A few months ago, my brother and his fiancé got married. As most weddings go, it was a great time. However, unlike most weddings, theirs was in the middle of nowhere, just outside a small town in southwest Colorado.

For those unfamiliar, southwest Colorado is perhaps the most beautiful part of one of the most beautiful states. Rushing mountain streams snake through open meadows dotted with wild flowers and old growth cottonwoods. It’s a view that could go on forever, if only the massive San Juan mountains, home to 14 of Colorado’s 53 fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation) didn’t rise up to create an even more dramatic vista. It’s both awe inspiring and formidable, and if it were anywhere but in the middle of nowhere, it’d just be another overpopulated slice of Colorado.

So there it was that our small families came together to celebrate this most unique and joyous occasion. Hours from the closest suburb, miles from e-mail and cell signals, and, of course, not the easiest place in the World to find on a map. And while it was the perfect backdrop – if you knew my brother and his fiancé, you’d know that to have it anywhere else would have been unimaginable – Grandpa and Grandma didn’t have the easiest time getting there.

Come to think of it, they don’t have the easiest time getting anywhere. It drives my parents crazy. It gave me the perfect gift idea.

It’s funny how some ideas present themselves. In this case, jumping out of the TV. Late one night after all the good TV had been watched a commercial I hadn’t seen in ages flashed across the screen. Who did I see but the Video Professor, John W. Scherer (I know his name because he kindly introduced himself). Video Professor, I thought. I haven’t seen one of these commercials in years. And it was funny that as soon as John W. Schererr said his name I remembered what Video Professor was all about – teaching folks just like my grandparents how to use computers and the software to go with them. What I didn’t know was that Video Professor was now also teaching them how to get the most out of their online experiences. Though for my grandparents that meant enticing them to have an online experience. Good luck with that, I thought.

But then I saw it, the perfect gift: Video Professor’s Learn Online Travel tutorial. If my grandparents couldn’t benefit from Video Professor I don’t know who could. Don’t tell them the elderly should stay home. They still like to take the occasional adventure or two. Problem is, my folks have to do most of the planning. So, why not let Video Professor empower them to do their own planning?

Like countless retirees across the country, every January they load up the RV and head south. Their itinerary hasn’t changed in ten years. Everything has been meticulously planned down to the mileage between pit stops. Deviation is unthinkable. Change, unimaginable. I asked them why they never go anywhere else. “We like it,” they replied. I asked why they never took a different route. “We know it,” they shot back. “But what about all the cool things you’re missing,” I asked. “You know how long it takes to plan this trip,” they asked. “That’s because you still use a paper map and the yellow pages,” I said.

I tried communicating (one doesn’t argue with my grandparents) that they should take their trip planning online. They balked, finally admitting they would if they only knew how. A few weeks later I sent them Video Professor’s “Learn Online Travel.” A few days later, I received a thank you card and a check for ten dollars.

Having never actually viewed one of John W Scherer’s CD-ROMs, I asked them what they thought of their Video Professor learning experience. They said they really appreciated the gift and were impressed with how informative the Video Professor CDs were. Grandma really liked how easy they were to follow. Grandpa liked their efficiency.

“You know, there are web sites that actually tell you what route you should take,” Grandpa asked. “I know, aren’t they cool,” I replied. “Video Professor showed us this one that asked us what type of route we wanted. I told it we wanted scenery, no tolls, and campgrounds along the way and it gave me exactly what I wanted,” he continued in amazement. “Only took a few seconds,” he added. Grandma shook her head and said, “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this sooner.”

Not long after my Grandparents arrived in Arizona, I received another thank you card. This time it was from my folks. Grandma, it seems, has turned into quite the travel agent.