1 comments about Cascade Alpine Guide: Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass.

1. The series of books by Beckey on climbing and high routes in the cascades gives the most comprehensive and complete presentation of cascades. Each peak is described with great detail and the photos and pictures are great. This is truly a great guide!

4 comments about Selected Climbs in the Cascades.

1. This guide thoroughly describes several climbs in the cascades of Washington, ranging from simple walk-ups to technical rock climbs. It gives detailed information on the best climbs. I have used it extensively on numerous climbs and find it informative, current, easy to read, and very helpful. The maps and pictures with routes are especially helpful. Almost every major climb in the North Cascades is covered and the history section preceding the description of each climb is very interesting. This is a great book and a must for any mountaineer in Washington, whether they be a beginner or a seasoned climber.



2. This book includes a great selection of climbs in the Cascade Mountains. From classic routes up Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker to more obscure climbs in North Cascade National Park, it has it all. The descriptions are clear and contain all of the pertinent information to get you to the top! The pictures of the routes and the graphics of the rock pitches are extremely useful. The history behind each climb also adds to the overall enjoyment of the climbing experience. It is a good resource for the beginning climber as well as the advanced. Read it and hit the hills!



3. This book has a great selection of climbs from glaciered peaks like Mt Rainier to remote rock climbs in the North Cascades. The pictures of the routes and the graphics of the rock pitches are excellent. The histories of each climb add to the total enjoyment of doing a route. It is a pleasure to read and a real asset for the climber.



4. This guidebook presents more detailed descriptions of the most popular routes in the Cascades than are available in Beckey's guides. So it's definitely helpful for newer climbers who really want to have as much detail as possible about the routes they are about to tackle.
   That said, you will eventually want to have the Beckey guides to refer to for routes beyond the small collection represented here, and once you have the Beckey guides you can find out pretty much anything else you need to by researching on-line trip reports. Perhaps it's more convenient to have all the information in a single book though.
   I used this guide quite a bit for my fist few months climbing, but after that it more or less stayed on the shelf and I tend to use Beckey and climbing websites to plan my routes now.
   It's a good book though. Unlike the Smoot guides these are mostly accurate. The only negative is simply the limited selection of routes.

2 comments about Washington Wine Country.

1. This was an eloquent and visually exciting way to experience all aspects of the Washington Wine Industry. I never realized that there were so many award-winning wineries in such a conentrated geographical area. I will definitely be sending this book for wedding, birthday and Christmas gifts from Amazon.com!



2. The photos in this short paperback are stunning. This owes a lot to the natural beauty of the Washington environment, but the photographers deserve huge kudos for getting these fleeting shots. Washington state isn't all rain and clouds (don't let anyone know I told you that).
   
   Each page is either filled with full-page photos or text describing Washington wines. On the sidebar of each textual page is a short profile of the winemaker or owner of a Washington winery. These short passages bring the reader much closer to the subject and the smiling faces of the winemakers give more proof to the claim that Washington wines are about enjoyment and friendship rather than pretentiousness. The writing in these profiles is a little erratic, though. It seems likely that the author either had the vintners write the profiles themselves and then revised the profiles for publishing.
   
   The text itself covers the history of Washington wines, from the earliest days of the first settlers all the way through to 2000. It's treatment is fairly superficial, but enough details are provided to bring together the whole picture for readers.
   
   The types of grapes grown in Washington is another section. This is where I think the book gets a little redundant with other wine books. The authors name a varietal, then describe its brief history in the state, then describe how it is used in wine. This is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff that just seems like a rehash here.
   
   All in all, I think this book is worth owning, if nothing more than the photos. The profiles are really great and the Washington wine world small enough that these people are very approachable (seriously. try to get out of a conversation with Lou Facelli at the Facelli Winery in under an hour!) I give the book 4 stars because I think a bit of it was just filler. OTOH, extra filler means more space for photos, so it's a pleasant tradeoff.

1 comments about Forgotten Trails: Historical Sources of the Columbia's Big Bend Country.

1. Thank you Mr. Anglin for a comprehensive review of an area often visited and seldom appreciated. Central Washington is shrub-steppe and lacks the beauty and lustre of the more spectacular pine forests of the Cascades or the Puget Sound with its rugged pioneers. However, major waterways. springs and bunch grass concentrations helped direct traffic in and around the arid wilderness of the Columbia Basin. Anglin has been thorough in his research and methodical in his presentation of the various phases of transit. His level of detail has made me reach for the gazeteer or road map many times to envision a herd of 2000 cattle fording some stream or fighting off some Yakama warrior party. My only complaint was the rather small number of maps compared to the wealth of narrative.

No comments about Unique Washington: A Guide to the State's Quirks, Charisma and Character (Unique Travel Series).

1 comments about Where the Wild Animals Is Plentiful: Diary of an Alabama Fur Trader's Daughter, 1912-1914.

1. Where the Wild Animals is Plentiful is worth a look if only because it offers a (sometimes frustratingly incomplete) window on the life of a young woman in rural Alabama some 90 years back. The diary contains some tantalizing hints at a life lived in frequent solitude and understood through a powerful but circumscribed sense of place and community. Unfortunately, it also seems to reflect well the monotony and repetitiousness of life in rural Alabama at that time. The occasional points of interest come packed between pages of very detailed accounts of May Jordan's fur-buying trips with her father, including frequent comments on soil quality, lists of furs they bought and descriptions of the routes they traveled. Which isn't to say that this sort of material doesn't have some value in understanding a life like May Jordan's, but it does keep the book from being a real page turner. Elisa Moore Baldwin has done a fine job editing the diary insofar as she has left the text alone except where the reader might have had problems with comprehension (most spelling and punctuation irregularities are preserved) and used the introduction to give a more than competent sense of May Jordan's particular historical context.

No comments about Mountain Biking Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, 2nd (Regional Mountain Biking Series).

1 comments about Frommer's Walking Tours: Washington, D.C. (Frommer's Walking Tours).

1. I purchased this book with the intent to complete one or more of the recommended walking tours on my most recent trip to DC. However, I found that it made an excellent read for my flight and that the places, people, and events it describes served generally to whet my appetite for actually experiencing the adventures.

   During my trip, I happened to complete parts of a couple of the walking tours, but I didn't set out to follow any of them step-for-step. (With so much to see and do in DC, I like to wander from sight to sight.) Because I had read most of the book before I was there, I was able to quickly refer to the page describing the building I was in front of at the time. For me, this was a near-perfect way to enrich my tourism experience.

   I heartily recommend this book. You will find its clear directions and concise descriptions handy to have as you tour our nation's capital (and Capitol).

2 comments about House of Spies: Danger in Civil War Washington (White Mane Kids).

1. This book was awsome. I loved it. This book made history alive for me. I thought this was actually going on and I was there with them! I loved it



2. Through out the North and the South your neighbor could have been a supporter for the opposite cause. Washington was filled with supports of the South. The author takes her protagonists back in time to this situation in Washington. The secrecy that surrounds Washington finds them in big trouble. How do they escape not knowing whom they can trust? This is a book of intrigue that keeps your attention. By Ruth Thompson author of "Natchez Above The River" and "The Bluegrass Dream"
   
   Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

1 comments about Postcards from Washington, D.C. / Postales desde Washington, D.C (Bilingual English/Spanish).

1. This story is in both English and Latin-American Spanish. It educates the reader about Washington, DC and the sights to be found there using the format of postcards written home by a child who is visiting. While the "postcards" are English only the facts that are included are in both languages. This is an excellent book for teaching young children about Washington, DC and its importance to the citizens of the United States while also introducing them to the Spanish language. With many pictures that invite dialog it is a recommended purchase.