http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dwayne/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dwayne en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:43:38 +0000 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:43:38 +0000 Bizzarro's Famous New York PizzaThis place is literally a dozen steps off the beach in Indialantic. They sell pizza by the slice or the whole pie. I had a slice and the slice is large enough for a meal. I liked it. Good thin crust New York style pizza. The place is not fancy with half the seating in the shade outdoors. Half the customers are just off the beach sand and all.If you are in the Me http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Indialantic/blog-312584.html My wife and I stayed three days in Pigeon Forge to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Pigeon Forge is just north of Gatlinburg which sits at the northern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This area is in north eastern Tennessee south of Interstate 40.Overall Enjoyable I would love to visit again.AccommodationsWe rented a small cabin from Cabin Fever Vacations . I mentio http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Pigeon-Forge/blog-307443.html The Dixie Stampede is a dinner theater in Pigeon Forge. I knew little about it before having dinner there except that it was associated with the country singing star Dolly Parton. The audience is seated at long tables that face a rodeo arena. The show is centered about horses and horse riding equestrian. There are few of these types of shows anywhere in the U.S. If you like horses and horse ridi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Pigeon-Forge/blog-306664.html My wife and I walked up the Laurel FallsCove Mountain trail. This starts at the Fighting Creek Gap don't you just love these names parking lot goes a little more than a mile to Laurel Falls then 3 more miles up to the crest where the trail intersects the Cove Mountain Trail.The route is four miles up and four miles back. We covered it in four hours.The bottom section is like a shopping mall. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Great-Smoky-Mountains-Parkway/blog-306445.html This is a dinner theater in the heart of Pigeon Forge. It is where else on highway 441 the strip of Pigeon Forge.We sat at a table for two bigger tables available for bigger parties ate dinner and watched a warm up act and the main show. The warm up act was a fivepiece country band. The main show was an hourlong song and dance show.The main show comprised medleys from 1950's rock n rol http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Pigeon-Forge/blog-306442.html I was in San Diego for a conference near the marina downtown. I happened into the Grand Central Cafe for breakfast two mornings. I loved it.The Grand Central Cafe is on the corner of Broadway and India near the old train station hence the name Grand Central. The Cafe is on the first floor of the YMCA building opened in 1924. This is an old building from a time when buildings had architectur http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-253430.html I travel to San Jose California not Puerto Rico at least once a month on business. When I can I go to Moonbeans Coffee on Santa Teresa Blvd before going into work.Moonbeans has the essentials of a place for my travels1 good coffee2 served in a ceramic cup3 free wireless internet access4 no uniforms on the people who serve youI love going to Moonbeans. It is evident that a lot of local http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Jose/blog-107950.html That's what was printed on the sign. I lost track of which sign as I saw it everywhere I turned. My heart sank each time with the first time being the worst. I was at Christ Church College. This is the most famous or at least the most famous sounding college at Oxford University. Oxford so said something I read is the oldest Englishlanguage university in the world some 800 years old.I came ar http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-38682.html There is a place north of New Orleans called Pass Manchac or as the locals call it Manchac. Pass Manchac is the home of Middendor's a wonderful seafood restuarant that has been there longer than most people can remember. Pass Manchac is a small waterway that connects Lake Ponchartrain to Lake Maurpaus. On a thin sliver of land is the town of Pass Manchac. Residing on that land is Middendorf's. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/Manchac/blog-33291.html Its Christmas time so I am making my holiday visit to friends and relatives in Mississippi and Louisiana. I detoured to visit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. My family and I spent a week here in August two weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit.Most of the news media has paid too much attention to the plight of New Orleans. The Mississippi Gulf Coast and other areas have been ignored.I was able to driv http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Long-Beach/blog-32596.html My family and I spent a week in Long Beach Mississippi and the surrounding area in August. We rented a house that I found on the Internet vacationrentals.com. We enjoyed our week on the Mississippi gulf coast I think thatrsquos quite an accomplishment given our three sons are 16 18 and 20 years old.The Mississippi gulf coast is a good place for a family vacation. It has tourist attraction http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Long-Beach/blog-17686.html Every now and then while traveling I stumble into a treasure. Such is Pass Christian Books. I was driving to the gulf coast as I came through the town of Pass Christian and noticed a used bookstore. I like used bookstores as I am never sure what I might find. This one is called Pass Christian Books.I went inside and saw the usual rooms with little signs on the doorways announcing the topics of the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Pass-Christian/blog-16447.html As I travel I seek out places that have highspeed internet access at little or no cost. My stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast led me to search the downtown area of Long Beach Ms. I found a locally owned and operated coffee shop in what used to be the bank. The photos show that this was a Hancock County Bank Building. Now there is a hair salon upstairs in the back and a coffee shop downstairs w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Long-Beach/blog-16348.html We at lunch at Steversquos Marina Restaurant in Long Beach Mississippi. This is a real restaurant with a broad menu of seafood steaks and Italian dishes. The restaurant is literally on the gulf on poles next to the Long Beach Yacht Clubrsquos pier. Our meals included roast beef PoBoy sandwiches fried catfish spinach and artichoke dip and eggplant in a shrimp creole sauce. These dishes http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Long-Beach/blog-16161.html We ate a couple of meals at The Cajun Crawfish Hut. This is a small place with indoor and outdoor seating. The food is good. They have a variety of PoBoys really good sandwiches served on loaves of French bread and they specialize in seafood PoBoys catfish oysters shrimp and alligator. They also serve good ham and roast beef PoBoys.These guys serve canrsquotcloselsquoem PoBoys. Th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Long-Beach/blog-16160.html I am spending the week in an area north of Albuquerque New Mexico. One of my favorite foods in this area is the green chile cheeseburger. People in this area make your basic cheeseburger and then smother the cheese with green chiles. I am not an expert on various chile peppers but I love these green chiles. One of the hallmarks of New Mexico food is green chiles.I asked one of the locals here w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Corrales/blog-13555.html We took my mother to lunch today at Don's Seafood and Steakhouse in Hammond Louisiana. Don's restaurant in Hammond isn't one of a kind but it isn't a chain either. It is a family owned group of restaurants that grows as the family grows.Lunch was great. We've been to Don's half a dozen times in as many years. The service is good the Landry family members are hospitable hosts and the food is as http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/blog-11305.html The highlight of my Father's Day Weekend swing through Louisiana was attending a wedding. My niece married a young man in the small town of Palmetto Louisiana. The two were wed in front of 50 relatives and close friends in the same small church that my brotherinlaw and his wife were wed.This was a small wedding followed by a wonderful garden reception in the backyard of another relative. The we http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/blog-11375.html One of the toughest things about travel for me is the separation from highspeed internet access. It is a pleasure to find free highspeed access in a town on the road. It is a joy to find it in a place that I would visit anyway. Such is my joy this morning.I am writing this from a CC's coffee house in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I have some embarassment for CC's. It is based on Community Coffee a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/blog-11307.html