Folsom Village

Travel, Restaurant, and Entertainment Guide

The 150 Mile Hamburger

I recently drove 150 miles (okay, it was really 130 but so what?) for a really great hamburger - and even I can't believe where I found it!

Recently, I stopped at Lidia's Diner located in the Black Mesa Shell station in Boise City, OK on Hwy 287.  I had eaten a pretty good breakfast burrito there once before, and was looking for a quick bite to eat.

I asked the girl at the counter what was good and she replied, "Everything.  The hamburger is really good."  I was pretty skeptical - everybody thinks they make a good hamburger - but I decided to try one anyway.

A bit later she presented me with a large hamburger and a heaping of home cut fries.  The bun was soft and warmed on the grill.  The excellent fries were limp with the peels on the ends and tasted like actual potatoes, proving that the crisp little sticks served at the fast food joints aren't the only way to go.

The hamburger meat was the real treat.  It tasted like good beef, but had an extra kick that sent it over the top.  Anybody that remembers the way a Wendy's hamburger used to taste when their claim to fame was having the juiciest burger on the planet will have an idea of what I mean.

You never know where you might find  the little hidden pleasures in life, and this unassuming little truck stop diner confirms that.

The Best Restaurant in Raton?

The Mona Lisa restaurant on first street recently reopened and has proven to be an excellent eatery.  I have been searching for a casual diner with a laid back atmosphere since moving to the area, and Mona Lisa's fits the bill.

The hardwood floors, brick and plaster decor, airy atmosphere, and view of the mesa combine for a very relaxed and pleasant experience.  When summer arrives, the adjacent outdoor area will be available as well.

I have tried the following and highly recommend them:

• Indian Taco on Flatbread
• Taco Plate
• Taco Salad
• Flauta Plate

Tip:  Ask for the chili sauce on the side so you can use as much or as little as you like.  The basic ingredients are excellent with only a touch of sauce.

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Cruise Ships - The In and Outs

A cruise is considered by many to be the ultimate vacation.  I found this to be true, but was also surprised to learn that I had many misconceptions about vacationing on a ship.

If you schedule a cruise during the off season, it can be a very economical vacation.  For $500-$600 per person (may have gone up a little) housing, food, transportation, and entertainment can be enjoyed for a week.  There are some hidden costs however, and these are detailed below.

Here are some tips for enjoying and planning your cruise.  Many of these may be specific to Carnival cruise lines, but probably hold true in general for other lines as well:

Off Season & Sea Sickness

Scheduling in the off season can be very economical, but the weather can be unpredictable.  Some activities might be curtailed due to cold. 

Your travel agent will tell you that sea sickness is not a problem because the ship is so large.  Don't believe it.  In November in the Gulf of Mexico we experienced 60 mph winds and 10 to 15 foot waves.  Everyone got sea sick and many had to take Dramamine.

We were assigned to the aft dining room near the engines and propellers.  As the ship surged through the rough seas, a barely audible groaning would penetrate the diners' inner workings (guts).  This vibration would ebb and flow, adding to the sea sickness.  A lot of people missed the second dinner, but most acclimated enough to enjoy the rest of the trip although the sea sickness never really went away.

Hidden Costs

At the beginning of the trip, many cruise lines give each passenger a "credit card".  Cash cannot be accepted anywhere on the ship except in the casino so travelers are forced to use the card.  It can be difficult to track how much you are spending and it can be a shock when the bill comes at the end of the cruise.

Room service and chocolate candy from the gift shop can eat up a lot of money.  You can also rent snorkel equipment for trips to shore.  Souvenirs and restaurant visits during shore excursions should also be planned for.

By all means rent a vehicle when you visit shore.  You can explore a lot of interesting territory with a vehicle whereas pedestrians are pretty much limited to touristy attractions at the port.

Tipping is expected for nearly everything you do on board the ship.  The cruise line will even provide you with a tipping guide.  Some crew are tipped once at the end of the voyage, such as your cabin steward and waiter.  This could run between $100 and $200.

Be prepared to spend $1000 above the cost of the cruise if you wish to make full use of the opportunities available.

The Food

I have been told over and over that cruise ships are a culinary heaven with delicious abundant food.  This is not really true.  Meals are organized into three per day, with dinner being a bit formal and stuffy.  The food is fancy and foreign to most Americans - replete with sauces and marinades.  After the third day, a lot of us were longing for a good old fashioned steak and potatoes.  Desserts are decidedly French and overly pretentious.

The only other opportunities to eat may be a pizza kitchen or similar kiosk open all day long.  At seemingly random times, hamburger or sandwich bars may be stocked - be sure to watch the itinerary.  If you miss meal times, you can always pay extra for room service.

Entertainment

It is common advice not to pay extra for a cabin with a window.  This advice is given freely, and is worth just as much.  Get a window!  You will spend more time in your cabin than you think and it is very enjoyable to watch the sea from a lower level.   The top decks are ten to fifteen stories above the water.

The ship itself is by far the best entertainment on a cruise.  When you first approach a ship, it looks very strange to see a tiny door in the side of a huge steel monolith.  Once you cross the gangplank and step inside, you are instantly in another world.  Inside is a small hallway - outside is ocean, sky, and a huge expanse of steel.  Explore and enjoy the ship as much as possible.

The only other entertainment on board seems to be cabaret shows, dancing, the casino, and the same four movies repeated over and over on the TV in each cabin.  Twenty bucks can keep you entertained for hours at the nickel slot machines.  If you have a partner, sex is always an option after the sea sickness subsides a bit.  Fraternizing with the crew is strictly forbidden.

If your ship has a nude sunbathing area, go on up and get naked.  Unless you are on a singles twenty-something theme cruise you will probably be the only one up there.

The exercise room will probably be a joke - hot and stuffy with a few worn out bicycle machines.  Jogging around the ship can be much more fun.  The swimming pool is a nice touch, and it is a bit ironic to be swimming in a pool out in the middle of the ocean.

Shore Leave

Be prepared to hit the ground running when you reach port.  The schedule usually provides for one day or less on shore and it can be tough to get in snorkeling and exploring.  The visits provide a tantalizing glimpse of some pretty interesting places, but don't allow for an in depth experience.  You will be left wanting more.

The Crew

On our entire ship there was one American crew member.  The brochure claims this is because the cruise line wants to provide you with an international experience.  Yeah, whatever.  They hire international because these guys work dirt cheap.

Our first taste of the international crew came immediately after boarding.  Everyone must sit through a safety training course.  Neat in theory, but not very effective if no one can understand the broken English delivery.  On one widely publicized cruise the ship caught fire and the crew abandoned ship, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves.

Little Surprises

There are a few pleasant little surprises here and there.  Be sure to watch for them as they add to the experience.

The waiters are very pleasant and you will form a bond with them very quickly.  Your seating arrangements are usually prearranged for meals, and it can be interesting to meet and converse with a random selection of folks.

The cabin stewards become quite adept at amusing you with nice little touches.  You will rarely see them but they know how to leave little signs so that you bond with them and hopefully leave a generous tip.  Ours always arranged the towels into amusing shapes such as frogs.  If we left change on the table, he would use the coins as eyes or other parts of the shape.

On shore, try to explore beyond the tourist area.  On Cozumel, we found a man with an impromptu zoo of animals, some of which we had never been in close contact with before.

I was raised on a farm and ranch in the panhandle of Texas and ate three squares a day prepared by my mother.  She specialized in home style country cooking, and that's where I learned the basics.  I didn't know what a shrimp looked like or how a lobster tasted until I was a legal adult.  All steaks were cooked until dead.  Very dead.

The wildest my mom ever got was sauerkraut and weenies.  Although that was never my favorite, I learned to appreciate it.  We kept one eye on our plate and the other on the brother with the ladle to make sure he wasn't getting more than his fair share of weenies.  On the other hand, the barbecued liver was not a pretty sight and no amount of threats could make us eat it.

The foods my mom cooked were undeniably tasty and provided a framework for understanding what good food is really all about - taste.  Fancy creams and dressings are all well and good but if the food sucks, it sucks!  Anybody trained as a "saucier" probably can't make gravy worth a lick, and as bad as English food is French is even worse.

After I left home and ventured around the world to such places as Houston, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Beijing, Da Qing, Dong Ying, London, Aberdeen, and Edmonton and spent a week on a cruise ship my culinary experiences were expanded somewhat  I learned there are some basic categories of foods:

• obviously good
• good after a few tries
• acquired taste
• pretentious but tolerable
• down right nasty
• eating it just for show

I also learned that people acclimate to the foods that are available to them.  After eating at some very fine restaurants on a regular basis, I returned home to visit a local restaurant with my parents.  They raved about the food as I choked on a very dry piece of baked chicken while thinking about the succulent, juicy, tender version to which I had become accustomed.

The Chinese tend to eat meat in very small quantities - usually small bits mixed in large portions of vegetable.  A Chinese friend had always heard about "steak" that was a delicacy in America.  To his amazement, he polled a group of us and we all listed steak as our favorite food.  The first time he had ever ordered steak he was horrified to see a huge chunk of meat set before him and found it impossible to force it down  Steak never did become an acquired taste for one immigrant.

To help define the categories, here is a list of foods and where they fall in the list:

Obviously Good
steak, hamburgers, baked/mashed/fried potatoes, vegetables, soft fluffy bread, fried/baked/smoked chicken, pizza, Tex-Mex, Italian

Good After a Few Tries
shrimp, lobster, crab legs, mutton

Acquired Taste
oysters, German food

Pretentious but Tolerable
French food, Cruise Ship Food

Downright Nasty
English food, Scottish food (especially Haggis)

Eating it Just for Show
caviar

Happy Eating - and remember, just because the fancy people eat it don't make it good.