Amazon.com Review
The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges is utterly comprehensive, describing lodgings from the Ahwahnee in California's Yosemite National Park to Zion Lodge in Utah. Fine hand-sketched illustrations show travelers exactly what their dollar will buy them. The Scotts provide essential information on rooms, rates, locations, seasons, food, facilities, and activities for each entry in long, detailed passages, as well as in bullets for quick reference. Consider it the Lonely Planet of park guides: "North Rim or South Rim? The two sides of the Grand Canyon are so different that they share little other than the same canyon and river. The more popular South Rim has easier canyon access, more facilities, and many more visitors.... Vistas from the North Rim seem more intimate, and fewer people will be standing next to you straining for the same view." Going far beyond the dry, encyclopedic style one might expect, this guide offers descriptions of furnishings and amenities--so you'll know if your room will have a TV and a sofa bed, or if you'll need to bring your own wood for the fireplace. Whether you're planning to view geysers at the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins in Yellowstone or take a gander at Kilauea from Volcano House, the oldest continually operated hotel in Hawaii,
The Complete Guide will tell you everything you need to know, and more.
An added bonus: The Globe Pequot Press will donate one dollar from the sale of each copy of this book directly to the National Parks Foundation to help repair trails, clean up waterways, protect animal populations, conduct research, and preserve historical and cultural sites. --Jhana Bach
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Similar to their two guides to national park areas, authors David and Kay Scott's The Complete Guide to National Park Lodges is a boon to vacationing travelers seeking accommodations in national parks. Well-known stately inns such as the Grand Canyon's El Tovar is included, as well as other undiscovered gems such as Oregon Caves Lodge whose suite 309-310 is touted by some guest and employees as being haunted. Park lodges range from very rustic-primitive cabins-to supernal elegance, and this directory is helpful in surveying curious facts that make a humdrum lodging experience memorable. Often these facts reside in the one-page descriptive summary that begins each listing. Descriptions include historical, geographical and recreational information unique to the lodge and surrounding area. For example, one can discover that the Wawona Hotel in California is probably the oldest lodging facility in any national park, that its name is an Indian term meaning "big tree," and that the "complex is similar in appearance to a late -1800s western military post." Listings also include illustrations and basic information on the following: basic accommodations, rates, location, season, facilities, reservation method and activities. Room and food costs are rated from inexpensive to quite expensive and represent the authors' best judgment. The uncorrected galley proof under review lacked an index, though a geographic one was under consideration. I suggest a more comprehensive one that includes seasonal dates and historical landmarks. Also any discount information or national accommodation/dining ratings would be a nice addition to this directory. This guide would be of interest to all public libraries, travel agencies, and information centers whose primary clientele are the traveling public. --
From Independent Publisher
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.