No comments about AAA Spiral Vancouver & The Canadian Rockies, 4th Edition (Aaa Spiral Guides).

5 comments about Golf Digest's Places to Play, 5th Edition: The Latest Player Ratings of More Than 6,500 Public and Resort Courses in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the Islands (Special-Interest Titles).

1. A great book which allows you to book tee times all over the U.S. Information is correct and reviews are interesting. Reviews seem to be very accurate in the courses I have played. A book a true golfer cannot survive without.



2. This is a truly excellent guide. I would recommend this to any golfer wanting to try new tracks. Having taken up golf again six months ago and having just moved to Oklahoma from Mass. I needed a solid review book to begin exploring my local environs. This book has come up trumps again and again - providing an accurate overview of courses in my area, throughout the rest of the state, and all over the country. I wouldn't agree with every course review but that is part of the fun, and course conditions and upkeep can change in a short period so it would be churlish to nit-pick. Thanks to this sterling guide (my only complaint - some of the distances form major cities are off) I've played some great courses I would never have come across. Indispensable and superior, by a long, long way, to anything else out there. Bravo Golf Digest!



3. First let me state the obvious: All praise you have heard about this volume is merited. It is truly the "don't leave home without it" golfers' equivalent. Its scope is comprehensive, its selection of comments concise and illustrative. Now for the bad part. From the last edition to this it seems as if all the courses have improved a half-star. Having found the previous ratings dead-on, I was stupefied by the number of "solid" courses being awarded four stars, which in the editor's judgment stands for "Plan your next vacation around it." Sorry, but the ratings are far too liberal this go around.

   Still this book is most impressive for its geographic consistency. Thinking that a course deep in the heart of nowhere can't possibly be examined accurately? Think again. The reviews are always accurate. The negative comments are soft-pedaled, but they are there and after awhile you can discern them quite easily.

   If you have golf wanderlust, you'll become quite attached to this book.




4. First let me state the obvious: All praise you have heard about this volume is merited. It is truly the "don't leave home without it" golfers' equivalent. Its scope is comprehensive, its selection of comments concise and illustrative. Now for the bad part. From the last edition to this it seems as if all the courses have improved a half-star. Having found the previous ratings dead-on, I was stupefied by the number of "solid" courses being awarded four stars, which in the editor's judgment stands for "Plan your next vacation around it." Sorry, but the ratings are far too liberal this go around.

   Still this book is most impressive for its geographic consistency. Thinking that a course deep in the heart of nowhere can't possibly be examined accurately? Think again. The reviews are always accurate. The negative comments are soft-pedaled, but they are there and after awhile you can discern them quite easily.

   If you have golf wanderlust, you'll become quite attached to this book.




5. Compehensive unbiased very helpful guide.MAJOR drawback is next to useless listing by state rather than by city or metropolitan area. Who cares about courses in San Francisco if you're vacationing in Palm Springs!

3 comments about Hiking Yoho, Kootenay, Glacier & Mt. Revelstoke National Parks (Regional Hiking Series).

1. The only reason I usually buy Falcon Guides is if there's no other guide for that park, I think they're just OK. But the two women that wrote this one did an excellent and thorough job. The descriptions for each trail tell you what to expect at literally almost every turn. (They'll say things like "at 1.3 kilometers you'll come to this mountain, at 1.6 km you'll reach a lake where the turn can be hard to find, so..." etc.) If you've ever had to find your way through a poorly marked national park trail, you'll know how valuable that can be. Also, they have the guts to come out and say things like "this trail is too much work for not enough scenery" and then back it up with evidence, not just leave it as their opinion. This will probably let you save a lot of time if your vacation time is limited, as it usually is. I would have liked to see a few more pictures, but other than that they did a great job. Plus, it has four national parks in one book, so it's a pretty good value.



2. Note that the Glacier National Park mentioned in this book is in Canada, not the United States.



3. This guide has awesome coverage of the trails in these 4 parks. I have not even found another book that will cover Mt. Revelstoke NP, although I have seen a couple out there for Glacier NP. As far as coverage on Yoho and Kootenay NP, I think its even better than what's avail in "Canadian Rockies Trail Guide" which I also own. This guide by Michelle Gurney and Kathy Howe is better for the following reasons: It provides an at a glance category of the trail difficulty from easy, moderate, and strenous. It has maps for each of the individual trails accompanying the write up. There is vivid detail of what you might see on the trail and why its worth the effort, or not and to skip it. There is a chart at the back of the book that categories according to lakes, waterfalls, etc of what you might want to see and which hikes provide it.
   
   This is such a great book I am surprised that there isn't an updated version since 2002. The only reason I can think of is that there is not as much demand for info on these remote less known parks.

5 comments about How Can I Be Lost When I Don't Know Where I'm Going : Wandering Across the Continent with Barb Thacker and her dog, Ink.

1. This is a more or less verbatim rendering of her diary and a deadly boring read. All her visits to friends are detailed. This might be nice in a letter to mutual friends but the fact that the Grahams were moving from Ghost Ranch to Durango or that "Barbara and her husband were contemplating a divorce" is not of interest to me.

   And then there are the teasers that turn out to be dead ends, for example, "I had never been to Crested Butte and just loved the name. Sure enough, the road was marked. We headed down a hill and past an interesting guest ranch. About three blocks later, the pavement ended. Nothing but gravel. I wasn't sure Tessie (the nickname of her vehicle) was ready for 20 miles of mountainous gravel road, nor did I feel I was ready to tackle it either. We turned around and went back to Route 133 which led us north through beautiful country. The weather was great..." ...




2. Barbara's humor is the type you giggle yourself into a heap over then explode trying to repeat it to the next person you see. Nothing comes close to giving you a most real-life feel of seeing the scenery pass by. An ultimately necessary book for all gypsies, nomads, wanderers and every person in between.



3. This book struck a veritable symphonies worth of chords inside the soul of this fastidious critic. It is quite refreshing to read the intimate first-person observations and perspectives of this brilliant author's travels. After reading this book, you will feel like you have just met an old dear friend. It will likewise have you listing the house with the realtor, purchasing that little camper and fulfilling that primal desire --- wanderlust. I thank Barb Thacker for such a brilliant book.



4. I can see why some readers may not find this book to their liking; my wife read it after me and would puff her cheeks every few pages at something 'Barb' had written. I loved it, though.

   Barb ventures from her New Mexico home up to the Maritimes on the Eastern Canadian coast and back in one 4 month stint staying, more or less exclusively at campgrounds around the country. The book is in large part, a recounting of her trip in diary form, from the people she met and the places she visited to the antics of her loveable dog, Ink. Although Barb can get a little Mother Earth-y for me at times, I loved this book enough to purchase her follow-up.




5. I liked this book very much. No, it's not riveting, and it's not Steinbeck. If every author had to write like Steinbeck to be published we wouldn't have more than three or four books a year to read. I like books written by real people. It makes me feel like maybe I could do it too.
   
   I enjoyed Barb's descriptions and impressions about the places she went and the people she met in her old Toyota Chinook with her dog. How so many people asked "Aren't you afraid"? Her answer: "Afraid of what"? I worried for her that her camper would breakdown and make her trip a disaster. I worried that her dog would be hit by a car.
   
   I could relate as I often drive 700 miles each direction to the family cottage in Ontario, Canada with just my dog. I think nothing of traveling alone and am surprised when others look at me as though I must be a little bit crazy. For me, taking off like that by myself is pure joy! And I'm about the age Barb Thacker was when she made this trip.
   
   I've ordered her next book and am looking forward to reading it. I hope others feel the same way.

2 comments about AAA Spiral Guide: Rome (Aaa Spiral Guides).

1. Great photos and book design, laid out to give the important information without overload, easy enough to carry with you in the street. Good breakdown of the areas within the city and the major sights. Would be an excellent book to look at if you are thinking of going to Rome to get a feel for the city. The maps are very good, the walking itineraries are very good; shopping, eating and entertainment is reviewed at the back of each city section. Only weak point is that only 14 hotels are reviewed, but those 14 are enough of a variety to get you a nice place. Well worth buying if you are heading over there.



2. This is the only guide you you need to Rome. It is complete, well organized, easy to use and unbiased. The guide contains enough information yet is still light enough to carry around.

No comments about Ottawa: A Colourguide (Colourguide Travel Series).

No comments about Hunter of Peace, Mary T.S. Schaffer's Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies (With Her Heretofore Unpublished Account 1911 Expedition to Maligne Lake).

No comments about Canada's Fifty Years in Space: The COSPAR Anniversary (Apogee Books Space Series).

No comments about Hiking the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

2 comments about Fodor's Pacific Northwest, 15th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. i bought this book along with fodor's guide to b and b's in the pacific northwest. this guide is a good one, both for residents who haven't had time to really see the area and for tourists. its the only one of the guidebooks that i browsed that has accurate information on doing a circle tour of the olympic peninsula. and it has a section that recommends itineraries for one, three, and seven days.



2. I recently bought this book for a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver and Whistler. I found this guide to be extremely helpful both before and during my travels. I was impressed that I was able to find information other than the typical, popular tourist attractions in the main parts of each city. I also liked that they highlighted the "bests" of each city, as well as reccommended activities based on your length of stay. I was slightly dissappointed with the lack of information in the "Whistler, BC" and the quality of the maps (only in Black and White, and only a few neighborhoods for each city.) I think these shortcomings are minor, and would highly reccommend it.