Moon Washington

Most guides are generally updated regularly as far as motels or restaurants are concerned. The true way to see if a guide is really update or the text has been unchanged since the 90s is the cultural references. Washington has quite a few small towns visited because of references in various works. Most guides mention places known from Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure (Cicely Alaska, was not actually in Alaska). However there is another cultural reference. Since 2005. People out of their teens and especially males may not think much of the "Twilight" book and film series, but they are a phenomenon worldwide and thousands of people visit the places the books where based. The Olympic Peninsula towns of Forks, La Push & Port Angeles. The first of these, featured prominently in the books has a lot of "Twilight" related attractions. The craze started in 2006. Still NONE of the other guide books say a word about it. Forks is always a timber-town with a Shay Engine in them. Nothing more. Frommer's published in 2008 is a great example of this neglect. But this guide has a boxed text with Twilight related attractions under Forks. And it's the only one. And many where published well into the craze (2008: Frommer's, Fodor's Pacific NW, LP Pacific NW, Rough WA & OR etc), so based on the above I think that Moon is the only guide truly up to date. And I am not a Twilight fan. Just a sociologist who thinks some things cannot be ignored.

I recently purchased the Moon Handbook Washington, 8th edition. Previously I have used the 6th edition by Don Pitcher. Even though the older edition is outdated regarding lodging, restaurants, etc, I found it to me much more helpful and better organized. Specifically, I appreciated all the local area maps in the older edition (112), versus only 44 maps in the 8th edition. Also, the index in the older edition was much handier, with the separate boxes for individual topics such as fairs, ferry service, hiking and lighthouses.