101 Best Outdoor Towns: Unspoiled Places to Visit, Live & Play (101 Best...Series)
by Greg Melville, Sarah Tuff
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Book Summary Information
Author: Greg Melville, Sarah TuffBrand: Sarah Tuff
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-04
ISBN: 0881507660
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Countryman Press
Book Reviews of 101 Best Outdoor Towns: Unspoiled Places to Visit, Live & Play (101 Best...Series)
Book Review: OK Starting Point for Looking at Outdoor Towns, But Flawed
Summary: 2 Stars
After seeing the rave reviews of this book, I was looking forward to enjoying its tour through undiscovered outdoor towns. After reading through the reviews of towns known personally to me, it appears this book gives you a good list to begin your outdoor town quest but delivers very little content and additional sources to continue it.
What I liked about this book: They introduce many towns not widely known to travelers and outdoor-minded downshifters. Some examples are Red Lodge, MT, Cloudcroft, NM, and Sheridan, WY. Their focus on smaller towns (though they never define how big that is) is welcome, which is why you don't see many of the outdoor town usual suspects such as Boulder, Asheville, and Flagstaff.
What I didn't like: the book idea itself is ill-conceived as it attempts to cover 101 towns for "living, visiting, and playing," but ultimately falls short of the mark as it's too much to cover in one book. They would have been better served leaving off towns such as Moab and Taos and focusing on the lesser known gems they uncovered.
There's no seasonal weather information in the book other than the odd anecdote (unbelievable for a travel/relocation guide). Town elevations are not consistently given, even in the West where it's a vital stat for a city. They don't mention that Livingston, Montana is one of the windiest spots in the lower 48, or that Gunnison, Colorado and West Yellowstone, Montana often have the coldest temps in the continental US in the winter.
Although housing prices were stated to be a key factor in winnowing down their list, no median housing prices are mentioned. They cover the economy of a town in unhelpful brevity: "industries: tourism, retail" with no mention of wages or unemployment rates. The pictures in this book are atrocious -- most of the time it's hard to determine what the black and white photos cobbled together from state tourism boards and chambers of commerce were trying to depict. Good quality color photos would have added immeasurably to the book. There's only one map in the book, and it labeled the Columbia River as Hood River.
Fact checking was inconsistent -- it says Gunnison's weather is milder than Crested Butte, CO yet this is exactly wrong. Gunnison is colder in the winter and warmer in the summer than Crested Butte. Caption under photo of Columbia River and the town of Hood River, OR claims that it is a picture of the river of "Hood River." The book says that Silverton is only 19 miles away from Telluride's Airport, but they don't tell you this is via a 4x4 jeep road that's only open for a few months in the summer when they finally plow through the 20 foot snow drifts in June at the 11,789 foot Ophir Pass. Otherwise it's over a 50 mile crawl on winding (although beautiful!) roads.
There is nothing substantively critical in this book. Come on guys -- all towns have their downsides whether it's the brutal winters of Whitefish or the remoteness of Alpine, TX and your book would be better addressing those as well.
It also would have been beneficial to have additional suggested readings, internet sources, and the number/website for the local visitors bureau.
I'm left with one gnawing thought upon reading this book -- did the authors genuinely visit all of these towns? They don't claim to have done this. The pictures are from the tourism boards, some of the facts are wrong, and they are accustomed to writing about outdoor gear they've never used and places they've never visited from their time with Men's Journal. I would be interested to know.
Summary of 101 Best Outdoor Towns: Unspoiled Places to Visit, Live & Play (101 Best...Series)
A unique guide for the millions of American urban dwellers and suburbanites seeking quick getaways to small, breathtaking locales where there are pulse-quickening activities but a slower pace of life.
Grab your gear; pack your bags and beat the developers to 101 of the greatest places left for living, visiting and playing?outdoor towns where you can still eat breakfast at a local diner; play all day in a gorgeous, natural setting; find microbrews and comfort food; and flop yourself into bed at a family-run lodge.Tuff and Melville look far and wide to identify these places that have fresh vitality without having been overrun with fourth-home buyers and resort developments. These are places where you'll want to visit and just maybe stay on. 101 Best Outdoor Towns includes information about the towns, their history and all the things there are to do?as well as lodging and dining information. You'll even find each town's "stay" factor for just how livable and affordable the place might be for the long-term. 101 black-and-white photographs
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