Customer Reviews

Indiana Off the Beaten Path, 8th (Off the Beaten Path Series)

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FIRST OFF:

I have the 8th edition of this book, revised in 2005, and I noticed that "South Bend" is now included in the index. An earlier reviewer had brought that up, so hat's off to the author for being responsive. BUT . . . .

BUT . . .

I selected this book because we live in southern Indiana and are interested in places near home for day trips. After looking through this travel guide rather extensively, I became frustrated with a number of flaws in its structure which made the guide book both difficult to use and unreliable. Specifically, many of the counties are given much less space and have much less information about them. Floyd and Clark Counties which are on the Ohio River and which boast large State Parks, cultural events, and some very unusual destinations were given a ridiculous treatment in the book. Floyd County has a retail store as the sole destination which is just ridiculous as it is a health food store in someone's converted garage that also sells ground buffalo meat. One might think that maybe it is a special location, off the beaten trail. Well, this retailer is located directly across from the county industrial park, on a very heavily-travelled commuting road. I have nothing against this merchant, nothing at all, but in a county on the Ohio River across from Louisville, Kentucky, I would think they could come up with a more appropriate and more entertaining family attraction than that! What exactly are kids supposed to do for entertainment in someone's garage where they offer buffalo and camel meat? If Buffalos are the attraction, in the same South-East region there is a Buffalo Farm in Elizabeth, Indiana, in Harrison county. They offer tours and are less than 20 miles from the destination they list in Floyd county, with Buffalo meat being the specific item of interest! Again, the merchant listed is a worthy destination and an interesting place to shop, but why is it the sole listing for Floyd county? Also, why isn't the Buffalo farm that offers tours in the adjacent county listed in this guide?

BOTTOM LINE:

When one does not feel it can trust the judgment of the guide, as seen in the listing of local attractions, it makes planning a trip beyond one's normal horizon based on this guide's suggestions too risky to undertake. Nevertheless, this is an improved effort over the 7th edition and hopefully this evolving effort will continue to improve in subsequent editions. Perhaps, in the 9th edition they will include county maps to compliment the regional maps already present, but first they will need to select more credible destinations for us to visit.