States Books - Page 2

The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 (Complete Walt Disney World) (Complete Guide to Walt Disney World)

Julie Neal, Mike Neal

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Coconut Press Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $14.04

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Tourist Destinations & Museums
Subjects -> Travel -> Specialty Travel -> Family Travel
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> South -> South Atlantic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The definitive Disney handbook
The only photo-driven guidebook to the No. 1 vacation destination, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is a must-buy for anyone planning a trip to Walt Disney World. Filled with over 400 photographs and packed with more factual information than any other Disney guide, the colorful book includes in-depth information on attractions, activities, restaurants and resorts that you just cannot find anywhere else.

Completely revised and updated
Though it does have all the latest Disney news, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is more than just an annual update. The new edition adds a eight-page What's New summary right up front, as well as incisive articles on saving time and saving money. New At a Glance summaries make it easy to find what you need in each theme park chapter, while attraction articles now include hour-by-hour wait times as well as lists of Fun Finds, Fun Facts and Hidden Mickeys. Insider tips appear at the bottom of nearly every page.

Winner of four national book awards
In the past year alone the book has been honored with four national awards. It won the coveted Nonfiction Book of the Year award at the 2008 Writer's Digest ISPBA and was named Travel Guide of the Year at the 2008 NIEA. It won Best Southeast Nonfiction (Silver Medal) at the 2008 IPBA and was named one of three finalists for Best Travel Guide at the USA Book News 2008 NBBA. The Walt Disney World Moms Panel praises the book for its "fabulous behind-the-scenes info about the parks."

With photographs on nearly every single page, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is printed in full-color on gloss paper.

The Best Things to Do in New York City: 1001 Ideas

Caitlin Leffel, Jacob Lehman

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Universe Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $10.96

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What are 1001 things you should treat yourself and your guests to in New York City? Be serenaded by Cole Porter's piano at the Waldorf, or hear Woody Allen play clarinet at the Carlyle. Drink champagne on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum, or discover the abandoned subway station at City Hall. Eat at America's very first pizzeria, or enjoy the most expensive cocktail in the country at the World Bar. Ride the Staten Island Ferry, or ride a bike through Central Park. Go surfing out at Rockaway Beach, or relax in a Russian bath in the East Village . . . . Organized by theme—including Eating and Drinking, 24-hour New York, Shopping and Spending, Arts and Culture, Views and Sites, the Great Outdoors, and Classic New York—and packed with detailed, helpful indexes organized by neighborhood and by category, this is simply the most fun and comprehensive guidebook to New York City ever. New York Unlimited crosses genres and boroughs to explore every aspect of the most diverse and exciting city in the world. Written from experience by two people who love the city, and featuring priceless tips from expert contributors—from authors on their favorite bookstores to architects on the city's best buildings—New York Unlimited is much more than just a guide.

The Disneyland Encyclopedia: The Unofficial, Unauthorized, and Unprecedented History of Every Land, Attraction, Restaurant, Shop, and Event in the Original Magic Kingdom

Chris Strodder

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Santa Monica Press Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $12.60

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Encyclopedias -> History
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Food & Lodging -> Dining
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Guidebooks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Spanning the entire history of the park, from its founding more than 50 years ago to the present, this fascinating book profiles 500 attractions, restaurants, stores, events, and significant people from the history of Disneyland®. Each of the main entries in the book examines in detail the history of a Disneyland® landmark, including how many of the most popular attractions went through several incarnations before becoming what they are today—Tomorrowland’s Hall of Chemistry and Hall of Aluminum were transformed into the groundbreaking Adventure Thru Inner Space in 1967, and then became the popular ride Star Tours 20 years later. Read about unbuilt concepts, including Rock Candy Mountain and Chinatown, and delight in fascinating trivia about the park, such as ride statistics and attendance records. With a daily list of events, openings, and closings in the park's history, a yearly summary of attractions that came and went, simple and clear maps that correspond to the book’s 500 entries, and sidebars with additional information on each ride, this is a comprehensive and entertaining book overflowing with detail on the most-renovated, most-loved, and most-visited theme park in the world.

Hidden Mickeys, 3rd Edition: A Field Guide to Walt Disney World's Best-Kept Secrets (Disneyland's Hidden Mickey's)

Steven M. Barrett

Amazon Price: $9.56 List Price: $11.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The Intrepid Traveler Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $5.40

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Essays & Travelogues
Subjects -> Travel -> North America
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> South -> South Atlantic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

More Fun With Mickey 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.

HIDDEN MICKEYS, 3RD EDITION: A FIELD GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD'S BEST-KEPT SECRETS is an entertaining little guide that will provide you and your family tons of fun while standing in the sometimes endless-seeming ride lines at Walt Disney World (WDW). This book contains information, clues, and hints to help you find Hidden Mickeys throughout the WDW theme parks, the resort hotels, and all the places in between. HIDDEN MICKEYS, 3RD EDITION: A FIELD GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD'S BEST-KEPT SECRETS contains details on over 700 Mickeys hidden around the WDW complex, and teaches you the rules of the game. The hunt for Hidden Mickeys is a great, fun-filled, family activity that adds even more magic and wonder to your trip to Mickey's house.

What is a Hidden Mickey? A Hidden Mickey is partial or complete image of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, or other Disney character that has been incorporated into the design and/or decoration of a ride, attraction, hotel, restaurant, etc. These images blend into the area that surrounds them, and you need an eagle eye to spot each one. The most common Hidden Mickey is the classic three-circle Mickey head, but there are head profiles, body profiles, front silhouettes, detailed pictures, and even 3-D images. Sometimes it is just Mickey's gloves, handprints, shoes, or ears; or even his name or initials.

Hidden Mickey's most likely originated during the late 1970s, early 1980s when the Disney PTB (Powers That Be) tried to restrict traditional Disney characters to the Magic Kingdom theme park. The folks designing EPCOT at the time could not resist hiding Mickey in the new park, and so Hidden Mickeys were born. People started spotting them, and now Hidden Mickeys are found in almost all new construction. The phenomenon has quite literally taken on a life of its own.

HIDDEN MICKEYS, 3RD EDITION: A FIELD GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD'S BEST-KEPT SECRETS is set up as a series of six scavenger hunts, one each for the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios, the Animal Kingdom, the resort's hotel, and the rest of the complex. You can keep score or just play for fun. Each section contains both clues for the hunt, which guide you to each Hidden Mickey, and hints, which basically tell you exactly what to look for if you can't find them. The hints and clues are easy to understand, and are laid out in a logical pattern that takes you in a rough circle throughout each park. There is even a map with each hunt to help verify the correct location.

This handy guide fits easily in to a purse or carryall bag for quick and easy reference while on the hunt. It is definitely going to be part of our next WDW adventure, and I highly recommend that it be part of yours. We have already experienced the thrill of spotting a few Hidden Mickeys on our own and are very excited about the prospect of finding them all.

Editorial Review:

Described as a must have and definitely something that you'll want to bring along the next time you head down to WDW by Disney guru Jim Hill of jimhillmedia.com, Steve Barrett's Hidden Mickeys is a necessity for Walt Disney World buffs. This updated third edition adds scores of new hidden Mickeys and eliminates those erased by time.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

Bill Bryson

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 174 new & used starting at $2.89

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Authors
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Family & Childhood
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 212 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

Streetwise Manhattan Laminated City Street Map

Streetwise Maps

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Streetwise Maps Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $3.05

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Atlases & Maps -> World
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> Northeast -> Mid Atlantic
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> States -> New York -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Streetwise Manhattan Map - Laminated City Street Map of Manhattan, New York - Folding pocket size NYC travel map with integrated subway lines & stations - bus map

This map covers the following areas:
Main Manhattan Map 1: 27,000
Manhattan Bus Map

Some people think Manhattan and New York City are synonymous, but technically they are not. Manhattan is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. The others are Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. It’s a persnickety detail, but detail is what STREETWISE® is about. For example, the architectural details drawn on the Manhattan New York map are in outline form. A solid drawing would obscure the streets surrounding the location, and therefore hamper the usability of the map. Only in unobstructed locations will you find a solid drawing.

You may not notice this or any of the many other details that combine to make a NY city map that has been called the best selling map on earth*. The STREETWISE® Manhattan Map is detailed from lower tip to upper tip. It is layered with information about sites and mass transit routes. The New York City Subway system is one of the most important and vital rail networks in the world. It is also the fastest and cheapest way to travel north-south in New York. Our Manhattan street map has the best designed diagram of the Subway system ever produced on a street map. An inset of Manhattan bus routes complements the Subway system. You are now prepared to travel the length and breadth of Manhattan. From shopping in SOHO, dining in the Village, working in Midtown, visiting the Met on the Upper East Side or strolling thru Central Park, you’re covered with the STREETWISE® Manhattan Map of NYC. From the Staten Island Ferry up to the rediscovered realm of Harlem, you can navigate like a native New Yorker with this pocket size Manhattan Map.

Good city maps, like the STREETWISE® map of Manhattan, will guide you in the right direction and directly impact your experience of New York. A good Manhattan map will also keep you grounded, relaxed and confident in your decisions about where to go and how to get there. Whether by car, train, bus or on foot you are confident because you carry the most knowledgeable travel companion when you carry our NYC street map, the best laminated Manhattan Map on the market.

Our pocket size map of Manhattan is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. The STREETWISE® Manhattan map is one of many detailed and easy-to-read city street maps designed and published by STREETWISE®. Buy your STREETWISE® Manhattan map today and you too can navigate Manhattan, New York like a native. For a larger selection of our detailed travel maps simply type STREETWISE MAPS into the Amazon search bar.

* Publishers Weekly January 2004

Not For Tourists Guide 2009 to New York City (Not for Tourists: New York City)

Jane Pirone

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Not for Tourists Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $10.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Guidebooks
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> Northeast -> Mid Atlantic
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> States -> New York -> New York City

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

NYC A&E Recommends 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

From nycartsandentertainment.com
What attracted me first to the Not For Tourists Guide to New York City (2009 now on-sale) was, frankly, protecting my status as a New Yorker. OK, so I'm a transplant and maybe on permanently shaky ground, but nonetheless here 20 years and I still want to know everything I can about the city I love. Other guidebooks may help you know the city by suggesting "Walk north up Fifth Avenue from Rock Center and pass big-name stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, the NBA Store, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, and The Apple Store. You'll also see Trump Tower from the popular Apprentice TV series" (Frommer's), but I've already got the 101 material under my belt. I understand such guides serve an essential purpose (and I've used more than my fair share in other locales), but here my interest was piqued by the "sightseers verboten" selling point of the NFT Guide. It seemed to promise that I wouldn't have to hear about The Apprentice.

What was also on my mind before I dipped into the handbook was the question of whether the ancient technology of a book (instead of the internet via my pda, laptop, or desktop) was still the way to go. I love books as much as ever, but this kind of reference material was supposed to be the first casualty in the book's alleged decline.

So, I got started, took it with me as I walked to work, on the weekend when I went out with the wife & kids, kept it at the ready on my bedside table. Let me first say, regarding the "Tourists Need Not Apply" aspect, it's wonderful for any kind of user, whether you take pride of ownership over the City or not. On my second question, it simply is richer and more helpful than information you could try to cobble together in an hour at your computer, plus it can answer the unexpected questions that arise when you're on the town. Its size makes it almost as portable as my Treo and it is made with durable covers and an elastic band (to bookmark or keep it neatly compact). The interior contains full color maps and charts.

There are detailed street maps for all Manhattan, parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and Hoboken and Jersey City. All other areas (including the Bronx and Staten Island) are covered more quickly and with broader maps. The thorough maps cover the city in a grid format, with (for example) Map 14 detailing the Upper West side from West 59th to West 86th, Central Park to the Hudson. Accompanying Map 14 (and every other map) are lists of essentials in the neighborhood, be it coffee stops, banks, farmer's markets (with schedule), 24-hour pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. This aspect of including "points of interest" that relate to daily life is what especially makes this a city dweller's guide.

After the neighborhood break-down, there are themed sections on Parks, Sports, Transit, "General Information" (again, with resident-friendly information, such as locations for post offices, hospitals, libraries, FedEx, and Wi-Fi hotspots), and Arts & Entertainment (restaurants, shopping essentials, and museums, among others).

OK, so it's comprehensive and user friendly, which is reason enough to recommend it for you and your out-of-towner guests. But one particular reason I really like this guide is that it's a great source of information about what I'm looking at, walking by, and living near. On my shelf at home I have a copy of The Encyclopedia of New York City by Kenneth T. Jackson which I frequently consult at random or on a particular question. Though it's obviously not the case that the NFT Guide could supplant that kind of resource, it helped me experience the city with a similar spirit of discovery. It gives basic information about the city's history. It made me realize that I could go by the Old Police Headquarters while easily making a stop at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, and helped me figure out the names (and other details) of buildings I walk by several times a week. The information is necessarily brief, but the Not For Tourists NYC Guide for 2009 really opens up so much of the city that may have been hidden to you, whether it is of a practical, intellectual, cultural, or entertaining nature. Who would have thought that such brevity could unlock such richness? --Thomas Murphy, News Director
www.nycartsandentertainment.com

Editorial Review:

Not for Tourists guidebooks are map-based, neighbourhood by neighbourhood guides designed to lighten the load of already street-savvy residents, commuters, business travellers, and yes, tourists too. Each map is marked with user-friendly icons identifying the services and entertainment centres that you look for as you make your way through town: everything from post offices, car parks, restaurants, bars, DIY stores and gyms to information on hotels, airports, public transport and parks. Whether you're a seasoned resident, a returning visitor, relocating, or someone who is completely new in town, Not for Tourists guidebooks help you make the most of your time in the city, while you're in it.

No Worries Hawaii: A Vacation Planning Guide for Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island

Jerry Sprout, Janine Sprout

Amazon Price: $15.83 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Diamond Valley Company Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $11.83

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> West -> Pacific
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> States -> Hawaii -> Big Island
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> States -> Hawaii -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Get To The Heart of Your Destination
Half of Hawaii's 8 million yearly tourists are first-timers, often unsure of which island to visit, where to stay, and what to choose to do.
NO WORRIES HAWAII, a companion book to the Sprout's adventure guides for each of the islands, comes to the rescue. The book is also useful for repeat visitors or locals looking for new adventures.
Readers first take an armchair voyage, in which they nail down their vacation style (a scouting expedition, a romantic getaway, a solo or group adventure, invigorating, relaxing, healing). These likings are matched with what Hawaii has to offer. A clever but simple self-test allows readers to sort through Hawaii's assets: beaches, nightlife, trails, gardens, attractions, cultural sites, surfing, snorkeling, 36 categories in all, to determine which are important and which island is best.
In the second part of NO WORRIES HAWAII, readers take their decisions from part one and receive all the practical and money-saving advice needed to book a vacation that makes the armchair voyage become a real one. Included also is a complete list of what to pack.
The third part of the book is full of tips on what to do and what not to do after arriving in the islands. Readers will deplane as kama'aina (locals), having the benefit of the Sprout's 20 years of exploration.
Sections include how to plan days to maximize fun and avoid hassle, finding free entertainment, car rental and accommodation money-savers. Readers are advised on how to, and whether to, book tours (snorkeling, sailing, helicopter, horseback, etc.). The book's safety tips are a literal lifesaver, and the everyday advice on driving, hiking, and beach-going are essential forgetting the most fun out of every day.
The meat of NO WORRIES HAWAII is its Best Of section, a listing of Hawaii's top attractions: museums, rainforest dayhikes, snorkeling coves, walk-around beach towns, surfing spots, places to watch surfers, mountain bike trails, people-watching beaches, botanical gardens, short strolls to views, cultural sites, luxury resorts, volcano hikes, bird-watching forests, waterfalls, churches, remote beaches, family beach parks, golf courses, and more.
Taken together, the 50 categories neatly sum up the best of Hawaii. Readers can use these listings as a reference when they get to their chosen island.
NO WORRIES HAWAII is beautifully designed, complimented by more than 100 color photographs, and also contains a "wikiwiki phonebook" with all the contact numbers needed to put a vacation together.

Frommer's New York City 2009 (Frommer's Complete)

Brian Silverman

Amazon Price: $12.91 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Frommers Amazon Marketplace: 54 new & used starting at $9.82

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> General AAS
Subjects -> Travel -> North America
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> Northeast -> Mid Atlantic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series
• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides
• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries
• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

Explore the city with a real New Yorker, who gives you inside tips on hotels, restaurants, attractions, and nightlife.

• The best places to eat, from vintage delis to pizza joints to power palaces.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions, and the latest news on the newest hotels, restaurants and hotspots in the City that Never Sleeps.
• The most frequently updated travel series on the market. Plus, online updates are available at Frommers.com so travelers don't have to worry about out-of-date information.
• Opinionated write-ups. No bland descriptions and lukewarm recommendations. Our expert writers are passionate about their destinations--tell it like it is in an engaging and helpful way.
• Exact prices listed for every establishment and activity--no other guides offer such detailed, candid reviews of hotels and restaurants. We include the very best, but also emphasize moderately priced choices for real people.
• All Complete guides offer user-friendly features including star ratings and special icons to point readers to great finds, excellent values, insider tips, best bets for kids, special moments, and overrated experiences.

Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (Crown Journeys)

Chuck Palahniuk

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Crown Amazon Marketplace: 68 new & used starting at $7.93

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> General
Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> Fun Facts -> Curiosities & Wonders

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Want to know where Chuck Palahniuk’s tonsils currently reside?

Been looking for a naked mannequin to hide in your kitchen cabinets?

Curious about Chuck’s debut in an MTV music video?

What goes on at the Scum Center?

How do you get to the Apocalypse Café?

In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers, and local haunts of Portland, Oregon. According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic Geek Love, Portland is the home of America’s “fugitives and refugees.” Get to know these folks, the “most cracked of the crackpots,” as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise believe actually exist. No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to “a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly, sincere, fascinating people who maybe should’ve kept their mouths shut.”

Here are strange personal museums, weird annual events, and ghost stories. Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers’ sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe’s famous 1940s Self-Cleaning House. Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa Rampage. Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson. Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland zoo.

Oh, the list goes on and on.