Frommer's Oregon (1st ed) [Paperback]

Karl Samson (Author), Jane Aukshunas (Author), K. Samson (Author), J. Aukshunas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998 | Series: Frommer's Oregon, 1st ed

Describing the outdoor activities, natural beauty and historic attractions of Oregon, this guide covers mountain biking and hiking options and the opening of the Oregon Trail/Native Amercian cultural centre. It also features the state capital, Portland, with its restaurants, galleries and music.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Horseback is just one way to traverse Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, home to shallow lakes and numerous bird species. See chapter 12.

• Detailed maps throughout

• Exact prices, directions, opening hours,and other practical information

• Candid reviews of hotels and restaurants,plus sights, shopping, and nightlife

• Itineraries, walking tours, and trip-planning ideas

• Insider tips from local expert authors

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Karl Samson and Jane Aukshunas, husband-and-wife travel-writing team, find that the sunny winter skies of the Arizona desert are the perfect antidote to the dreary winters of their Pacific Northwest home. Each winter, they flee the rain to explore Arizona's deserts, mountains, cities, and small towns. Summers find the team researching their other books, including Frommer's Washington, Frommer's Oregon, and Frommer's Seattle & Portland. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan General Reference (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028618297
• ISBN-13: 978-0028618296
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,463,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 22, 2010

By 

lana - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frommer's Oregon (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

I can't even tell you how many Frommer's books I've bought over the years. They are definitely my go-to travel guides. Having said that, this one was very disappointing. The descriptions were full of meaningless adjectives. There was no way to differentiate which restaurant or which lodging I might like better. One was the most beautiful, one the prettiest, one the loveliest. The author seemed to like rustic a lot which is not necessarily a compliment in my book. The restaurants were all a foodie's dream. He also devoted way to much space to wineries. There must be something else to do in Oregon besides drink wine. Not very helpful and boring to read.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Avoidable mistakes mar otherwise adequate guide, October 17, 2001

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Oregon (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

We quit relying on this book shortly after we found a couple of significant mistakes. The time we wasted attempting to make up for the incomplete or incorrect descriptions was not worth the leads provided by the guide. It's unclear if these problems were the product of editing errors, or, more seemingly, issues with the writers documenting areas they hadn't actually visited. Whichever, we realized that bad information is a lot worse than having no information at all.

Here are two examples of misinformation contained in this guide. On page 308, the K-R Drive-In is listed as "north of Roseburg." What this description doesn't point out is that it's actually 20+ miles North of Roseburg, which also makes it North of several other smaller cities (which could have been named to more exactly pinpoint the drive in's location). In fact, it's halfway between Roseburg and Eugene, which is how we finally found it from a local's directions.

This painful lack of precision could easily have been avoided by providing the exit numbers (rather than just the exit name) that accompany every exit on Interstate 5 in Oregon. The exit numbers are keyed to the mileage on the highway and let you quickly determine how far an exit is, in either direction, from your current location. For highways without numbered exits, mileage markers would work just as well. The omission of such directional information reduces the value of the travel guide significantly.

A second example of poor directions can be found on page 271. The guide states, "also in the same area, past the Toketee Lake Campground, you'll find the Umpqua Hot Springs down a short trail." This is inadequate and wrong on several counts. First, there's no description of the 2-mile drive off of Highway 138 that is necessary to get to the campground. Second, there's no notation of the additional 2-mile drive on a gravel road, once you pass the campground itself. Finally, and most unbelievably, the "short trail" is a reasonably strenuous, very steep, 1/4-mile hike along the edge of a hill. Handrails line the route for both support and to keep you from tumbling down the hillside.

Like many guides, this one is full of good leads, but as these two examples demonstrate, it occasions to follow through with incomplete or incorrect information. This can leave you on the road, attempting to piece together the details you need to actually find something. And given the hilly and mountanous terrain of Western Oregon, you can't count on any sort of cel phone connectivity to help you out.

With the other books and maps (including the AAA Oregon Tour Book) we brought along, and our nightly visits to various websites to piece together the next day's itinerary, we were able to circumvent some of the problems with Frommer's guide. In the end, however, we were unable to trust the directions in this book, making it significantly less useful than it should have been.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frommer's Oregon, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Oregon (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

A well organized book which focuses on each distinct region within Oregon including the Willamette Valley which is now known as "The Bread & Wine" Basket of Oregon. Especially good is "The Best of Oregon" which provides the very best beaches, hikes, scenic drives, B&B's, and much more! It is totally updated and will serve as a great guide for our trip to Oregon this year.