Oregon Books

OREGON COAST is a beautiful collection of crisp color photographs of the Oregon Coast. There are eleven chapters included, each devoted to a different region: Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach, Tillamook, Lincoln City, Newport, Florence, Coos Bay, Brookings and Port Orford. There is a beautiful color picture on at least every other page, with corresponding text describing the scene and the region. Scenes range from sunny and cheerful to windy and moody. This is really an excellent advertisement of the beauty of the region. Oregon's coast is an austere and haunting beauty, and OREGON COAST captures it beautifully.

They appeared to come from nowhere and do the impossible, these young men who appeared to be anything but extraordinary until they stepped onto the basketball court--but then the magic happened. Hailing from a Willamette Valley mill town described as a "wide spot in the road" and from a school that was among the smalledt in the state, these eight remarkable athletes and their two special coaches spent the basketball season of 1937 defeating the best teams from the biggest schools in Oregon. And when the season had ended, the Bellfountain Giant Killers had created a new chapter in Northwest sports history.

This is a fantastic book. I bought copies for all my nieces

Original Post (2000): This book is great if you're looking for places that are off the beaten path. For example: instead of going to Muir Woods to see redwoods (and hordes of tourists), head off to Heritage Grove in La Honda for a chance to be one-on-one with the mighty trees (and check out the banana slugs as well!). I've only hiked about 4 of the 70+ trails so far, but they have all been worthwhile. Highly recommended!

Update (2003): Wow - I'm glad "13 out of 13 readers" found my review useful! :-)

Three years later, this now lovingly-worn book has accompanied me on a dozen more hikes, from Mendocino to Big Sur. Friends and visitors are always amazed at how I've been able to magically find these spectacular places! The Appendices with Suggested Hikes are quite useful -- I have yet to be disappointed with the "Grand Views" of various parts of the Bay Area, for example. I can thank this book for providing many special memories, photos, and aching limbs (hey, the author was not joking about those "strenuous" hikes!).

Oh, I also purchased another Marc Soares book, "100 Hikes in the San Francisco Bay Area". While some hikes do overlap with this book, I'd recommend as a nice companion volume -- especially if you live inland (like me) and don't always have time to head to the coast.

I did two of the hikes and they were both good. The Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail and the Green Lakes Trail. Green Lakes was a wonderful hike along Fall Creek with lots of waterfalls.

In Best Of The Best From Oregon Cookbook, Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley have collaboratively compiled more than 400 recipes drawn from seventy-nine of Oregon's leading cookbooks. From Triple Chocolate Quick Bread (Then 'til Now); Fresh Corn and Crab Chowder (All About Crab); Broccoli Noodle Salad (Thyme & The River, Too); and Mexican Lasagna (A Taste of Tillamook); to Gobbler Cobbler (Recipes and Remembering); Fish Salad Bunwiches (Clam Dishes And Rock Fishes); Cooked Greens with Bacon and Vinegar (Oregon Trail Cooking); Date Pinwheel Cookies (Grandma Jean's Rainy Day Recipes); and Ice Cream Pie (Oregon Cook Book); Best Of The Best From Oregon Cookbook is a unique and enthusiastically recommended compendium that truly lives up to its title!

Only had a week to visit Washington State, and made the absolute best hiking choices using this great book! Information was right on about where, when and how. Avoided crowds and saw some of the most fabulous forests left in the NW lower 48.

I've had the older edition of this book for years and brought it on every road trip we've ever taken. Certainly it doesn't have every wonderful place you've ever stayed at -- but it has so many that are good it would be foolish not to follow the recommendations it provides.

My only complaint is that some of the wonderful places (which, granted, we never would have found had it not been for this book) have become so difficult to get reservations at that we find this book sometimes does not help for those last minute weekend trips out of town.

That said, if you live in the Northwest, consider this your bible -- from Portland to Vancouver, the Islands, and everywhere in between -- you will always find a reliable recommendation for a good table and a warm bed in the pages of this book.

BEST PLACES PORTLAND is a great guide to the city of Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding area, with incredible discussion about the best outdoor activities, dining, nightlife, shopping, museums, lodging, and other attractions. There's also a section on day trips within a couple of hours' drive. Overall, the Portland metropolitan area has a great deal to offer, so pick this book up, and you can't go wrong.

Story of an ordinary family - facing all of life's complications. Scofield skillfully leads the reader to understand the choices of the sometimes not-so-attractive characters. The reader's sympathies are drawn to the strong, rugged, flawed, male at the expense of the "sensitive" man - not your usual feminine perspective.