“The Cheapskate’s Guide to Branson, Missouri”
(Citadel Press; $12.95)
Branson is one of the country’s more affordable destinations. Meals and hotel rooms here often go for a fraction of what you’d pay in Orlando or L.A. But even so, there are still ways to trim costs even further in this Ozark town that has hit the big time. The majority of Branson-goers still falls into the fixed-income category: a group to whom saving $2 or $3 per purchase, on theater tickets or lunches or lodging, is as much a point of honor as it is a budgetary priority. Author Connie Emerson plays to those readers with the kind of advice and how-to information that inspires confidence in inexperienced travelers and takes the “old dogs” of travel through a few new tricks. The book doesn’t just dwell on dollars and cents. Nor does it focus only on senior travelers. There are tips on houseboat rentals, bicycle paths, laser tag and go-kart tracks: the kinds of things that families with younger children would enjoy. It seems Emerson has left Branson with few secrets, not even the women’s restroom at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre. (ISBN 0-8065-2284-4)
“Flashmaps: New York”
(Fodor’s; $10.95)
Some people don’t need a lot of advice. Show them a map, show them what is where on it, and they’re off. Flashmaps anticipates the way this sort of traveler thinks, then lays out the options point by point on customized street grids. No single map can show everything, so what Flashmaps does is combine dozens of topic- and neighborhood-specific maps into a thin volume not much longer or wider than an airline ticket. This sixth edition has New York down cold, from the regional map that identifies all of the airports to grids that locate, for instance: 44 off-Broadway theaters, 66 places of worship, 43 art galleries in SoHo, 48 eateries in Chelsea and Gramercy Park, 33 sites and restaurants in Queens, 51 Manhattan post offices, driving routes and parking garages in Midtown and even the seating arrangement at Madison Square Garden. The cleverly designed address finder is easy to use because it shows business addresses in relationship to familiar landmarks such as Times Square and Lincoln Center. Parks, museums, bus routes, subways, hotels and shopping districts all have several maps. And this edition doesn’t shrink from showing the site of the former World Trade Center complex. Address and phone numbers are listed where appropriate. Restaurant and hotel listings include a price key. Night spots are identified by the music they play or the clientele they serve. Other Flashmaps titles for Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. (ISBN 0-676-90870-5)
“Highpoint Adventure”
(Colorado Mountain Club Press; $15.95)
Nice as it is, Florida’s Lakewood Park, just a mile from the Alabama state line, is hardly what you’d call a high point. Except that, at an elevation of 345 feet, it’s the highest point in Florida., 50th highest of all the states’ highest points. For people who don’t climb, it’s an easy starting place to begin a new hobby that the authors of “Highpoint Adventure” promote: making it by foot, climbing equipment or car to the highest point in each of the 50 states. The book gives lots of additional reference sources as it paints the broad strokes of where and how for reaching each high point–some of which are wheelchair accessible–and makes a few fun suggestions along the way: Go bear watching as part of your trip to attempt America’s tallest point, 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park; tour the Toy Soldier Collection in Galena when you visit Illinois’ Charles Mound, 45th highest in the nation at 1,235 feet; or stop by the Boll Weevil Monument on your way from Florida’s Lakewood Park, headed for bigger things. (ISBN 0-9671466-3-1)
“The Milepost 2002”
(Morris Communications; $24.95)
At 768 pages, the 54th edition of “the bible of North Country travel” is no small task. But then neither is driving from Helena, Mont., to Deadhorse, Alaska, by way of Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and the Yukon: the vast regions this catalog/magazine covers highway by highway, mile by mile. Color photographs, suggested side trips and, yes, lots and lots of ads are testimony to why this guide has been trusted by freewheeling long-haulers since 1949. A bonus is the 20-by-30-inch pull-out map. (ISBN 1-892154-10-2)
“Factory Outlet Shopping”
(Roundabout Publications; $12.95)
Shopping fiends know the thrill of the hunt: The very next outlet mall, or the next or the next, is sure to harbor a find the previous mall did not. Now, bargain hunters can arm themselves with the knowledge of just where to stalk big game such as Carter’s for Kids, Van Heusen, Mikasa, London Fog, Old Navy, Sunglass Hut, Dress Barn, Samsonite, and the rare and elusive Bass Pro Shop. (ISBN 1-885464-04-5)
“Montana History Weekends”
(Globe Pequot; $15.95)
In a state with fewer than a million inhabitants, it’s natural for one person to make a difference. Montana’s Dave Conklin is one of them. The former park ranger worked to put many of the state’s historic sites on the National Register. And between bouts of dog sledding and re-enactments of Indian Wars, he compiled 52 weekend adventures into this 266-page guide. Conklin not only gives the history of each site he lists, he recommends the best time to go. The Little Bighorn Battlefield, for instance, is best experienced the fourth weekend in June, during the re-enactments of Little Bighorn Days when anyone in period costume can dance at the 1876 Grand Ball. Tidbits on where to eat in a bank vault, arrive at your lodging via horseback or sleep in a tepee are as much fun as the ghost towns, forests, outlaw trails, petroglyphs and Indian-heritage sites that make up the “meat and potatoes” of the book. Most people don’t live in, or even near, Montana; weekend outings aren’t practical. But string a few of these weekends together, and you can forge an interesting vacation. (ISBN 0-7627-1161-2)
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Contact Resourceful Traveler in care of Toni Stroud at tstroud@tribune.com.
