PICK OF THE WEEK
National Geographic Adventure
(March/April 2000, $3.95)
One hundred is such a nice, round sum. Full of promise and possibilities, until you try to find enough items in any single category worthy of matching one-on-one each number in the queue. This edition of National Geographic Adventure met the challenge –and meeting challenges is its stock in trade — by naming “The Adventure 100,” the very best adventure trips that America has to offer. The magazine asked outdoor writers who specialize in sports such as climbing, paddling and skiing to rate the nation’s adventure destinations for their natural beauty as well as their jock appeal. You’d expect rafting the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River to make the list, and it does. So do other shoo-ins: sea kayaking Kauai’s Na Pali Coast, dog sledding in Alaska’s Brooks Range, climbing Yosemite’s El Capitan. But there are surprises in store. How about scuba diving in Missouri’s Bonne Terre Mine? Climbing trees in Georgia? Riding Ohio’s Magnum XL-200 roller coaster at Cedar Point? Canoeing in Iowa? The list should keep adventure travelers lacing hiking boots and hefting backpacks for months to come.
Brides
(April/May 2000, $4.99)
And in a book so heavy — 808 pages — it could be sold by the pound, here’s another hot 100: Caribbean honeymoon idylls. Rather than hop island to island, the guide divides resorts by personality. For example, Biras Creek in Virgin Gorda is described under Relaxed, Refined Retreats. Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas is considered under Splashy Addresses. The categories continue: Hillside Hideaways, Eco-Friendly Enclaves, Barefoot Bungalows, Priceless Quarters, Designer Habitats, Places With a Past, Mannered Houses, Divers’ Digs, Spa Splurges and even Private Islands. And locations are not limited to the islands but include mainland Caribbean resorts in Mexico and Belize as well.
DIRECTORIES
Hostelling North America 2000
(Hostelling International, $3)
If the best things in life are free — a sunset over the ocean, the fresh air of a mountain hike, the hustle and zoom only a big city can generate — then it’s only right that it should cost next to nothing to stay near them. This guide lists 134 locations in the Untied States and 78 in Canada where a night’s lodging in a hostel runs a fraction of what even a budget hotel might charge. It costs $12 a night to stay at the Desertaire Hostel in Death Valley, Calif.; $24-$27 for a night at the hostel near Central Park in New York’s Upper West Side. Each entry comes with a locator map, price list, phone numbers, season of operation, and directions for getting there. Details tell if sleeping is dorm style, whether private rooms are available, if the price includes bed linens and whether reservations are necessary. You can get a copy by phone. Or, pick one up in Chicago at the Summer Hostel, 731 S. Plymouth Court, when it opens in early June for its final season, or at the new 500-bed location scheduled to open in mid- to late-June at 24 E. Congress. (202-783-6161)
GEAR
Travel Space Bag
(New West; “Travel Kit” $29.95)
The pictures for these types of products usually show someone putting two nicely folded men’s dress shirts into the bag, zipping it shut, rolling out the excess air and, voila!, LOTS of suitcase space is saved. Baloney. Anyone who’s packed a suitcase knows that men’s dress shirts aren’t the biggest space hogs. And if you rolled them in these vacuum bags, they’d be in dire need of professional pressing to get the wrinkles out after unpacking. So I put the Travel Genie II Space Bag to a bigger test: How much space will it save when I use the bag for my thick-weave, long-sleeve, ankle-length sweater dress? This navy blue dress measures roughly 14-by-12 -by-3 inches when folded. I slid my folded dress into the Space Bag that measures 14-by-20 inches. I snapped the zipper closed at 2-inch intervals as per instructions before sliding my fingers along the seal to completely seal the bag. Then, beginning at the zippered end, I slowly rolled up the bag, allowing air to escape through valves at the other end. My dress was now vacuum-sealed — and in a roll that I stretched flat again for the measurement: 12 -by-11-by-1 inches. It saves room, but that raises another problem: Now that I can get more stuff in my suitcase, how much heavier is it going to be? The product is waterproof, transparent, reusable and is sold in packages that combine several products. The “Travel Kit” includes seven bags of various sizes. (800-469-9044)
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Contact Resourceful Traveler in care of Toni Stroud at tstroud@tribune.com
