I Love Red Lobster

The Red Lobster website explains that by the early 70’s there were Red Lobsters all over the Southeast.  That sounds about right, because that’s about the time the LBJ Freeway opened up.  Mom was working at the new Town East Mall and our family, which lived in East Dallas, were big fans of the new seafood restaurant about halfway to the mall.

Our old location is now a funeral home and we’ve all been guilty of quips like, “Would you like a side-order of crab legs with that coffin?”  When they closed the old Red Lobster, they opened a new one just a few clicks down LBJ, so their was no break in our patronage.

When I married Bill, he was already a fan of Red Lobster.  He had a sojourn in their management training program and after a decade of experience in the food industry, his time there still stands out in his memory. Open up the subject with him sometime and he will give you an earful.  Besides that, he likes Walt’s Shrimp.

During the first years of our marriage, we lived close to the Town East location, so we had a lot of meals there.  When our good friend Linda started moonlighting there, we were able to combine a great meal with a nice visit with her, but we would have gone anyway.

After the daughter was out of college Linda’s moonlighting ended and Bill rented office space near the intersection of LBJ and Greenville Avenue.  Suddenly we had a new Red Lobster and we were there on the afternoon the move to California came up. Though our time in California proved we loved Dallas more than we thought, building an ocean-side home was one of the items on Bill’s bucket list and he credits Red Lobster with realizing it.

One might think our favorite seafood restaurant in Pismo Beach would have been one of several serving fresh seafood along the shoreline.  One would be wrong.  Oh, we ate at all the local favorites, but the price was high, the service uneven and the food, well, it was uneven also.  So what did we do for seafood?  More often than not we drove to the Red Lobster in Santa Maria.

A Recent Meal

A visit to the Town East At Home (Garden Ridge for anyone who hasn’t cottoned to the new name yet), for some fake flowers, put us in the proximity of our old favorite.  I’ve got to tell you it was some time last summer we made this trek to Red Lobster, but I’ve been busy.  I wrote the post back then and it’s been preempted a number of times by other events.  I’ve even visited Red Lobster since then.  As a New Year’s Resolution I’ve promised myself to clean out the storehouse of posts I keep for emergencies.  January will be a sort of clearance sale of blog posts.

Walking in the restaurant’s front door that day brought a rush of memories.  Of course I thought of the many meals Linda served us there, but I also thought about the day mom dropped her glass and drowned her white denim Liz Claiborne jacket in watered-down red sauce.

As the hostess walked us to the back of the restaurant and set us at one of the furthest tables, I thought of all the remodels the location had been through and wondered when the next was due.  Once seated, Bill didn’t even open his menu, because he knew he was having Walt’s Shrimp, but my old favorite, coconut shrimp, is not exactly South-Beach-Diet friendly.  So, I perused the light menu – because I never want to have to lose all that weight again!

“Hi! Welcome to Red Lobster!  My name is Francesca and I will be your server tonight.”  Maybe it was the pleasant association with Linda or maybe Francesca was just a good waitperson, but she turned a routine evening into a special occasion.  I chose crab legs from the light menu to go with a pinot grigio.

The cheddar biscuits were delivered and I confess to pinching just a bit off one of them, but otherwise I stayed true to South Beach.  Besides, South Beach lets me have a bite or two of anything I want – as long as it’s only a bite or two.  The wine was good, my meal was too and Bill was in Walt’s Shrimp nirvana.  I will admit I wished for the Caesar Salad with croutons.  Not because there was anything wrong with my healthier version of side salad, but because I dearly love Red Lobster’s Caesar Salad.

One of Bill’s recent gripes at restaurants is the time it takes to get extra lemons.  (My mom always complained about the same thing.)  He will tell the waitperson he wants extra lemons when he orders (and it really doesn’t matter what he orders, he wants lemons.).  When they bring the order it is obvious that they forgot or they they have a whole different idea of “extra” than he does.  Then they ask, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”  Bill says, “More lemons.”  Then about the time we are finishing up our meal we may or may not finally get the lemons.  Not with Francesca.  We laughed with her about our frequent lemon dilemma and she actually ran to another par of the restaurant to get him a huge bowl full.  Yes, we liked Francesca.

Congratulations to Red Lobster for decades of consistency.  We love the food and are always treated well by the staff.  Maybe not as well as Linda and Francesca treated us, but head and shoulders above our usual experience with servers.  If I wrote a blog post every time we ate at Red Lobster, you’d get bored, but we had such excellent service that I had to tell you about it.

Come back next week.  I’ll have something new to share with you.

AT HOME IN HEATH: PRECIOUS AND HER PALS

Moving to the Central Coast of California had been Bill’s idea and while I was glad to oblige him his dream, I was never really happy there.  Oh, I had some happy times and made some great friends, but Texas was home.  I frequently say that getting Precious was the best thing to happen to me while I was in California.

When it all got to be too much, I’d take Precious on a drive to Moonstone Beach in Cambria.  There, with the wind blowing my hair and the sound of the surf erasing all other sounds, I’d indulge in a pity party of major proportions.  For awhile, Precious would be content to lay on the bench next to me or sniff about in the sand, but eventually she’d let me know she was ready to start walking.  We’d stroll along the boardwalk and somehow the smell of the sea and the beauty of nature all around me would let me know I was going to make it.  Some of Precious’ joy at being alive would wear off on me.

My Central Coast Dog 

The Central Coast of California was a perfect place for Precious.  She enjoyed the adventure of climbing the rocks along the jagged coastline with us.  She would never run into the surf like other dogs did, but loved following along on a sandy beach.  The weather was always on the cool side, so pretty much wherever we went we could take her along, because all we had to do was crack the window a little and she would be fine in the car.

Even though she was fine in the car, we didn’t leave her there unless there were no other choice.  In California, many restaurants allowed dogs on the patio long before Texas establishments ever dreamed of it.  Frequently, when the restaurant didn’t have a patio we’d secure Precious to something near the entrance and keep an eye on her from inside.

Then Precious would delegate herself as the official greeter.  She’d lay on the walk outside the door until she saw someone head her way.  Then she would haul herself to her feet and do the welcome dance I loved so much.  Invariably, the people headed into the restaurant would stop and pet her.  Very occasionally, Precious would not rise on someone’s approach.  She seemed to vanish into the sidewalk as they passed.  I’d make note of these people.  I wanted to be sure I didn’t run into them in a dark alley or do business with them.

Silky’s Co-conspirator

We had a cat named Mish-Mish when we brought Precious home.  Mish-Mish was getting older and we’d been shopping for a kitten to perk him up when Bill fell in love with Precious.  Shortly after Precious moved in, Mish-Mish left.  This was an indoor cat that abhorred the out of doors.  Then one day he just disappeared.  We’ve developed many theories about it, among them that he left in a pique of jealousy, but we never saw a trace of him after that; even though we scoured the neighborhood for days, calling his name and rattling the treat jar.

Soon afterwards we got a little lavender point Siamese kitten.  Bill called him Silky, but I insisted his name was Criminal Cat.  You would have thought we bought the cat for Precious rather than for us.  They were fast friends.  I was just hoping Precious wouldn’t pick up Silky’s criminal tendencies.  I had dead rats delivered to my door and the cat thought nothing of mine was sacred.

One of Silky’s favorite tricks was to knock my things to the floor and among his most frequent objects of disdain were scrapbooking supplies.  See, once something was on the floor, Precious would oblige him by chewing it a little or at the very least licking it.  You really couldn’t discipline Precious, because it was down on the floor, her territory.  In the picture, Silky had raided the bathroom and destroyed the toilet paper roll, but as soon as we arrived home, Precious urged us to come see what they had done.

Other Critters

We were living out in Los Osos when we first got Precious and it was a very rural area.  Our house was built around a courtyard with a gate, so we turned it into Precious’ playroom.  We kept her food and water out there and she made our lives easy by using the flower beds as her private bathroom.

Then one night we were wakened by frantic barking.  Bill ran to the courtyard and I followed him, turning on lights along the way.  Bill didn’t see what caused the commotion, but he heard the sound of something climbing through a grated opening in the courtyard’s brick fence.  Then a pair of raccoon peered at us through the gate.

That night we brought Precious in with her food and water and shut down the doggie door.  As I held the sweet dog it seemed her heart was beating out of her chest.  The next morning we boarded up the break in the brick wall and limited Precious access to her playroom with doggie fencing.  We were taking no chances with out beloved pet.

Precious and the Golden Girls  

Precious was thrilled when the doorbell rang.  As if she were hearing something I was unable to hear, she’d start barking frantically as soon as it went off, eager to perform her welcome dance for whoever was on the other side of the door.  Watching an episode of the Golden Girls in the Pismo Beach house we discovered their doorbell sounded just like ours and Precious had no way of differentiating between them.

We developed the habit of watching the Golden Girls for the pure pleasure of observing Precious.  She’d be sleeping between us on the couch when the Golden Girls would get a visitor.  Precious would jump and bark, letting me know I was supposed to answer the door.  She had no idea why Bill and I erupted into howls of laughter.  Eventually, she’d figure out no one was coming in and she would go back to sleep – just about the time the Golden Girls’ doorbell would ring again.  It was a treat we enjoyed for a long time.  The reruns ended before the fun did.

In the years to come, Precious lost her ability to hear.  I hated that she could no longer enjoy the frantic joy she felt when the doorbell rang, but most of all I missed her obvious pleasure at the sound of my voice.  I still spent a portion of each day assuring her that she was the most wonderful dog on the face of the earth and telling her how much her mommy loved her.

I hope you’re enjoying these memories of my darling Shih Tzu.  I’ll only force a few more on you.  Come back next week and find out about her move to Texas.

TRAVEL HERE: PRINCI ITALIA FOR PASTA IN PRESTON ROYAL

What is it about the corner at Preston and Royal?  Like my beloved NorthPark, it stays vibrantly alive while other strip malls go through the entire cycle of being developed to going broke, to being re-developed.  All the Preston Royal strip centers do is keep getting busier.  Have you tried Prinici Italia yet?  It took me a while to get there, but we’ve been there a couple of times now.

Not on my Route

Perhaps one of the reasons I put off visiting Princi Italia is that it got lost in the traffic.  It backs up to the southwest corner of the busy Preston and Royal intersection, in the old Preston Royal Village.  There is rarely a parking spot in sight.

Mom dug Preston Royal Village.  She liked J Renee Shoes and the Doughtery’s Airway Drug Store.  She thought they had a great Chico’s and she thought The Cobbler Shoe Repair was the only place to take broken shoes.  But if it was time to eat when she visited, she wanted to go over to Preston Royal East and eat at Cantina Laredo.  Forget Preston Oaks across the street.  She abandoned it when the Dillard’s store went out.

Casual, Comfortable and Cozy

Finally Bill and I wandered into Prini Italia one day and grabbed a meal.  It was back during the build and keeping track of where we ate for the blog was not high on my list.  At least not as high as trying to keep my sanity.  The experience must have been both pleasant and affordable, because it was Bill who recently suggested we visit again.  I vaguely remembered a bowl of pasta, perhaps a primavera, but not much else.

This time we were able to park up close, because we were late for lunch and early for dinner.  The interior is upscale casual.  Wood floors, minimalist furniture, no tablecloths, lots of blue. They describe the interior as “farmhouse”.  I’m not sure that’s the vibe I get.  If it’s a farmhouse, it’s a very modern farmhouse.  Still, the interior is welcoming and you get the feeling you can stay awhile, if that’s what you want.  There’s a patio, but this was Texas and it was still hot.

And the Food

Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, twice.  This is one of those places where they make everything fresh.  The house-made sausage, olives and mushrooms were great.  The fettuccine and sauce?  Not so much.  I feel bad saying that, because I could tell it was fresh-made pasta, not out of a box, but it was too soft – almost gummy.  My last dish had been more on the too-al dente side.  I just wasn’t loving it.

Bill had Spaghetti Bolognese and cleaned his plate.  The last time he had marinara, but had forgotten it was meatless.  He was happier this time.  He was also happy to take my pasta home and have it for lunch the next day.

Service was good.  The people watching was fun.  The prices were reasonable in a Preston Royal sort of way. The pasta dishes hover below $20, the plates somewhere above $20.

Do I think you should go?  If you are in the vicinity anyway, I’d say go ahead.  Would I tell you to make a special trip over there?  Probably not.  Will I return?  Perhaps, but probably not.  I’ll just go down to Preston and Forest for Woodlands American Grill.  That’s my fave in that neighborhood.

AT HOME IN HEATH: PRECIOUS LOVED ME BEST

It might have been Bill who decided to save Precious from the pet store, but it was me she gave her whole heart to.  She liked Bill well enough, but she didn’t hide who she liked best.

Post-Obedience School Behavior

Until we went to Obedience School, there was no doubt about it. Precious had been in charge.  Precious was never the sort of dog one would call well-disciplined, but after the classes, things were a little less chaotic.

At obedience school she learned good behavior was rewarded with a treat and unwanted behavior was disciplined.  Discipline at our house was mostly a firm talking to and occasionally a little (very little) swat at her butt.  She figured out she could reward me by grinning and wagging her tail when she saw me.  She was generous with her rewards to Boss #1.  Then she decided a little piss on Bill’s shoe was an effective way to show him he wasn’t Boss #2 – she wanted that position.

For several weeks after the class, our otherwise perfect dog would pee on Bill every time he came home from work.  No amount of discipline would deter her.  The firm talking turned into screaming and the swats on the butt got harder, but so did her determination to show Bill his place in the family hierarchy.

This wasn’t a funny little situation.  Bill was seriously considering de-dogging our family.  It wasn’t clear what he thought that meant.  You can’t go back to a pet store almost a year later and say ‘no thanks,’ but he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life being peed on by a white ball of fluff – no matter how cute she was.

Saved in the Nick of Time

Then I saw a blurb in the newspaper.  Some guy claimed to be a dog expert and offered free advice.  This was back before the phenomena of Google.  Bill called him and apparently Precious’ behavior was not all that rare.  Once a dog figured out they weren’t the boss, they tried to be a boss over someone.  I taught Bill the basic commands I had learned at school and we shared the feeding ritual for awhile.

Almost immediately the peeing problem was solved, but Precious continued to show her favoritism.  It was most obvious when we would come home after being away.  Bill would usually lead the way into the house and Precious would either give him a perfunctory greeting and look for me or ignore Bill altogether on the way to her mommy.  Then I would receive a hero’s welcome with all the wiggling, jiggling and jumping my heart could desire.

Separation Anxiety

Though I always thought Precious favored me because I was the one who fed her, I was frequently told I was wrong.  When we were away, folks had a hard time getting her to eat.  We boarded Precious exactly once.  It was supposed to be the best pet boarding facility on the Central Coast, but when I arrived to pick Precious up, she was frantic.  When I got her home, she ate and drank like they’d starved her the whole time.  I was not a happy camper.

So we started getting friends to come feed Precious daily while we were away or when they weren’t available, we’d hire a pet sitter.  Whether it was a friend or a hired sitter, we admonished them not to just feed and run, Precious needed people time.  The sitters warned me that I shouldn’t take extended vacations, because after a week Precious would quit eating.  One said that if I’d been scheduled to stay away longer, she would have taken Precious to the vet.

When I traveled on my own, Precious would eat for Bill, but he said she spent a lot of time watching the door.  We got to the point we would have people stay in our home while we were away so Precious wouldn’t suffer from separation anxiety.  Yep, she was pretty spoiled.

Now I know how she feels.  She’s taken a trip I can’t follow her on and my appetite is certainly suppressed.  Come back next week and I’ll tell you some more tales of Precious.

TRAVEL THERE: LOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY HOSTS FREE TRAVEL SHOW

Allow me to interrupt my nostalgic travel stories to share some tidbits I picked up at a recent travel show.  It was presented by CTC Travel, a local travel agent.  Unlike the Travel and Adventure extravaganza landing in Dallas in a couple of weekends (I have my tickets.  Do you have yours?) which fills up a large section of the Dallas Convention Center, this show fits nicely into a couple of meeting rooms in Richardson’s Hyatt Hotel.  There were only forty or so vendors and no zip-lining, belly dancing or cooking shows.  However, for me, the afternoon was well-spent and I thank CTC for offering it to us, especially since they do so for free.

Gorgeous Travel Brochures  

There is little that gives me more pleasure than a gorgeous travel brochure.  Sure, I love to watch travel shows on TV and I spend a lot of time researching destinations online, but what really gets my juices flowing and makes me think about what I’m willing to sacrifice to go to faraway places is a delicious catalog like the Oceania brochure above.  SCORE!!

The CTC travel show was a bonanza of travel brochures.  Just in case someone there thought that lady (me), who was grabbing up every brochure in sight, merely took them home where they were never looked at again, just take a look at the impromptu travel agency I set up in my den.  The ottoman features luxury and river cruising, the desk samples yachts and clipper ships, while the sofa has your standard ocean-going lines and the table holds land packages.  Where would you like to go?

But Why a Travel Agent?

After gathering up two tote bags of travel brochures to warm up my winter hibernation, I made my way over to the lecture room just about the time the land package group started a panel discussion.  I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon soaking up travel tidbits.  As I drove home, I realized I had been converted.  For my next cruise I will be calling CTC.

I love planning my rambling road trips and have a great time sifting my hidden gems from Trip Advisor, Expedia et al.   Our trips last from ten to fourteen days and if I choose a loser from time to time, we might have an uncomfortable night or even waste an hour or two, but that’s OK, because there’s plenty of other wonderful experiences waiting for us along the way.  However, if I make a mistake choosing a cruise, then I’m screwed for the whole trip.  I know that from experience.

Our last cruise was a Freestyle Cruise on Norwegian, one of the most frequently-awarded cruise ships on the seas.  I was with my handsome husband and my best friend, so how could that be a bad thing – but I knew we were on the wrong cruise ship.  That’s not Norwegian’s fault.  Thousands of folks will tell you what an amazing cruise Norwegian serves up.  The fault was all ours.  We were looking for a bargain online and we got one.  I am quite sure CTC would have steered us in another direction completely.

Oh my, I’ve already worn out my welcome for today and I have more to tell you.  Well, come back next week and I’ll tell you the rest of the story.