A Pacific Northwest Two Nation Vacation
Some destinations have so much to offer, that learning what’s there is not enough. A strategy is in order. This video organizes American Seattle and Canadian Vancouver and Victoria in such a logical and comprehensive way that you’ll have no problem deciding what you want to see when you plan your own trip there. In Seattle, view the region from the top of the Space Needle. Watch them tossing fish in Pike Place Market, go shopping at Pier 66, prowl beneath the streets on the Underground Tour and see native tribal dances at Tillicum Village. There are many ways to get from Seattle to Vancouver in British Columbia, but this video puts you on the four-hour shoreline train. Once there, you’ll learn how to get around Stanley Park, shop in the public market on Granville Island, find the Gastown steam clock and the Ming-style garden of Dr. Sun-Yat-sen. Then take the ferry to Victoria, where the port is lined with hanging flower baskets and the Parliament Building is lined in lights at night. You’ll have afternoon tea at the Empress hotel, tour Butchart Gardens, maybe take a Zodiac boat in search of orcas. Each city is paired with side trips into wilderness areas or small towns. And all this information is packed into a brisk 45 minutes. Come to think of it, that part about making an easy decision is not quite true. The problem will come when you try to fit so much into the all too few days of your own vacation. $19.95. From Hatzoff Productions. (800-458-5335)
Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula
Poulsbo looks like Norway, Port Gamble like Cape Cod. On Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the cultural contrasts are as vast as the mountains are wild. It’s good to know where to best float a kayak, take a backpacking trail, watch for eagles, catch a ferry, tour a timber baron’s home and fish for halibut. This video tells you all that in 30 minutes. $19.95. From Hatzoff Productions. (800-458-5335)
MAGAZINES
Lighthouse Digest (August 1998, $3)
The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, America’s tallest, says the magazine, is in trouble. Do they move the much-photographed North Carolina landmark to save it from the encroaching Atlantic Ocean? Or do they build a “groin” to protect it, a move that would be illegal on a National Seashore? Only Congress can decide, except, of course, that Congress can never decide. The August issue of this international lighthouse magazine details the controversy. Other, homier items come with pictures showing lighthouses under repair. Annual subscription, 12 issues, $24. (800-668-7737)
OUTDOOR BOOKS
“Hiking & Biking the I&M Canal” (Roots & Wings, $12.95)
Everything we need to know about life we can learn from the Illinois & Michigan Canal: Watch for cars, leave nature as you find it, drink lots of water, keep both hands on the handlebars, and check for ticks when you’re done. Here is the 61-mile-long I&M Canal State Trail, which begins at Brandon Road Lock and Dam southwest of Joliet and goes all the way to La Salle/Peru. This guide, with its sharp, black-and-white photographs of sights such as the ice-draped St. Louis Canyon in winter or the cascade at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, includes many forests and prairies and state parks along the way. The biking trails of Will County are here, too, along with directions, maps and lists of lodgings, bike shops, events and organizations. (847-234-7174)
“Fishing Vacations for All Budgets” (Pilot Books, $16.95)
More than 50 million Americans over age 16 went fishing in 1996. And we feel quite safe in saying that none of them caught as many fish as they wanted to. No one ever does. But here in Part 1 of this book is a directory of 530 resorts where they can try like crazy to catch the crafty little monsters. Part 2 devotes a full page apiece to more than 140 resorts that are described in more detail by paying guests. They rated the resorts on the quality of the rooms, the staff, the fishing guides and whether such things as meals, fishing equipment and children’s activities were available. The book tells you what else you can do nearby (when you get fed up with rod and bait) and whether there’s a place to cook your catch — provided the little monsters cooperate. (800-797-4568)
“Mountain Biking in Michigan: The Best Trails in the Upper Peninsula”
(Thunder Bay Press, $14.95)
If you take the chairlift to Michigan’s Copper Peak, as this book recommends, you can bike back down at nearly 40 mph. In an equally fast-paced two or three pages each, 50 of the Upper Peninsula’s best trails are reviewed for their distance, difficulty level and surface conditions. Details on trail widths, descriptions of scenery, photographs, maps and a quick-reference chart. (800-336-3137)
“Hiking Minnesota” (Falcon, $14.95)
To get the best view of Minnesota’s Split Rock Lighthouse, it says here, take the state park path that leads to the beach. The trail goes farther, of course, and higher. And what you see from there depends on the weather — maybe the Apostle Islands on a clear day. Some places are better than others for photo ops; this book tells you where. You’ll also get a bit of history, maps and photos for this and 86 other hikes in the state. Included where appropriate are elevation charts that tell you how much of a climb or descent you’ll make along the more arduous paths. (800-582-2665)
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Toni Stroud’s e-mail address is tstroud@tribune.com.
