Restaurant Offers Diners Discount For Conversing

by Jessica Festa on

It’s not uncommon to be at a restaurant where patrons are texting on their phones, tweeting on their iPads and Skyping on their laptops. Well, one Los Angeles restaurant has had enough of people going out together, only to not even converse with each other. In fact, Eva Restaurant Los Angeles is offering a 5 percent discount to diners who leave their cellphones with staff while seated.

On Tuesday, owner Mark Gold told KPCC Radio he hopes the policy will create an environment where diners can interact without the interference of technology. Gold also added the initiative was not implemented to satisfy patrons who get annoyed by the noise and light of smartphones.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, the discount is offered to guests when they are seated by staff. So far, nearly half have taken advantage of the offer, many even expressing gratitude at the opportunity to disconnect from their cellphones.

While technology can be helpful for travelers, we’re hoping establishments continue to encourage socializing in real life and not just online.

What’s your opinion on restaurants encouraging diners to put away their cellphones?

[Image via Dan Zen]

Video: Badlands National Park

by Kraig Becker on

Badlands National Park is one of the more overlooked destinations in the entire American park system. Located in South Dakota, the park features otherworldly landscape where you would expect to spot NASA’s Curiosity Rover. Instead, sharp-eyed visitors will catch a glimpse of a surprisingly diverse amount of wildlife, including bison, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep and the elusive black-footed ferret.

The video below captures just a hint of the beauty that you’ll find in the park, which is punctuated with interesting displays of light and shadows. If you haven’t ever been to the Badlands, I highly recommend it.


“Badlands National Park” from Matt Brass on Vimeo.

Touring Alaska: 6 Things To Know About Wildlife Watching

by Chris Owen on

Touring Alaska, we found that Juneau’s alpine meadows of the high country, frosted mountain slopes and rocky shores combine to create a distinctive ecosystem. On land, logging, mining, fishing and tourism activities compete in a delicate balance between the needs of man and the needs of the environment. At sea, protected species flourish, making Alaska one of the best places on the planet to get up close and personal with Humpback and Orca whales along with a variety of other wildlife. Being in the vicinity of Alaska’s wildlife and seeing it are two different things though.

To appreciate a viewing of whales, bears, seals and other species in their natural habitat, knowing something about them is a good idea. Here are some interesting facts about Alaska’s wildlife gained from a recent visit to the land of the midnight sun.

  1. Humpback whales can consume as much as a ton of fish every day– Migrating to Alaska in the summer months, Humpback whales end a winter-long fast to build up a thick layer of fat needed for their move to Hawaii and Mexico in the fall.
  2. Killer whales are capable of successfully attacking whales much larger than they are. Killer whales hunt in groups, communicating with each other and giving them a predator’s advantage over their prey.
  3. Kill the flash– The flash from a camera can scare away just about any wildlife at sea or on land. Good to know if confronted by #4
  4. Black Bears come in more colors than black– Brown (cinnamon bears), cream and blue (glacier bears) are the more popular colors.
  5. Sea Lions get their name from looking like terrestrial lions found in Africa and Asia– Steller Sea Lions have large necks and shoulders, covered with coarse hair that resembles a mane.
  6. “Eagle Eye” not just a saying– American Bald Eagles, plentiful in Alaska, can spot a fish from over a mile away, fly at speeds up to 30 miles an hour and dive at nearly 100 miles per hour.

[Flickr photo by *christopher*]

The Steamboat Arabia Museum In Kansas City, Missouri

by Sean McLachlan on


Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Missouri’s rivers were full of steamboats. The state’s eastern boundary is delineated by the Mississippi River, and the Missouri River cuts right through the center of the state. Steamboats brought people, crops, and consumer goods across long distances much quicker than they could have made it on the crude early roads.

Steamboat pilots, including a young Mark Twain, had to have precise knowledge of the rivers because there were eddies, sandbars, and sawyers (sunken logs) ready to wreck their ship. If he managed to avoid all those dangers, the boiler could still blow up.

In 1856, the side-wheel steamboat Arabia was heading west up the Missouri River. The Arabia was a beauty. It was 171 feet long, could carry 222 tons, and had a reputation for speed, comfort and safety. That didn’t save her, though, and she hit the trunk of a submerged walnut tree. The log tore through the Arabia’s hull and she sank within minutes. Despite the speed of the sinking and the fact that there was only one lifeboat, the crew managed to get all the passengers safely to shore. Within a few days the boat was entirely covered in silt and disappeared, another of the hundreds of casualties on the river.

In 1987, the Hawley family led a salvage crew in search of the Arabia and found her. The river had shifted since then and the boat now lay half a mile from the water’s edge and 45 feet under a farmer’s field. A massive operation began to lower the water level, remove countless tons of earth, and carefully clean off and examine the ship and its contents.

%Gallery-162722%The wet silt had preserved the ship remarkably. The storage rooms were nearly intact, with boxes full of merchandise intended for frontier shops. There were cleaned, cataloged, and preserved and the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, opened to show off the amazing find.

This museum is an amazing snapshot of history. Every possible item imaginable is there: from guns and boots to toys and a complete printing press. There are even jars of preserves. Most of the passengers’ personal belongings sank with the ship and so we have complete outfits and luggage for the hardy travelers seeking a new life in the Old West. Large sections of the boat are also on display, including the paddle wheel and anchor.

Check out the gallery for a small sample of what this incredible museum has to offer.

Another steamboat has surfaced recently. Station WLFI reports that a long drought has lowered the level of the Missouri River enough that the steamboat Montana, sunk in 1884, is now visible at Bridgeton, MO. National Geographic has an interesting article on this steamboat, the largest ever to ply the Missouri, and its ironic end. It sank after running into a railroad bridge. Railroads were what eventually killed the steamboat trade.

Vagabond Tales: A Bojangles Virgin No More

by Kyle Ellison on

In the eight months I’ve been penning “Vagabond Tales” I’ve written about experiences from all corners of the globe.

Some of them have been exotic such as swimming with elephants in Thailand, and others have been a bit more dangerous such as kayaking with Alaskan killer whales or nearly being kidnapped in a Borneo jungle. I have ventured onto floating islands in Lake Titicaca, roasted marshmallows over an active volcano in Guatemala, and snorkeled with irukandji – one of the deadliest animals on Earth – off the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Over that same period of time I’ve dined on everything from wine and cheese in the south of France to live clams in an underwater cave in Vietnam.

This past week, however, I went and did something I’ve never done before:
I ate at a Bojangles restaurant in the American south.

Wait. Are you kidding me? Bojangles? You’re calling this a travel experience?

As I explored in my article “Why Do We Take Pictures Of Our Food?” regional cuisine is as much a part of the travel experience as are museums, monuments, or UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Eating ceviche in Peru is as integral to the country as Machu Picchu. Pairing a Guinness with a pot of beef stew is as important to an Irish visit as kissing the Blarney Stone or staying in a Connemara Castle.And, along this same reasoning, ordering chicken and biscuits in the American south is right on par with touring Civil War battlefields. There are even some who may argue that a visit to the South is like visiting an entire other country to begin with. Though I won’t jump into that debate, from the copious amount of Confederate flags still flying, there are some who still side with the soldiers who once tried to make it a reality.

In fact, if you look at a map of Bojangles locations across the country (for the record, Bojangles is currently in 10 U.S. states and has one location in … Honduras?), with the exception of Pennsylvania the map could almost be mistaken for a map of the former Confederacy.

Given this regional dominance I feel fairly confident in saying that eating at a Bojangles can be considered an authentically Southern experience. On a recent stop in Weaverville, North Carolina, as I discussed the quality of the grits with an employee I’m going to call “Flo,” I realized that the experience I was having was no different than any first-time situation I’ve encountered elsewhere across the globe.

As someone who grew up in Maui, Hawaii, I have never eaten grits. I also have never had chicken mixed with freshly baked biscuits. With the same curiosity with which I scour remote and far-flung corners of the globe, I flung open the door of Bojangles and set to work exploring new culinary experiences right here in the U.S. of A.

So, in the spirit of the recent, viral review of a North Dakota Olive Garden, I hereby offer my rave review of the Weaverville, North Carolina, Bojangles.

The first thing I noticed once inside the door was that there were only three colors on the menu. Actually, that’s not true. The very first thing I noticed was the cardboard sign informing customers that the outdoor ashtray was not a trash can.

Comparing the menu with the food choices on display, I arrived at a curious conclusion. It appeared that the only colors on the menu were red, yellow and brown. Ketchup is red, fried chicken is yellow and the Bo-tato fries are pretty close to brown. The menu, it seemed, mimicked the colors of the food.

What’s notable about this is that there is no green on the menu, a nod to the fact that none of the sandwiches appear to be served with any form of vegetables. No lettuce. No tomato. Just brown and yellow; chicken and biscuits.

The next thing I noticed after the fried menu was that Flo spoke into her microphone like a contestant on “The Price Is Right.” Repeating my order one item at a time into the skinny black microphone, although the words coming out of her mouth contained phrases such as “Cajun biscuit” and “side of grits,” she may as well have saying “I’m going to say $1, Bob.”

Fully immersed in the experience and excited about the prospect of dining on my Cajun Filet Biscuit, Flo informed me there was a possibility I might not get my side order of grits.

“Oooh they’re really good today,” she confided in me with a smile. “I’ll put the order in for ya, but we’ve been eating them all morning and I’m not sure if there will be any left!”

My gut told me that Flo was just being friendly, but until the cup of grits materialized on my plate two minutes later there was a part of me that somewhat believed her.

With my tray of food in hand, the third thing I noticed after sitting in a surprisingly comfortable seat was that there was a flat screen television inside of the sparsely-filled dining area. Although I have since been informed that this is becoming common practice, it was the first time I have ever seen a television in the dining area of a fast-food restaurant. On the TV was an ad for calorie-free Splenda, although as a man in overalls filled his large soda cup to the brim with Coca-Cola, I doubted there was anything about his pour that was anywhere close to being calorie-free.

Finally, all peripheral distractions aside, the moment had finally come to try the food. The Cajun Filet Biscuit was arranged just as promised: chicken, biscuit – that’s all. The grits sat like a scoop of fine white sand. I skipped out on the mega-sized soda and opted instead for a coffee.

And you know what?

I loved it. I loved every bite of it. For $4.99 I was full, the biscuit tasted fresh, the grits weren’t as bad as all Yankees seem to make them out to be, and despite the lack of anything green, I could see why there was a line that nearly stretched out the door.

Actually, to be fair, the coffee was terrible and I poured it in the grass outside.

Nevertheless, I can now say with confidence that not only does a Mendoza malbec go swimmingly with a cut of filet mignon, but chicken does in fact go well with homemade biscuits and a side of unflavored grits.

Will I stop at another Bojangles on my road trip through the South? Probably not. The price sure is right, but I like seeing a little green on my menu.

Walking out into the heat of the summer sun, I passed Flo as we crossed paths while headed towards the door.

“Good aint it?” she smiled.

“Yes ma’am,” I could honestly say. “Yes ma’am it was.”

Want more travel stories? Read the rest of the “Vagabond Tales” over here.