No comments about Historic Charlottesville Tour Book, 10 Tours of Charlottesville, Virginia.

No comments about Potomac Trails: D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.

No comments about Strange But True Virginia (Strange But True).

No comments about Tangier Island: Place, People, and Talk.

No comments about Western Maryland and Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia: Including: Garrett, Allegany and Washington Counties in Maryland and Morgan, Berkeley and Jef (Thomas Guides (Maps)).

No comments about Virginia State Parks: A Complete Outdoor Recreation Guide for Campers, Boaters, Anglers, Hikers and Outdoor Lovers (State Park Guidebooks).

2 comments about Woodbridge, NJ.

1. If your into local American history, then this book is for you. Many pictures of historical buldings and the first families of Woodbridge. Check out Volune Two of Woodbridge. Both books offer the reader great information about this beautiful small American town. Woodbridge NJ is home to the Cross Keyes Tavern, a tavern were Gen. George Washington spent the night on his way to New York to become our first President. Woodbridge is also the first town in the colonies to raise the new American Flag.



2. This book should not appeal just to historians, but to anyone who grew up in, or had family that originated in the area. Volume II is also a must. Regardless of your age, if you enjoy nostalgia, and wish to see what Woodbridge Township (including Fords, Sewaren, Colonia, Port Reading, Hopelawn, Keasbey, etc.) looked like either in your youth or before you were born, you will love this book. It's a glimpse into the photo albums of many families throughout the area, and I'm delighted that the authors saw fit to arrange this compilation.

3 comments about 50 Hikes in Southern Virginia: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, First Edition.

1. The local Roanoke paper poublished a review of this book, calling Leonard a "Great Hiking Writer." I agree. Yes, he tells you how to get to a hike, how difficult and long it is (he walked all of them with a surveyor's measuring wheel; how many other guidebook writer's do that!), and how much vertical rise you will need to negotiate. But, he also informs you of the history of the area you will be walking through and of the lives of the plants and animals that make their homes there.
   I thought I was well-versed on the places to hike--and he covers those--but he also pointed me to some places I had never heard of. All in all, it beats any other book I've used for hiking around the southern part of the state. There are hikes as short as a half-mile to multi-day treks. And there's even a bit of humor thrown in from time to time.



2. I live in Southern Virginia and hike often, but have to admit I never knew about many of the places the author writes about. I wish I had had this book years ago as it's great being able to discover all of these new places. I also like the way he writes. Hike descriptions are easy to follow and there is a ton of information on what you are going to see, why you should go there, and sometimes almost poetic phrases about the beauty and natural world of the place. The book cover says the author has won several writing awards and it's easy to see why. This is not just a dull "turn left, ascend 300-feet, turn right" kind of guidebook. I look forward to many happy outings using the book.



3. If only this book was laid out like Hiking In VA. The maps are not as good, and there are no elevation profiles, but the hikes and their descriptions are wonderful..
   
   I have utilized this book with the Hiking VA book to come up with some exceptional hikes.. I recommend the triple crown hike #33, But do Dragon's Tooth as a day hike. Park on 624 and do the 5 mile round trip. If you have 2 cars, park the other one on 220 (near Roanoke). After doing Dragon's Tooth, grab your backpack and head North on the AT, to get to 220.. Plan a good 2-3 days.
   
   Other great hikes are the day hike to Buzzard Rock, as well as the hikes around Mount Rogers. Combine the info in this book with that in Hiking VA and create your own trip. But whatever you do, you have to hike the Pine Mountain trail.. It is awesome..
   
   The Appomattox hike is also great as you see some things the everyday visitor misses..
   
   Over all an exellent book. The hikes are super, and while the maps could be slightly improved it is still a great guide.

No comments about The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923: Saving Thomas Jefferson's House.

5 comments about A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (Konemann Classics).

1. Did you ever read any of the BEANY MALONE novels by Lenora Mattingly Weber? In them I first read about Isabella Bird and her remarkable life in the American West. Beany's older brother, Johnny Malone, is a teenager when the series begins, a young Denver boy with a remarkable passion for unearthing the memoirs and daguerrotypes of Colorado pioneers and taking notes on the old-timers who settled the state. Their colorful lives make his ordinary life seem rather pastel, so he often sinks into a nostalgia of the past, while his family members tease him about the dreamy look in his eyes. He helps a veteran journalist, Emerson Worth, complete his magnum opus, OUR CITY HAS DEEP ROOTS. And among the pioneers Johnny obsessed about was none other than Isabella Bird, so when I found this book on a recent trip to Boulder, I added it to my rucksack.
   
   If you are reading on horseback, as Isabella Bird did, this is perhaps the ideal book to carry with you. She was a woman used to the English-style horse with its Ascot breeding and high carriage. What she found in Colorado were, naturally, the horses of the West, more perfectly adapted to the mile-high atmospheres, but slung somewhat lower than anything she's been used to and slightly swaybacked. Bird adapted quickly, and the fun of her autobiography is to see her taking in her stride a series of calamities and hardships that would have Job complaining bitterly! No matter if it's an insect infestation or tumbling right through a sheet of ice into zero degree river chills, for Isabella Bird it's all part of a day's fun. Travel writing in the 19th century was, of course, the leading genre of prose. From no other source were English-speaking readers able to find out more about other people's lives, and the curiosity was immense.
   
   You'll like Isabella, and her crazy love affair with Colorado. She remains very much a lady, but will challenge your preconceived notions of what a lady is and isn't. Most of all you will thrill to follow the course of her journeys up and down the mountains through which, now, there are some better trails but still the same amazing sunrises which she describes with the thrill of one for whom every day's an adventure.



2. For many years I saw this book in National Park bookstores and passed it by thinking it would be an example of the overwritten, rather tedious journals of other Victorian travelers. When I finally found it at a used bookstore and rather reluctantly bought it, I was surprised to find out how exciting and relevant her story was.
   
   Because I live in Colorado, I recoginize and travel through many of the places she describes. Just this weekend as we traveled along Highway 67, my husband and I remarked on the likelihood, that this was the same route she'd taken out of Colorado Springs.
   
   Her accounts lend life to the grey, weatherbeaten cabins, abandoned roads and rusting rails that we see. Even though many parts of Europe and the US were relatively modern at the time of her adventures, it is surprising to read just how primitive and precarious was the life of many Colorado settlers.
   
   Even if you aren't from Colorado, read this book to become aquainted with a Victorian woman who found a way to live life fully. Read it to learn about life in the west. Read it just because it's a good read.



3. I bought this book while visiting Estes Park, CO...hungry for books about life in the West that may not be so readily available here in NJ. I found it to be one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read! Isabella's descriptions of the Rocky Mountains and the climate through which she travelled are vivid and gripping. But more than that, she gives a detailed and honest account of what life was like for settlers on the frontier. How she managed to ride thru the mountains where the only "trails" were tracks of wagons or animals, when often those were covered with the seemingly constant snow, boggles the mind. Her love for Colorado sings out in every word she writes. I too was deeply touched by its beauty, and hope to return again, this time with an enriched appreciation due to this wonderful recounting of Isabella Bird's journey.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the descriptive way the author wrote. I have been through Colorado and have seen the beauty she described. Also enjoyed the story because there wasn't a lot of violence and if there was any sex, it was only in our imagination which is the greatest kind. I was amazed at how the lady rode for miles in rugged wilderness without seeming to get lost. The fact that she could subsist on meager food was also interesting.



5. This book arrived in top condition and in time. In a college book store this book cost a lot more, so I am very pleased to be able to buy it from this seller.