5 comments about The Best in Tent Camping: New England: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best in Tent Camping).

1. Lafe Low has put together a concise, thorough and extremely helpful guide to finding quiet tent campgrounds in New England. He even goes to the point of describing individual sites so you know which ones to reserve. He provides details on privacy, facilities and overall beauty as well as which water sports can be practiced in the area. It is a necessary resource for anyone trying to find spots where they won't be overrun by so-called RV "campers". My only suggestion would be more details/broader maps since many of the parks are in out of the way spots that don't get adequate attention on larger maps.



2. I checked out some of the 'best' sites in his book only to be disappointed several times. For example: Mr.Laff gives Mt. Greylock 5 stars for privacy and spaciousness. I even reserved what was supposedly one of the 'best' campsites there. These campsites were literally 30 feet from one another, on hard packed dirt with not even a separating tree between them. At night, the access road across the river was busy with traffic, lighting up my tent all night with highbeam lights. It was like camping in a undersized, cramped trailer park.
   
   EDIT: Ok, let me say I was a bit mad after having some bad experiences. Let me stress the good things about this book: As a camping site reference this book is very handy for planning a trip as it has A LOT of information in one place (A very good listing of parks and amenities).
   
   However, I think the review system could use some tweaking. This could be a much better book. Pictures would really sweeten this up. It would also be helpful to know what parks are family parks, or day parks or "rv crowd" parks, etc.. Not an easy task, but still on my wish list.
   
   Also, I think the book is missing a better suited audience: the camping RV crowd (whom the book title seems to disparage a little). I think this book is almost an indispensable resource book for them, far more so than for the backpacker. Many of the parks in this book offer RV amenities which is something I didn't think I'd see in this book considering the title.



3. my husband and i have used this book twice for tent camping in Mass. I'm not sure what the author has in mind regarding his idea of privacy but the two different parks we've stayed at, 4 stars for privacy was way off. I don't call 4 stars being able to talk to my neighbors from in front of my campfire less than 30 feet away with hardly any trees/bushes in between sites. His discriptions of the parks in general are accurate. We are very let down by the descriptions of the sites and privacy. We were suppsose to be "on the river" at Mohawk Trail State Forest but we had to walk through the next site to get to the river.



4. Greetings Dev33 and Natureboy,
   I'm sorry you had a less than positive experience with the reviews and ratings in my book. I do realize that slapping a numeric rating on something as subjective as impressions of privacy or beauty can be problematic.
   I did try to be as honest as possible about my impressions. Perhaps the campgrounds were less crowded when I was there doing my reserach.
   Natureboy, regarding some of your comments about Beartown and Greylock, I was never bothered by traffic at night on the Greylock access road. Perhaps there was something going on that night you were there, but that was never a factor when I was there or I certainly would have mentioned it. Also, I did mention that the pondside sites at Beartown are open to each other, but the view of the pond and surrounding hillsides made up for it, at least in my view. I doubt the air traffic that bothered you was from Otis AFB, however, since that is over near Cape Cod. Again, I am sorry your experiences with those campgrounds were not as positive as mine. I wish you better luck and more pleasant camping experiences in the future.
   If you would like to respond to me directly, my e-mail address is llow@redmondmag.com. I would like to hear from you and hear your concerns directly. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy some of the other spots mentioned in the book. If you're ever in Maine, try the Mount Desert Campground. I'm certain you'll like that place.
   Cheers,
   Lafe Low



5. I bought this book last year, a few short weeks before our annual camping trip - this time to New England - because the free AAA campground "guides" we used the year prior were awful and featured mostly sites catering to RVs.
   
   I must say, we found the reviews in the book very helpful, and it did lead us to some wonderful spots in campgrounds we might not have otherwised discovered. However, having only learned about these great destinations a month before our trip prevented us from securing some of the most beautiful spots. My recommendation, therefore, is to plan ahead, far, far in advance, if you want to experience the best sites New England has to offer. Otherwise, you will arrive only to find out the spot you want has been booked.

2 comments about Discover Acadia National Park, 2nd: AMC Guide to the Best Hiking, Biking, and Paddling (AMC Discover Series).

1. and we were sure glad we bought this book. The map that comes with the book is five stars for sure. There were countless times we used the map to find out where we exactly were. The map was used to help people on the trail know exactly where they were. The book itself was a helpful planning tool for our hiking and biking times. I didn't get to spend as much time before the trip in it as I would have liked. It could be a five star book, but I haven't read enough of the book to feel comfortable giving it that rating; however, I do know that what I did read was accurate and helpful. It will certainly be an excellent resource for our next trip to Acadia.



2. We liked this book and did three hikes out of it. Overall the book was accurate. Probably next time we'd buy a pocket-size book, however, it was nice to read some of the detail and history about the areas we were hiking through. One item we suggest in the future is some drawing of the route. Although the book comes with a map and that worked (if we had it with us or handy).

No comments about AMC's Best Day Hikes in the White Mountains: Four-Season Guide to 50 of the Best Trails in the White Mountain National Forest (Amc's Best Day Hikes).

5 comments about Drive I-95: Exit by Exit Info, Maps, History and Trivia.

1. This book is great! Not only does it give the standard I95 exit information (restaurants, hotels, etc.) but it also gives many points of interest for families...rest areas where you can play ball or places not far from exits where you can have fun.
   I can't believe how extensive this book is and how accurate since it's a few years old now and things they are a changin' along I95 North to South.
   We really enjoyed this book along our trip - reading ahead of time is recommended so that you can be aware of places to stop before you get there.



2. Drive I-95 by Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner has been released in updated 4th Edition. It is a very comprehensive guidebook for any drive along the North-South route of the United States most Eastward coastal highway. This edition now includes Florida. With maps, radar traps, radio stations, 24 hour gas info, good eats and sleeps, where pets are welcomed, unususal shopping opportunities, fun places to visit, and fascinating historical facts along the route, you cannot leave home for that highway without this book! You'll miss so much! The excellent book, with exit by exit itemized information, has won the Book of the Year Seal, Best Books Award, and Benjamin Franklin Award. It is compact and sturdy enough to tuck into your car door pocket. EXCELLENT!!!



3. As someone who travels I-95 often, I was delighted to discover "Drive I-95." What a valuable tool for the vacationer or the everyday traveler!
   
   This slick, spiral book is an ideal guide to everything you need to help make your trip more pleasant. Exits for every segment of I-95 from Massachusetts to the tip of Florida, where I-95 ends, are documented with important landmarks, motels, restaurants/fast food places, service stations, and drug and grocery stores. A book flap gives the dial location and program types for the strongest radio stations along the way. Following the map section, the traveler will find more than 100 pages of interesting tidbits concerning history and places found near I-95. These include segments, with exit numbers, about the Torpedo Factory Art Center, located in Alexandria, VA; Gadsby's Tavern (an historic restaurant at the same exit); St. John's Church in Richmond, VA where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech about liberty or death; the Best Western Space Shuttle Inn; Outlets at Vero Beach, FL; Worth Ave. in Palm Beach, FL and much more. The back inside cover has a list of motel chain 800 numbers.
   
   Drive I-95 is a treasure you will want to keep in your car as you travel from Boston to Miami and lots of places in between. What a great idea!
   
   --Mary Montague Sikes, author of Hotels to Remember



4. Now in a fully updated fourth edition, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier guidebook for the more than 42,500,000 people who drive to Florida every year down Interstate 95. It accurately charts all 552 exits on I-95 from Boston to Miami. It is also a wealth of information about food options, motels, radar traps, radio stations, 24-hour mechanics (a unique feature not found in other travel guides) ATM machines, shopping recommendations, and even some of the best golf courses to be found along the route. With anecdotal stories such as the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina having been started with a kiss, to a listing of motel chain 800 numbers, to so much more, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier and confidently recommended travel guide for anyone driving up or down I-95!



5. Haven't had time to actually use this book so far but my sisters. one of whom has used an older version of this book in the past, used theirs recently while traveling north. They found it very helpful in locating places to eat and stay overnight. We did notice however that one or two of the eating places in our own area of Santee are no longer in business.
   
   I hope to get my chance to use it shortly.

1 comments about Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket: An Explorer's Guide, Seventh Edition (Explorer's Guides).

1. Even though I had been traveling to Cape Cod every summer for 25 years and thought I had seen it all, this book opened up a whole new world for me. There is something for everyone here, plus all of the hidden gems that are uncovered in each town. Not only is the author a good researcher and reporter, she's an excellent writer as well, which is part of what sets this book apart and makes it so enjoyable. My regret is that I didn't find it sooner; it could've changed my last decade.

2 comments about Quiet Water Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, 2nd: Canoe and Kayak Guide (AMC Quiet Water Series).

1. This is an excellent book for those yakers who are looking for an escape from motor boat laden waters. It is well illustrated and has helpful tips on where to put in and what to expect as you traverse the water ways.



2. we live in broad brook, connecticut and this is the first year we've had kayaks. in the early summer we met a woman on the scantic river near the somersville dam and she recommended this book. best tip of the year. there are so many great paddles in here that you'd never know about just by looking on a map. we'd been driving around, shooting in the dark, and mostly being disappointed by what we found. every paddle we've taken out of the book has been excellent. can't recommend it highly enough.

4 comments about The Photographer's Guide to the Maine Coast: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them.

1. David Middleton and Bruce Morrison have created a very insightful guide to coastal Maine photographic "hot spots". I am a professional photographer based in Maine, and while I am quite familiar with most of the places mentioned in this book I was pleasantly surprised to find out about others I had overlooked or was not aware of. (I also have a few secret spots of my own that did not crop up in the book..thankfully... but that's what makes this fun - a guidebook is best put to use as a springboard for further exploration.)

   Photographers who live in Maine or are planning to visit coastal Maine will find much to enjoy here. You couldn't ask for a better resource. Even non-photographer types would do well to mine the gems of this book for general sightseeing and hiking tips.
   Middleton and Morrison put you smack dab in the middle of great photo opportunities. A bit of a warning here: after you get a copy of this book you will feel a sudden and intense urge to be out on the Maine coast with your camera.

   PS - Middleton's guide to Vermont photo sites is excellent as well.




2. This is a good guidebook. It has enough detail/description to allow one to rationally select "likely sites" without being overpowering. However, there are an number of annoying editing errors present. (For example, every time the text reads "this place is 0.05 mile beyond that place", what's really meant is "0.5 mile". This is wrong in every place it's mentioned!)



3. We followed his book to the letter and a great book with valuable infomation. Would recommend this book for anyone traveling to Maine and who likes Lighthouses. Wonderful and helpful tips.



4. My wife and I are planning our vacation to Maine for late Summer '06. We enjoyed the book, pictures, and suggestions for "great pictures."
   We'll see how it goes!

2 comments about Time Out London (Time Out Guides).

1. Time Out knows the pulse of the city like very few do, and it shows - they update their London guide every year. You get all the tried and true favorites - Parliament, the Abbey, St. Paul's - but also tons of places you might not find covered anywhere else. That said, the tone can get a bit cheeky, and sometimes you wish they wouldn't use British slang. But all in all, Time Out loves its mother-city, and they want you to fly back home feeling the same way!



2. I always use the Time Out guides as my first choice for any city they cover. I've used successive editions of the London guide every time I go. They are incredibly packed with useful and up-to-date information, and also hip, well-written, and fun to read. They've made a big difference in my travel experiences!

4 comments about Backroads of New England: Your Guide To New England's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Pictorial Discovery Guide).

1. When fall comes in New England, the trees turn into a splendid mass of reds, oranges and yellows that temporarily distract us from the coming winter. At the same time, the first fresh snowfalls have a special beauty that New Englanders love as well. But the first blush of spring causes a special joy to burst out from our hearts. In the lazy days of summer, we love to watch the wind blow the grasses and trees from languid poses.
   
   At any one of those times, I find myself thinking how much fun it would be to see some new sights in the context of those favorite New England conditions. In the forty years I've lived in New England, I've found many of my favorite locations purely by accident. The back roads are always the best. But I don't have the time to randomly drive all the back roads to find the best ones.
   
   That's where Backroads of New England comes in. Kim Knox Beckius has found 30 delightful drives over back road that mix scenery, history, culture and just plain fun. I have taken about half of the drives in the book, so I can swear by those. I am looking forward to doing the rest now that I know where to go.
   
   How can I tell I would like the others? First, Ms. Beckius provides helpful essays about where to begin, what to see, and what to stop and do along the way. She even includes some suggestions for hiking to beautiful waterfalls. Second, William H. Johnson's gorgeous photographs colorfully illuminate the main sights for each drive. Whether you love covered bridges, snow-capped peaks, delightful streams, pounding surf, or mysterious vistas, you can page through the book to find the places that speak mostly fervently to your soul.
   
   The book is also organized by state. So if you are planning to go just to Maine and arrive by air in Portland, you can simply focus on the Maine trips and those in New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts that are not too far away. If you live in New York, and want to drive for no more than two hours, you can focus on that radius in western Connecticut and Massachusetts.
   
   I have been looking at travel guides for New England for many years. I've never seen a finer one for back roads adventures.
   
   Give it a try!



2. Kim Knox Beckius, a well-known New England travel writer, has teamed up with New Hampshire photographer, William Johnson, to create a pictorial guide to 30 scenic drives throughout the region.
   
   You get five scenic drives each from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Rhode Island offers up another four, and Maine weighs in with a larger six. The drives cover the best of New England, from mountains to the ocean, and from the lakes to the beaches. And a whole bunch more.
   
   Kim doesn't spend a lot of time on directions. They tend to be brief and on the side of the pages - enough to get you around but not much more. Kim focuses her travel writing skills on making sure you experience in words the sights, sounds, and smells of each region. The beautifully produced photography greatly enhances this experience.
   
   While I love this book if you're looking for one crammed with detailed directions and a step-by-step tour of attractions this isn't it.
   
   This is a book to keep near you throughout the long winter... to browse whenever you want to remember a drive already taken... or one waiting for you in the spring.



3. My wife and I just came back from vacation in New England. Aside from the Delorme maps, this book was the most important item we took with us. We went on several of the scenic drives described in the book, and they were all absolutely beautiful! The directions were perfect, even if they don't tell you the distances involved. The photographs in the book are worth the price alone, but it's even better when you come across the places pictured in the book and find out they're just as gorgeous as the author said they would be. If you're going to New England, you need this book.



4. This was obviously a carefully researched, well-written book, with great photos. But I was disappointed that there was so little focus on maps. Rather than showing a detailed maps of a recommended route, the author chose to write a verbal description of a recommended route. That's sufficient if you wish to follow the author's route exactly. But if you would rather create your own route with some guidance from the book, it's virtually impossible.

3 comments about Quiet Water New Hampshire & Vermont:Canoe & Kayak Guide, 2nd: AMC Quiet Water Guide.

1. Excellent book, I recommend this to anyone. I use this book for canoe trip planning with my family. Detailed information is given here. As usual it is another fine book by AMC.



2. I purchased this book as a guide book for kayaking lakes that I may have not known about. I found the book lacking on listing ALL the possible lakes not just some the author knew. I was looking for a lake guide book that list every lake, pond, maybe river not just a few. I had the older book and that listed even less. This also concentrates on the wildlife and plant life rather than describing the actual lake. This could be a really good guide book if it were done better...........



3. As a canoeist I can only pray for titles similar to this series to span the continent. These guides offer listings by region and alphabetical indices, area maps, launch site directions and parking advice. Wilson mentions special points of interest -- geologic formations, settlements, graveyards, and odd indigenous species -- with sidebars covering nature lore. A super gift for the New England canoodler in your life.