No comments about A New England Autumn.

4 comments about Best Easy Day Hikes Yosemite National Park, 2nd (Best Easy Day Hikes Series).

1. Visiting Yosemite National Park should top the "to do" list of any outdoor enthusiast in California. It is famous for its scenic wonders: stunning waterfalls, giant sequoia trees, and imposing walls of granite. Unfortunately, most of us can only spare a few days for a trip to this grand park. Multiple short day hikes therefore offer the best approach to exploring all Yosemite has to offer and Suzanne Swedo's book is an excellent place to start.
   
   This book describes some of the classic Yosemite Walks including the trails to Vernal Falls, Glacier Point, Lembert Dome and the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias. These walks are classics because they feature world class scenery, and if you do them on a summer weekend you are likely to share the trail with thousands of tourists from all over the world. Fortunately Swedo also includes hikes to lesser known gems like Chilnualna Falls and the Tuolumne Grove of Sequoias. Still, if you want to avoid the crowds, these trails are best explored mid-week or during the off season. That said, this book, like the trails it describes, provides a lot of bang for the buck. It is well worth the price if you are planning a visit to Yosemite.



2. This guide was helpful as we planned our family vacation. It gave basic needed info, such as length of hike, type, facilities, etc... with distances and difficiculty easy to understand. A must when doing this with kids who have limited energy. It helped us out!



3. This is a handy little book to carry around Yosemite. It's suggested hikes are great.
   
   I did find at least one error. The hike to Sentinel Dome tells you to "continue around the base of the dome on your left (west)" which is virtually impossible. There is no trail there. I finally gave up and hiked back to the trail head and spend the rest of the time down the road at Glacier Point. I found out later that I should have gone right, not left, around the base of the dome.
   
   The hike to Vernal Falls is described well, but the author doesn't mention that from the footbridge at the base of the falls it is 100 yards to the Vernal Falls Viewpoint. I found it out later. If you've gone as far as the footbridge, you might as well enjoy the view slightly further up.
   
   In spite of a few problems, I recommend this book for families and causal hikers.



4. This is a very-very compact guide, just the way it suposed to be for a mountain trip guide. I can scan in a second all I want to know about one trail, and enjoy the view, not read books.

2 comments about Utah's Incredible Backcountry Trails.

1. I have been hiking Utah's trails for many years, and I am always looking for new places to explore. I have already looked through most of Utah's other hiking guides, and I have to tell you that this one is without a doubt the best one out there. It is informative, easy to read, the maps are excellent, and, most of all, the color photographs that illustrate the trails will blow you away. It is a little more expensive than the other guides, but definately worth it!



2. This is a beautiful book with color pictures and wonderful detail. This book is worthwhile reading even if you don't hike, you can be an armchair hiker and learn about all the beautiful places Utah has to offer. I bought it for my son and now it is on my want list.

2 comments about Seattle.

1. Most city photo books are for tourists, awards or perhaps libraries. They usually don't give you a sense of the people and emotions of the city just some photos of landmarks. Joel Roger's book is different because he knows Seattle so well and he is a great photojournalist. His book left me happy I live here and reminded me of many sweet and breathtaking moments. It is the perfect book to hand to my house guests when they arrive asking, "What should we do?"



2. Having lived for many years in Seattle and the Northwest, I was eager to read this book. I am pleased to say that this book truly captures the essence of Seattle and is filled with wonderful text and photography.
   Kudos to Mr. Rogers for a lovely and sensitively written book.

5 comments about Guide to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

1. Why is the origin of the name French Broad River? Who was Art Loeb of the Art Loeb trail? Why is the falls that you can see from Mile Post 361.2 called Glassmine Falls? It does not look like glass. This guide has an overlook-by-overlook explanation of the treasures on the Parkway prefaced by a good introduction on the history and geology of the road. I only wish the authors had added the altitude at each overlook. One appendix lists a blooming calendar and the overlooks most likely to have the flowers. Another one has contact information for all the enterprises on the Parkway from the Shenandoah National Park to the Biltmore Estate.

   It is a beautiful book with gorgeous color pictures. Text boxes detailing a particular subject such as rhododendrons or Daniel Boone are sprinkled throughout. But why did they have to use black text on a dark purple background for these boxes? They are so difficult to read. Except for that shortcoming, this book is meant to be used, not to be left on the bookshelf. I take my copy wherever I think I am going to be on the Parkway. As for the answers to the questions above? Check pages 120, 129 and 108, respectively.




2. I was on the B.R. PKWY and needed something more than the simple park map to figure out where the interesting hikes and views were. This book does it and does it well. I have been on the pkwy many times, but some of the history had eluded me until I got to glance through this guide. My buddy liked it so much, he bought his own just because I was always reading it. If you are going to drive the pkwy, I would recommend this book to help you get the most out of your trip.



3. This book was so much more than I expected. It is very detailed in any and all aspects. All sites along the drive are marked by mile markers right down to the tenth of a mile. There is a brief section that tells about the history of the area. Other sites, stops, overlooks and points of interest are well documented. There are also sidebars to the wildlife that are native to the region. There is a section dedicated to what plants and flowers are in bloom(Bloom Calendar)from Jan. through Dec. Campgrounds are marked by mile markers and they specifically tell how many tent and/or RV sites are available as well as the elevation. Trailheads are marked by state. Tunnels are also marked by mile marker and length. However, the height clearance was not. A must have book for first time and repeat visitors. I also recommend "GUIDE TO THE NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY". It is by another author but has the same format.



4. If you want to know that the overlook at milepost xyz.a is scenic, this is the guide for you....all 200 or so overlooks are so described. If, on the other hand, you want to learn abut the history of the BRP, about historical events (e.g. civil war battles)that took place nearby and offer worthwhile side trips, or restaurants and lodging within easy on/off reach of the BRP, this is not the guide for you. Mindnumbingly boring, repetitive, without a scintilla of originality! A waste of money, especially if you are driving the BRP south to north, in which case you have to read this guide backwards.



5. Having researched and planned trips for clients over the past few years, I have come to rely very heavily on this book and "Blue Ridge Parkway Guide" Volumes 1&2. This one offers lovely photos and interesting details of each overlook. You can get some of the same info online but it is not any easier to follow. Hikers may need more back country info but if you are riding the parkway on 1 or more wheels and you can only get one guide, get this one!

No comments about The AIA Guide to Columbus.

4 comments about Top 10 San Antonio and Austin (EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. These guides are so slight and simple, I just cant see why anybody would spend ten dollars U.S. on them. I mean maybe if you where TOTALLY unfamiliar they might be nice to thumb through, but do it at the store, it will take you five minutes to get through it, then go and buy the insight guide to san antonio and then the one for austin or buy Frommers Austin-San Antonio, or the Texas Monthly guide, now those are very good guides. As for this guide to Austin-San Antonio, both of which i am very familiar, its pretty accurate in its top 10's but some i just had to say, WHAT!..most of the top tens are so obvious, i mean if you know anything about these two cities you would know this. In summery, these guides are over priced, really not that useful, the maps are too small to ever consider using, and there are better guide choices you could make.



2. I love this book! I recently went to San Antonio for a long weekend and this was the perfect book! Some may not like the condense top ten format but I love it! It's great when you have a short amount of time and want to see the highlights of an area. Small, light, and compact, this was great to keep in my purse, even small enough to put in a guy's back pocket. Beautiful color pictures and exerpts, detailed street map, and organized by different genre's. Great Buy!



3. My wife and I travel a lot and this book is one of the better ones out there. It sure isn't detailed, but it's to the point of you're planing to stay only couple of days or so and see the major stuff.



4. The "Top 10" series is great for travelers. We recently used them in Hong Kong and Beijing. The guides get right to the point! Unfortunately, the Top 10 San Antonio and Austin covers mostly San Antonio. If interested in Austin, this is not the book to buy.

1 comments about Florida . . . Beyond the Blue Horizon.

1. I ordered this for my nephew who lives in Sebring. He had not seen it and loves the book. Pat

5 comments about Frommer's Virgin Islands (Frommer's Complete).

1. I thought I was pretty good at picking them but man, was I off this time. It's hard to tell when you've never been to the location before but after a week on St. Thomas and St. John, I wish I would've read all these others reviews before I bought this book. I was very disappointed. There were SO MANY unacceptable errors in this book. Maps were wrong...there's an error on the St. John map that shows a road when actually it's only a walking trail. There were typos that got us lost in the city. The reviews weren't accurate at all. Places where it read "live carribean music nightly" were false. The restaurants never had a live band!
   Please consider purchasing another publication unless you don't mind wasting your money.



2. I alway buy both Frommers and Fodors books when I go shoot a new DVD in this case, "The Best Virgin Island Beaches" here on Amazon. Neither are perfect but together they make up for each others weakness. I like Frommers a little better because it has a good section on beaches and descriptions. Also, their maps tend to be a little more detailed. Neither though has many pictures, so if you want to see and hear what these places really feel like, check out our DVDs after you read these books.



3. This book provided valuable information in preparation for my first-time cruise to the Virgin Islands. I would highly recommend this guide to anyone traveling to the Eastern Caribbean.



4. Thanks for the awesome message sent to my email! I will enjoy my adventure there = )



5. Was very helpful in planning my honeymoon to the Virgin Islands. Very informative and reader friendly

1 comments about eat.shop austin: The Indispensable Guide to Inspired, Locally Owned Eating and Shopping Establishments (eat.shop guides).

1. Great resource while visiting Austin. Loved the photographs and writing and look forward to future editions.