Why do you post so many pictures of food on Facebook?

That’s a good question.   Granted, every once in a while we run into that meal that makes your mouth water just looking at it.  But generally,  I don’t believe that anything we have for a meal is so superior to anything you might be having.  In fact, most of the time, we would probably want to trade places with you.  You wouldn’t believe how sick you can get of eating out as much as we are often forced to.

Don’t get me wrong, we carry an electric skillet and use it as often as we can to cook a meal or to warm up something that we brought from home.  (Whenever we are home, we prepare a bunch of home-cooked meals and freeze them to take out on the road with us.)  But often times, when we are loaded and running, we don’t have time to make a stop to unpack the generator and fire up the skillet to make a meal.  We always have bread and cold cuts or PB & J on hand as well as milk and cereal.  But you can only eat that so many times each week without wanting to commit hare-kari. As a result, we end up eating at many of the same places.  We can pretty much tell you what’s on the menu at Denny’s, Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel.  What we try to do as often as time permits is to find the out-of-the-way diner or small local chain restaurants to add some variety.  Often times, it’s at these places that we end up sharing our pictures.

Neither Michelle nor I fancy ourselves as epicurean foodies.  Just like normal folks, we  like good food.  And when we find something different, we like to tell people about it.  

Which brings us to the second reason we post those pictures.  Both Michelle and I have become Google Local Guides.  We contribute photos and reviews of locations and restaurants to Google Maps business listings.  I guess we get something for doing it, some discount on Google Drive space or some such thing, but mostly we do it for the fun of seeing which photos will get the most views on Google.

I’ve been doing it longer than Michelle has, so naturally my counts are a little higher.  I’ve contributed over 100 pictures so far which have been viewed (as of this writing) nearly 600,000 times.  It amazes me how some pictures will take off and others don’t. 

For example, my peeps back in Luxemburg, Wisconsin can tell you about a restaurant there called Billy’s on Main.  During a visit with my dad back in November, I snapped two pictures.  One of Michelle’s fried shrimp and baked potato and one of my prime rib and twice-baked potato.  Michelle’s shrimp was selected as a featured photo for the listing and has been viewed over 20,000 times so far.  The prime rib, not so much.

But what is amazing is that Luxemburg only has a population of around 2,500 people.   That can give some idea of just how busy this place is. 

So next time you pull up some info on a restaurant or some other attraction around the country.  You just might be looking at one of my food shots.  Hope they come in handy for you.