5 comments about The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life.

1. If we could just forget about work, children, pets, parents, and other responsibilities, it might be easier to find the time to have fun. The great thing about this book is that you don't have to search - the best possibilities and ideas in 4 distinct categories will guide you - Arts & crafts getaways; volunteer vacations; brain retreats; and wellness escapes. Each entry is jam-packed with the kind of important as well as peripheral information that makes me veer toward an out of the way destination. From an Architecture Fantasy Camp in Oak Park (IL), home of Frank Lloyd Wright to a Frontier Science Workshop at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (CA), there is truly something here for everyone, no matter what part of the country they hail from. Index and many Web site references included. This is a perfect birthday gift for that person in your world that is realizing a milestone in their life.



2. The 100 Best Vacations To Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout is a new National Geographic travel guide book with a special twist: these vacations are not to get away and veg out but to get your creative juices flowing, or to educate you, or to heal you, or to enable you to share what you know to help others. The 100 best vacations book is divided into four sections, each focusing on one of the types of trips mentioned above. The vacation experiences are described in detail, as well as what you will learn, how you can give back, and the type of people who will enjoy such an experience. The trips are within the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico and the book is written by an outstanding experienced travel writer, published frequently in top publications and the author of 13 travel books. This compilation of tour ideas and opportunities is meeting the needs of the new kind of travelers who want to have a meaningful vacation and give back to the places and people they visit, or to learn away from stresses of their normal environment. The book is EXCELLENT, with all the information you need to choose and sign up for leisure time well spent which will keep you smiling and promises to change you forever.



3. This is a short review. The book is fine and dandy for north america but there are quite a few of us who live in other countries that use the english language. It would have been helpful if the title of the book had been a bit more specific.



4. This book with help you find places to go that will enrich your spirit.
   What better way is there to spend your free time?



5. This book is great for old people. I bought this as a gift for my mother in law, and she loved it. She is well traveled and well read, so this is perfect for the person that has everything and needs nothing.

5 comments about Top 10 Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides).

1. If you are planning a trip to New Mexico this is an invaluable guide to have on hand. It very thoroughly covers all of the sights you would ever want to see and gives wonderful recommendations for hotels and restaurants. The one drawback is the maps are a little small so you will still want to have a bigger map of each town. Despite this the information is very well organized and easy to use. This is a much needed guide and one that I highly recommend.



2. A Good book that highlights most of the popular attractions/restaurants.
   Also has good locator maps. Its compact size is great for traveling.



3. The thing I love most about the TOP 10 books is their size. Very easy to fit into a pocket or daypack. The info is concise and accurate. The TOP 10 ratings make it easy to plan your days; you know what you really should see and do if you're new to a place. The price is reasonable, too.
   
   I've been to Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos before and I can confirm that this little book has hit all the right spots!



4. This small, easy to use, guide packs easily. The index helps one find things quickly -- and the images are excellent. It was perfect for a one-week trip.



5. A good book. small and portable. gives one many ideas on what to do, see and eat in the Santa Fe and surrounding areas.

5 comments about The RV Handbook: Essential How-to Guide for the RV Owner, 3rd Edition.

1. Probably a good book for a non mechanic. I was looking for some detail on the equipment on a towable camper.



2. Experienced or a beginner, RVers must learn a lot to care for their investment in a motorhome, fifth-wheel or trailer. This book has some advice I haven't seen elsewhere.
   It tells how to weigh the different RVs on a scale, tire care (aging and ozone cracking), selecting a tow vehicle, understanding propane, and troubleshooting electrical systems.
   It includes some checklists which come in handy:
   *Dinghy Towing Inspection checklist
   *Ignition-System Checklist for Gasoline Engines
   *Diesel Engine Prestart Checklist
   *Short-Term Storage Checklist
   *Return Trip Checklist
   *Steps for Dumping a Holding Tank
   The graphics are well-drawn, clearly labeled and helpful. A troubleshooting diesel engines flowchart and one for gasoline engines really lays out the options clearly.



3. This book is only about 1/3 about RVing. The other 2/3 is about RV motors, how to troubleshoot them, how to maintain them, etc. If you want to know how your RV (other than the motor) works, look elsewhere.



4. Had taken a local community college course in RV'ing and this book was one of the recommended readings/references. Our first RV experience was a rental on a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Read much of this book before we went and carried it with us on the trip. Had several occasions to reference it and re-read many portions. Was a great companion and was a much better reference than the materials that the rental facility provided. Recommend it to anyone renting an RV for the first time. Can't speak to how good it is to those who are seasoned RV'ers.



5. This book is very detailed. I was enlightened on how well it describes the technical aspects for towing and travel trailer maintenance. This is not light reading, but if you are serious on being professional in you travels and trailer setup, this is the book for you. It describes safety in travel trailers and propane use. It gave me many good ideas for solar power enhancement for the travel trailer. I bought a solar cell. I think I will read more in the book and use this in my travels. Recommended book, thanks Amazon.
   Damon

3 comments about Kayaking Puget Sound, the San Juans, and Gulf Islands: 50 Trips on the Northwest's Inland Waters.

1. Lots of good trips, lots of tips about timing your trip with the tides for a more enjoyable and safe trip. Good list of saftey tips. No book is a subsitute for experience but with this on you are less likely to get into trouble. The Puget Sound region has a lot of good open water kayaking and this book covers a lot of that ground.



2. This is the essential guidebook for paddling around the Puget Sound regions. It is one of those books that keeps getting updated every few years, so it is never too far out of date, which is important in our changing world. The marine environment doesn't change much, but access and facilities required to get and stay there do, and this book helps a lot with that.
   
   This is a great book for the day paddler or the committed water traveler, since it rates the difficulty of each trip, lists places to camp and gives clear directions to launch and recovery points. It covers all the inland waters of the Puget Sound at some level of detail. Maps are a key feature of a book like this, and theirs are excellent. If you paddle the Sound, this book belongs in your truck.



3. This is a great reference book. It is very well detailed for each trip. I like the layout, easy to read, giving ratings for protected, moderate or exposed waters, place to put in. I highly recommend it.

No comments about Zagat 2008 America's Top Restaurants (Zagatsurvey: America's Top Restaurants) (Zagatsurvey: America's Top Restaurants).

5 comments about Frommer's New York City with Kids (Frommer's With Kids).

1. Our family recently spent time in Manhattan. We took several books with us, and this was the one we found most useful. It's not perfect -- I found myself flipping pages a lot to connect restaurants and attractions etc, but it was still so loaded with good info that I always took it with me when we went out. We found several good restaurants that were just as depicted (though one was closed), and we chose several places to visit and were not disappointed. There's a good introductory chapter as well as excellent information about parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, shopping, walks, entertainment and side trips. No pictures. Excellent resource.



2. I am satisfied with my travel guide purchase.
   
   We can feel it has been written by someone who really experienced NYC with kids. A lot of tips that can help a great deal.
   
   I hope not to get disappointed when I get to NYC.



3. The book is ok but I bought it because I was going to NYC and when I actually went I found that one restaurant, which was supposedly near my hotel, did not exist, another one was closed forever, so in the end I could not rely on the restaurant information. Also the information was put very sparsely, I would have arranged it more by area, given the fact that if you travel with kids the main problem is moving around and you are therefore more restricted in your movements. Overall it's 3 stars, I don't know if there are better guides, looking back I would not buy it again.



4. This book is pretty good for a trip to NYC with kids.
   I bought it without having reviewed it first, but I flipped through about 4-5 books on NYC with kids and chose it.
   It is slimmer than some other books, which is helpful if you are going to be toting it around in your bag with you in the city.
   It doesn't have too much extraneous info in it, which is good.
   It has a decent review of most of the hotels. I had a hotel recommended by a friend, and it's included in the book and pretty accurate, although the author leaves out some info about the rooms there that I would have wanted to know - - such as the fact that older rooms on lower floors at regular rates are REALLY old and tired looking and that newer refreshed rooms are higher up and go for higher rates. I think it includes a number of good hotels that have suites for families, which we find to be very nice.
   The restaurant reviews are somewhat helpful, but no book of this type can adequately cover all the restaurants in NYC that are good for families. It does a good job of pointing out a few in each area that are good and welcome kids, but it of course misses MANY MANY others that are even better.
   It suggests some daily itineraries and includes a list of top kid attractions, which is the best part of the book for a first or second trip to NYC with kids. It oversells a couple and undersells a couple, but each family will prefer different activities/sites anyway.
   My biggest beef with it was that it has different maps for each section: a restaurant map, an attractions map, a hotel map, a playgrounds map, etc. I ultimately took a map from my hotel and just wrote onto it the attractions, etc that we wanted to visit. I would have loved to see an overlay or something like that. It was a pain to try to flip from the restaruant map to the attractions map. I wanted to be able to see that we could zip over from this attraction to that store to that restaurant, etc.
   There is a color subway map on the inside of the back cover, which doesn't cover upper Manhattan, and it isn't overlayed onto other maps.



5. I grew up in the area, and surpised myself by purchasing this book before a trip back with my than 2 year old son...needless to say, in the past 3 years, every time I have taken him to NYC, we have had really fun filled, well organized plans thanks to this book...when traveling (anywhere) with children, there is nothing better than knowing exactly where you are going to eat at the end of the day, and exactly how to get there...that said, NYC has a high turnover rate for just about everything...call your chosen resturant first to make sure they didn't go out of business, check the MTA site to make sure the subway line you plan on taking isn't limiting service that day due to track work, and you'll be fine...the city can be an intimidating place to lots of people, but it really dosen't need to be, and this book is a great start for those visiting with children.

5 comments about 50 Thrifty Maui Restaurants.

1. Wow ... every restaurant we tried was exceptional. We were staying at the Ritz Kapalua, so we were eager to go off campus for great meals at cheaper prices. Take this book with you when you go to Maui. It's right on target.



2. This book is not very in-depth, the reviews are short and not terribly accurate. There are plenty of cheap places to eat if that's what you want and it feels like they wrote this book to travel around Maui as a "critic" to get recognition and cheap food. Maui Revealed is much better.



3. My husband and I used this guide for a 5 day trip to Maui in January 08. We found the reviews to be up-to-date and accurate. Yes, the descriptions are brief, but this is meant to be a lightweight pocket guide that you can throw in your beach bag or keep in the glove box of your rental car, whether you use it on the fly to find a casual place to munch, or want to plan for something a little more upscale but still within a budget. Most of the places listed here are casual condo resort restaurants, "mom & pop" digs, or fall under the "fast food" category (but there's only one chain restaurant listed). But afterall, this is Maui and unless you are at the Four Seasons or other upscale resort area restaurant you are probably fine to roll in with your flip flops and a t-shirt. We liked the specifics like instructions on where to park and suggested menu items to try. If you like to stay at your resort and dine at the typical touristy restaurants in Lahaina and Kihei, you wont find this book very useful. But if you are like us and like to explore "out of the way" Maui when you go and are looking to spend less than $20 (or less than $10) per person on a meal, this book will be indespensible during your driving tours around the island. You can save money and eat at the less expensive breakfast and lunch spots listed in this book, and then splurge a night or two on dinner at Mama's Fish House, Roy's/Kimo's/Lahaina Fish Co., and a luau or dinner show. We ate at at least 5 places recommended by this book while we were there, from oceanfront restaurants to tiny taco stands on the Hana Hwy. By the way, we've used Maui Revealed for years (who doesn't these days?), and 50 Thrifty lists a lot of restaurants that Maui Revealed doesn't. So spend the few bucks for this book and have an even bigger selection of restaurants to choose from when you get there!



4. We brought this book on our trip and used it frequently. We were very pleased with the book. It was accurate regarding the restaurants, locations, menu selections, and especially pricing.



5. A first we thought that we will end up where there was OK food, but we tasted better food than some of the more expensive tourist locations. Gives you that great island living experience, you go to towns where no tourists hang out, restraunts with friendly people, mom and pop shops where people care about you and the food they are serving. I highly recommend this book, even if you are not on a budget.

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).

4 comments about Hiking Grand Teton National Park, 2nd (Hiking Guide Series).

1. Having read this book and just spent a week using it in hiking in the Tetons, I found it generally useful and accurate. The maps and directions for finding trailheads are good, and the mileage counter provided gives a good indication of progress on the walks. I would make several recommendations for changes, however. First, I disagree with the level of difficulty ranking for some of the trails. For instance, the Amphitheater Lake trail is clearly more strenuous and difficult than the Holly Lake trail. Second, there should be numerical figure giving the actual elevation gain in addition to the useful elevation profile graph. Finally, the book did not include the excellent Hanging Canyon trail, which though unmaintained, is still a great climb. I found the book Day Hiking Grand Teton National Park by Tom Carter to be equally useful and much more packable based on its small size.



2. This book gives a pretty good summary of the hiking trails in Grand Teton National Park. My one complaint would be regarding the trail for Granite Canyon/Rendevous mountains (Chapter 3). The elevation map showed the trail being flat at the end. You actually ascend a bit at the end. I wish I had known that before because I was pretty tired at the end. Other than that, I found the book accurate, and a a great guide to hiking in the area.



3. This guide lists 35 trails, organized by region. Unlike (say) the Yellowstone guide it does not sort the trails into short, medium, and long hikes. Like other Falcon guides, it provides maps of each trail and valuable information about elevations and steepness. Each listing include elevation diagrams that are very useful for letting you know what you are getting yourself into.
   
   This is probably the best all-around guide to hiking the Grand Tetons. It's especially useful for finding good hikes while sitting at home. Bill Schneider writes well and does a good job describing the hikes so that you can decide which ones are best for you. Like other Falcon guides it has a chart listing best flat terrain day hike, best wildlife viewing, most strenuous, best scenery, and so on.



4. This book covers only Grand Teton Nat'l Park, which is great beacuse most trail books throw GTNP in with Yellowstone trail books and those never seem to give the attention GTNP deserves. I have vacationed and hiked GTNP several times over the past ten years and purchased more than a few of these books looking for details on the longer hikes while being mindful of the abilities of my children (pre-teen and early teen). This book allows you to plan for both. The author provides elevation profiles for each hike as well as the usual distance and difficulty rating. Like most people, the ratings are always a bit hard to match with one's ability and stamina. The elevation profiles give you a real sense of what you're in for! In addition, each hike is described to you in detail: what you experience, what you'll see, what to watch for, how much time the hike will take, and offer some options for shorter or longer combined hikes. Excellent! If I had to recommend only one of the dozen or so that I have read about GTNP, this would definitely be the one!

4 comments about Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to Washington, D.C (Not for Tourists Guidebook).

1. I can only speak for the Silver Spring section of the book, as that is area I live and am intimately familiar with it. But if it is any indication of the quality of the rest of the book, beware!
   
   The book contains listings of many companies and stores that have been closed for 5+ years, the map included is at least seven years old (many roads have been removed to make way for larger buildings), and many stores, bars and clubs have opened in the past five years that are not listed. The book fails to mention a shopping mall in the shopping section. Also, it lists Gold's Gym twice with the same address, and places Tastee Diner at the wrong location on the map (the location it was moved from about 7 years ago), even though the correct address is supplied. The text tells drinkers to be aware that bars in Silver Spring are few and far between, but many new bars and restaurants have opened up in the past several years that the editors are obviously unaware of. While Silver Spring has not become an Adams Morgan, there is certainly some good nightlife: Jackie's, McGinty's, Galaxy, Gallery, Piratz.
   
   If the book was a 1999 or 2000 edition, it would be acceptable, but too much has changed recently for this book to be considered a valuable guide.



2. The NTF series of guide books is terrific. It has absolutely everything you need and my friend who now lives in D.C. loves it.



3. I live in New York, and am a committed fan of NFT's NY edition. I still carry it everywhere, and I lend my older copy to visiting friends. That said, the Washington D.C. version seems amateurish by comparison. First of all, it's huge. It's the size of a DVD case, and thicker. It will not fit in your coat pocket. Second, the text written about various locations can read like bad blog-posts by some people who really hate DC, dripping with facile, simplistic sarcasm and snark. It can get a bit hard to read. It looks as if NFT's editors or marketing team decided to emphasize "attitude" in its DC edition, rather than the intelligent presentation and informed guidance that made the NY edition so great. On the upside, the maps' format and presentation are as clear and useful as ever, and are certainly better than the maps of most other guides.



4. This book is so helpful for folks like us who are moving to DC shortly that my wife said "hands off", she was keeping this copy and that I should buy my own! Enough said...