Customer Reviews

Moon Wisconsin (Moon Handbooks)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Want to know where the talking cow statue is? How about where to find some of the state's best pie, or scenery, or the sites with great local atmosphere? Huhti's book offers it all, thoroughly covering every region in the state--pointing out highlights and lowlights throughout Wisconsin. It's all interspersed with historical tidbits and local color, providing a wonderfully in-depth guide to the Badger State. I write a statewide travel column and it is an invaluable tool. Defintely recommended!

If you are coming to Wisconsin bring this book with you and if you are a resident keep it in your glovebox. It covers all the obvious attractions as well as a wonderful selection of off the beaten path destinations. Huhti also give us heaps of interesting historical background and his love of the Badger State shines clearly through all 570 pages.

This guidebook exceeded my expectations. Appropriate detail, lots of history, wonderful dining and lodging suggestions. I can definitely credit this book with contributing to making our recent Door County vacation a hit. We stayed in an amazing bed and breakfast and every meal we had was delicious, which is not an easy feat considering we had never been in Door County before. I only disagree with a few of the suggestions.

Moon Handbooks: Wisconsin is a 570 page travel guide to the Badger state and designed specifically for the adventurous traveler seeking to sample its wealth of diverse cultural and ethnic festivities, events, communities, and cuisines. Now in a completely updated and expanded second edition, Moon Handbooks: Wisconsin is packed with invaluable, descriptive information ideal for planning everything from a simple daytrip to an elaborate and extended vacation itinerary. If you are traveling in Wisconsin, don't leave home without your very own copy of Moon Handbooks: Wisconsin!

This book is packed with history, geography, politics, art, and more. It will suprise and delight any native. Meticulously edited, all contact info. I used is up-to-date. After a few months, you find yourself laughing with Huhti, fighting with him, and agreeing with him; but most of all, you are awed by this native's depth of knowledge. He does use some obscure vocabulary. It's inconvienent, as most travelers I know don't carry a dictionary. More than a travel guide, it's an achievement.

I wasn't born in Wisconsin, but I moved there with my family before most of my memories begin, and stayed there until I went off to school - in Chicago, so I could return often. I didn't ever feel the need to get a travel guide until I took a trip with my mother around the state a little over 10 years ago, visiting among other places the Dickeyville Grotto: The Vision of Father Mathias Wernerus (Folk Art and Artists Series). This book was our primary guide, and it caused me to fall in love with the Moon guides and the way they do things. Like their other books, this is short on gloss and pretension - no color pictures, no fancy maps (there are some fairly simple ones, but that's what atlases are for, really), and no attempt made to tell you where every single fast food restaurant and chain motel is in a city like Milwaukee or Madison.

What you get instead is the point of view of a single insider who knows the state inside and out. Thomas Huhti mentions the Dickeyville Grotto all right - and other interesting small attractions nearby; and also the Concrete Park in Philips, and the Forevertron; he gives you the scoop on supperclubs and fish boils and "Cheeseheads". There's a lot of attention paid to the land, to the history, to the natural treasures of a still relatively rural state, and you come away with a real sense of what makes the state special - as you do with most of the Moon books I've looked at. Here I can say confidently as a fellow longtime resident that Huhti leaves few stones unturned, few points of interest unexplored, and he gives you enough to whet your appetite without wasting vast amounts of space on things you don't really need him to. Sure, there's a fair bit of space devoted to the House on the Rock and the Dells - but it doesn't ever feel like a big advertisement.

If you're just heading in-and-out of the state in a few days, this might not be your best choice; but if you want to develop a love affair with the Cheese State, or already have, by all means dive right in.

Excellent travel guide book. Gives details on everything you need or want to know about the destination. Moon handbooks gives details and descriptions on food, lodging and attractions for just about every city within the state. Lots of extra information on special events, places to go and things to see. If you want to know a little about the place you are going to before you get there you want to get a Moon Handbook.

I bought this book for my father who is nearly 84 years old and a life-long Wisconsin resident, as a way to stimulate his imagination about places to see that are close to home. Sure, the handbook provides a lot of obscure facts. As a native of the state, however, some very interesting aspects of the history seem to glossed over. About a decade ago, I used a Moon Handbook when traveling overseas (Bali in particular) and was absolutely amazed the detail all of which was factual as far as I could tell.... cultural, social, and economic facts that even the native population did not know. I can't say the same about this volume. It is a good start, however, and like everyone who loves to hunt for mushrooms or go fishing knows, they aren't going tell you the best places to go. Even if you are family, sometimes.

It's getting that "very used" look - wonderful information. Always in our travel secion or 'on the road' with us!

We use the Moon Handbooks for travel as often as possible. It's amazing the unique restaurants & sites we have enjoyed following these books as guides, that we certainly would have missed otherwise!