Great Destinations the Adirondack Book: A Complete Guide

Whether you are first time or repeat visitor to the Adirondacks, this guide comes in handy on any visit to New York State's great preserve, forever wild. The guide includes eight chapters. First is the park history, an important background for everyone. Second, comes a short guide on transportation to, from and through the wilderness area, including mileage and estimated traveling times. Third, you'll find an extensive 90-plus pages of accommodations, from the rawest of campsites to the most lavish inns and hotels. Personally, we're partial to the non-profit camp organizations, but there are plenty of choices to suit every taste. A fourth 50-page chapter covers the theater, arts and museums in the Adirondacks, from Champlain Valley to Lake George. There are music festivals and the Six Indian Nations museum, for example, and the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake is not to be missed. One can also find storytelling sessions in high season. And don't forget the writer's programs, for wordsmiths among the travelers. Chapter Five offers 80 pages of eateries, in every category, from the classic Adirondack diner, the Noon Mark in Keene Valley, famous for its home baking (including excellent fruit pies) to the fabulous gourmet restaurants like Friends Lake Inn in Chestertown, a onetime boarding house for tannery workers with a fabulous menu. And of course there are a wide variety of food stores listed, for those who like to eat on the run, or need to stock their ice chests before heading to camp. The 100-page sixth chapter, on recreational opportunities and listings, is one of the book's most useful, for it not only includes the obvious--like bike, ski, boat rental outlets and tours of every stripe--but also several suggestions on how to find private camping guides. Chapter Seven keeps the shopaholics happy, I suppose, though I've never found much use for this set of listings. Unfortunately, some of the classic Adirondack stores, like the Bashful Bear bookstore in Keene Valley. Finally, in chapter Eight, is a "nuts and bolts" listing of emergency and medical centers, banks and cash machines, guided tours and an important and useful bibliography for further reading. We've taken this guide along on every trip to the High Peaks, and it always comes in handy. --Alyssa A. Lappen

The Adirondack Book is written with a heart for the place it describes, and with a nose for just the right level of detail. The author is clearly a native of the area, with an understanding of its people and its ways, and this shows in her tack on nearly everything she wrtes. Her descriptions of many of the events and places are dead on, and good information is given to the reader about how to find said place or event, and how to find out more information about the subject. Her asides in particular (for example, short essays about blackflies, wildlife, and hypothermia) are well written and dead on target, great advice for the traveler. Finally, she resists speaking overly much about the many topics, and this is a good thing: a book fully describing every last item she mentions would be several thousand pages long! Still, Folwell's book is a boon for the traveler, a great starting place for exploring the biggest park in the contiguous 48.The only drawback in this book is that of organization. The book is sectioned by activity/attraction, then by region, then by town, instead of region/town/activity. This makes it much more difficult to, say, find out everything you want to know about Speculator or Lake Placid. Still, the entries one finds are clear and concise, and with some extra effort you can find all you want.

Ok, I like to shop when I travel, so I was pleased (make that delighted) to see lots of quirky stores owned by artists and crafters listed in the Adirondack Book. Their stuff was good, not tacky or touristy. And when I go shop, I like to stay in interesting places and eat at restaurants where an actual chef prepared the meal I found that info in the Adirondacks book with more detail than Fodor's, etc.

Some of us travel vicariously through all the guidebooks we buy-my shelves are packed with books about places I'd love to see, someday. Others actually get a chance to see the places that they've been reading about. So it was with the Adirondacks. I read about the Adirondack Park in an earlier edition of The Adirondack Book borrowed from a friend, thought that I'd love to explore, but just didn't get around to it right away. Imagine my surprise when I did get to the Adirondacks and found that the witty descriptions and interesting background in this version of the guide proved true and useful. The many black and white pictures were good information, too; wish that more travel books showed restaurants, shops, museums and even bathrooms. I heartily recommend this one!

I've bought every edition of The Adirondack Book, and the third one is the best. Restaurant and lodging reviews are bang on, and the list of things to do, from mini golf to mountain climbing is awesome. Its worth the price just for basic info like hundreds of phone numbers and web addresses, and if you want to know when and where to find antiques and crafts.