3 comments about California Coastal Access Guide.

1. This book have complete guide for ocean side and srounding area in California. Excellent with chart of many sections such as fire pits, camp sites, etc. all covers along with coastal line on North to South of whole California. Also many terminology and explanations related with ocean and coastal environments, too. This is a must have guide book to looking for camping or barbequeing for family.



2. Good reference for the camper. We love to camp on the state beaches and this is a very helpful ref.



3. This gorgeous book really excited me when I found a copy at the San Diego REI store. The California Coastal Guide, by the California Coastal Commission, is a delicious menu of beaches, cliffs, boardwalks, marshy estuaries, tide pools and baysides. For under 25 dollars, this makes a great gift for anyone planning to move to or travel along the long, endlessly changing California coastline.
   
   From San Diego, my plan was to drive along the coast to Seattle, camping and hiking enroute. This book showed me the BEST places to leave the highway and get to the water, and includes everything there is to see - even the tiny, hidden gems only locals know of. Each section includes a map of the local town or city, and how it fits into the coast at that area. Mileages are given between areas for reference.
   
   Places to camp and hike on EVERY SECTION of the coast are included - thank goodness! It's hard to get this kind of information from any one resource. I didn't want to drive north with a gazillion guidebooks to each part of California.
   
   The guidebook starts with the northern coast and works south, so I mentally had to read backwards while I traveled, which was fine. Each section of the coast is also given an introductory treatment with highlights of flora and fauna (ie. - want to identify sand verbenas and pickleweed? Know a sanderling from an avocet? Dig for clams? There's a lot of fun stuff here.
   
   My main regret about this cool book was that it did not continue up into Oregon and Washington! I felt like I was abandoned once I crossed the border. Not their fault. :)
   
   This book is a work of art and science for anyone who loves California and hiking along the sunniest beaches of the Pacific Ocean.

5 comments about Joshua Tree: The Complete Guide: Joshua Tree National Park.

1. This book is it. As an avid hiker, camper, and all around outdoorsman, I've used a lot of different guides, but this one takes it. Between the photos, the extra chapters on local history, ecology etc., not to mention one of the easiest to use trail guides I've seen, I'm set on Destination Press as my guide of choice. Mr. Kaiser has made my outdoor adventures that much more enjoyable.



2. An excellent book with great photographs. It is organized very well. The author's love of the park comes through and is very inspiring.



3. The book provides great ideas for trips within the park for any user. I spent 5 days climbing in JTree but enjoyed finding out from the book what the Joshua tree actually is and going on a hike to see some petroglyphs. The photographs are very vivid and the campground maps are very useful (although an overall map with the campground locations would be useful too).



4. I loved this book. Superbly written and full of interesting facts and history. I have been to Joshua about 4-5 times and absolutely love it, and now armed with this book I am looking forward to going back. Great pictures, narrative and real life experiences make this book a must have!



5. This book has beautiful pictures and really interesting insights on what the best trails are. We loved the ones we chose based on the guide. It worked perfectly for us during our two-day trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

No comments about A New England Autumn.

5 comments about Ghosthunting Ohio (Haunted Heartland Series).

1. 
   Review by Lee Prosser - leep@ghostvillage.com
   Ghostvillage.com review
   
   A fascinating look at ghosts and hauntings in Ohio, this is one book not to be missed. In fact, I found I had read it twice before I reviewed it simply because of the interest it generated within me as a reader! This book will grab your interest and hold it, and thanks to the concise and clear writing talents of John B. Kachuba, this is one book about ghosts you will savor re-reading many times over.
   
   In addition there is a travel guide to ghosthunting, a section on visiting haunted places, and a ghostly resources entry. A brisk and entertaining introduction sets the pace to this well-crafted book. Ohio is covered by sections.
   
   With over thirty ghostly sites to read about, there is something for everybody in this book. Among the numerous interesting entries, check out Fort Meigs, Main Street Cafe, The Lofts Hotel, Taffy's Main Street Coffee, Woodland Cemetery, The Castle, and the Inn at Cedar Falls. An enjoyable afterword concludes this fine ghosthunting book.
   
   If you like reading about ghosthunting and stories of hauntings as much as I do, then this book will give you many repeated hours of reading enjoyment. I highly recommend this book to anybody seriously interested in the lore of ghosts. Excellent reading!



2. Ohio resident John Kachuba has documented 31 tales from every corner of that beautiful state. I only wish this book had been available during the years I drove there frequently to visit my daughter attending college in Ohio's heartland. I had no idea I was passing by so many fascinating and creepy places.
   
   In addition to the great writing (Kachuba teaches writing at the college level), what really makes his book stand out among the ghost books I have read is its inclusion of only haunts that are open to the public. You can visit every one of these places. In fact, you could use this book as a guide to the state and spend a very intriguing week or two investigating each site - staying in the haunted hotels, eating in the spooky restaurants and taverns, and touring a variety of ghost-filled historic buildings featured in this collection, if you dare!
   
   To ensure you have no excuse to wimp out on an Ohio ghost excursion, Kachuba includes regional maps and clear directions to each site. To make sure you know when you're at the front door, he adds very nice photos of each building. Then, just as you may have pumped up your courage to venture forth, he scares you good in a warning from his "Afterword," written by notable paranormal researchers and demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Maybe armchair traveling is the best kind, after all.
   
   Georgiana Kotarski,
   author of Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not only is John's writing style captivating, it is extremely descriptive. I felt as though I was able to almost picture myself at each of the locations. There was much history in the book, and John described each location with exciting detail, and dignity.
   I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Kachuba at Ghostock 4 in Savannah, Georgia in February, and he has a warm, friendly personality.I look forward to meeting him again, and I can't wait to read one of his other books.
   Cindy



4. Simply put, I loved this book. John Kachuba has a gift of description. I felt like I was in these locations with John while he was telling all of these stories. As a ghosthunter, I love reading about other paranormally active locations. Now I'll have to include all of these locations to my list. John is a brilliant writer and I'm already anticipating his next book. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to John tell some of his "ghost stories", I urge you to do so as you will be missing out if you don't.



5. When I began work on my own book on ghosthunting in Virginia and the District of Columbia, this was one of the resources I picked up for inspiration, and I have to say that it more than met my expectations. This handbook contains firsthand accounts by the author of his visits to a wide variety of haunted public sites -- including hotels, restaurants, and cemeteries -- and is well written, nicely detailed, and often amusing.
   
   On a more personal level, I was pleasantly surprised by a number of things. One was all the ways my own travels and writing endeavors intersected with the author's adventures in this book, including my stay at the clearly-haunted Hilton Netherlands Plaza hotel in Cincinnati. Another was with what a similar approach Kachuba and I had taken in our respective works and how, with much less tweaking than I would have assumed, almost any of the chapters in my most recent book, Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures: Great Lakes, could have been spun as ghost stories.
   
   It is also nice when an author continues to do what he does best, so I was pleased to see that Kachuba had also written a Ghosthunting Illinois (The Haunted Heartland), and will have to check it out next.

No comments about Fodor's Florida 2009 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

5 comments about Ready to Roll: A Celebration of the Classic American Travel Trailer.

1. Ready to Roll: A celebration of the Classic American Travel Trailer
   Although I am admittedly a bit biased because of Tin Can Tourists' association with Dough Keister and this project, I found the book to be top notch. The blend of Arrol Gellner's text with Doug's pictures provides the reader with much more than a typical "coffee table" book.
   I believe it deserves a place with Galloping Bungalows and Wheel Estate as a must for those that require a fuller understanding of the RV evolution from the Tin Can Tourists to Airstream Founder, Wally Byam.



2. An architect and a photographer co-authored this classic mix of pix and text that rolls us down the American back roads in high style. From the early almost-train cars manufactured for the wealthy, to the poor man's alternative --- "Sleep in Your Car," one ad suggests --- we are drawn along by the fantasy of life fully lived away from home, a fantasy that could only have taken root in America, where roads and cars grew up together in serendipitous symbiosis.

   Before the metal bodies and custom interiors, there had been the Conestoga wagons and, before that, the wooden gypsy vardos of old Europe. Sheepherders had "arks" made for crawling across the lonesome prairie, precursors to "tin can tourism" that attracted freedom-loving Americans almost as soon as they discovered the practicality of the auto itself.

   From the 1930s onward, the question was not if they would buy it but what shape they would purchase, as independent companies vied for a market share, assembling campers shaped like teardrops, bread loaves and fantastical avian forms lifted from the burgeoning airplane industry.

   Today's RVers owe much to Wally Byam, a true fanatic whose conception of a trailer accessible to the average middle-class family resulted in the Airstream, arguably the finest development of the pull-along format. With wood paneled mod cons within and an aerodynamic metal bullet exterior, the Airstream divorced trailering from the Oakie image and spawned many imitators. While confections like the Curtiss Aerocar and Pierce Arrow's faux railcar sought the aristocratic end of the market, and utilitarian itsy-bitsy tent-trailer combos attracted the low budget traveler, Airstream sat doggedly in the middle, offering class, ease of hauling and fine workmanship at an affordable price. "Today, more than four decades after his death in 1962, Byam's basic Airstream design continues to roll off the Jackson Center production lines, still widely regarded as the Rolls-Royce of trailers, and still inspiring imitations."

   For nearly fifty years in the heyday of over-the-road vacationing, there was a Very Large Array of metal boxes on wheels, with names like Comet, Gypsy Wagon, Spartanette and Airfloat, and some more durable brands like Shasta. Because these ephemeral blips on the trailering screen were often handcrafted and built, remarkably, to last, many are still rolling or at least set up on blocks in mint condition, alluringly photogenic.

   Gellner and Keister sought them out and tastefully snapped their innards and their outer skins, along with the cars that pull them. Where the snowbirds flock, these metal bubbles proliferate, often hauled by cars of equal interest to collectors. Now there's a new craze, and why are we not surprised --- that of building "vintage" campers, look-alikes to the old timey road runners of the early 20th century. Is this true "camp" or what?

   Peering inside these metal marvels, via the camera's eye, we get a feeling for what was considered essential to the traveler in times past: parquet flooring, lounge chairs, recessed doors and plastic laminate kitchen counters, the latest thing. Beginning as a simple imitation of home interior design, trailer construction soon became a playground for experimentation in the technology of the tiny, the art of making things work smoothly in cramped quarters without skinning knuckles or having to sleep in a ball.

   Like millions of Americans, I've followed the camper craze, the boondoggling and midnight interstate rest area getaways. I've moved with the carnival where homes on wheels have to be durable for the weekly hops. Maybe when I retire I'll look for a campsite at Slab City in California or Quartzite, Arizona.

   If you love this book, then you're the guy for me. You and I could hit the high spots --- starting at Braden's Castle in Reno (that's where we'll get married), then on to Shady Dell in Bisbee, Arizona, where overnight guests can stay in vintage trailers. We'll honeymoon there in the Spartan Royal Mansion.

   --- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott




3. This is an incredible wealth of information for anyone interested in architecture, travel trailers, and Americana in general. Lovely photography is augmented by nicely coordinated text. Some redundancy is my only criticism.
   
   Bob



4. I have a weakness for books on architecture and interior decorating anyway. But this is the one I turn to again and again. For those of us with Champaign tastes and beer budgets, a vintage trailer is ulimately doable. Own your own piece of modernist archeture, albeit on wheels, even though you could never touch a Mies or Wright. When ever I try to figure out what to do with my 1957 Sportcraft (a classic silver-clad "canned ham"), I flip through these pages. I always find something inspiring.



5. This book has a fine combination of beautiful photos and well written text about an American niche. There are stories and examples from all over America that give a glimpse of the joy of seeing the world from a home away from home.

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

5 comments about Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Outer Banks, 29th (Insiders' Guide Series).

1. Went to the Outer Banks recently, and bought this book and took it with us. The book turned out to be indispensable for our three-family vacation...from fishing to creating stain-glass mosaics, this guide has a description of it all!
   
   Highly recommended!



2. The Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Outer Banks was the best book I found for our trip there this summer. Every source we used from the book was accurate and helpful.



3. This book is fantastic! It gives a very detailed description about everything you'd need for a wonderful trip to the Outer Banks.
   
   I especially like the way it's laid out, with each section going "north to south". For example, the restaurants section starts at the north end of the islands and works its way down to the very south. Same with accommodations, etc.
   
   It also definitely gives you a "feel" for the place - telling the type of vibe each community has and what the general demographics are.
   
   Highly recommended!



4. When I bought this book I was not sure if it would really be helpfully for us and our first trip to the Outer Banks. It was great! We used it everyday. Before we went somewhere we looked at it as reference. It helped us eat everyday in the Outer Banks plus do a little shopping. I am glad I bought it now, it helped us have one of the best vacations we ever had. I can't wait for the next edition because I think we are going back again and again to the Outer Banks and a updated version will help us prepare for any changes since our last visit.



5. This guide is full of information and was extremely beneficial on my first trip to the Outer Banks. The chapters and index are well organized and easy to navigate. Have also used the Charleston book from the same series.

1 comments about Fodor's Alaska 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. We found this a comprehensive informational book for how, when and what to plan for our vacation to get the most out of the trip.

5 comments about Connecticut/Rhode Island Atlas and Gazetteer (Connecticut, Rhode Island Atlas & Gazetteer).

1. I wanted to get this atlas, especially to help us find places to go camping and hiking.. It's not always easy to find campgrounds or primitive campsites (since they're not always located in clearly identified campgrounds), so having these detailed maps is very useful for that. We recently used the atlas when we camped in the Catskill Mountains region, and I was glad we had these maps to help us out.



2. These are fantastic maps! I have several others, and use them quite often. I don't know of another one that will be better than this one.



3. I currently own CO, TX, TN, VA and now AL atlas & Gaz.
   all are useful for home hunting, trying to locate a key area, etc.
   don't count on this for in depth directions. but a good look at contours and gps this works.
   this one isn't as good as the TX or TN version.



4. Already have an Atlas, topo CD set of Northeast, Garmin GPS Vista with topo/street maps. Once I found these Gazetteers, I bought one for every state in New England and New York. Each of the above provide different levels of information and alternative routes and access to various locations, often places with no direct road or trails. The gazatteers provide fast detail access to areas in question over the GPS or atlas and are invaluable to me while in the vehical. Although, the GPS is my lifeline away from the vehical, the gazatteers are large and not weather resistant.



5. The product came on time, well packaged, and exactly as described. A great shopping experience.