Lonely Planet’s The Cities Book

by Erik Olsen on

Prepare to be dazzled…and to give the biceps a nice workout at the same time. Lonely Planet has released a new book…a tome, really…that takes a quick and dirty and luscious view of many of the world’s great cities. And a couple of the crappy ones too. The book, called simply Lonely Planet The Cities Book ($31.50 on Amazon)  is a monster, with the hardcover edition weighing in at almost five pounds. But that is five pounds of eye-savoring goodness. This is not a book you’re going to take with you; this is a book you’re going to keep on your coffee table and salivate on after a long day of work with dreams of long-term international escape flitting about your brain.

The book covers 200 of what the editors call “the most vibrant, diverse, hypnotic and chaotic cities in the world”, which have been given esteemed rank by the people who, presumably, know what they are talking about :namely, Lonely Planet’s staff, authors, and readers. The book contains factoids and information on each city that is enough to whet your whistle, but may also send you to Wikipedia to learn more. Several of the sample sections are: Vital statistics, which provides the city’s strengths (i.e. great views, beaches, interesting culture) and weaknesses (i.e. stodgy cuisine). There are also interesting bits like “Starring role in” which lists the various movies or poetry or books that the cities have been featured in (i.e. Auckland was the place where The Chronic (what?!) cles of Narnia was filmed).

They have obviously made ample use of the Lonely Planet Images stock photo library, because the book is sumptuously illustrated with photos that do a fine job giving you an immediate visual impression of a place. In all honesty, the biggest problem is that you want more. You want the pictures for each city to go on for pages and pages rather than just one or two.

Probably the best part about the book is learning a little bit about cities you’ve never heard of, or know only a little about. (Kyviv, Dhaka, Abuja).

This book would make not only a fine gift, but also a superb addition to your coffee table. It’s the kind of book that you can thumb through as you’re forced to endure some dreary TV show that your wife wants to watch (or was that just me?).

Symbiot Sportback

by Erik Olsen on

I know that the hip new thing these days is the saddle bag. People all over town lug their stuff around in these things that hang at your hip like a fatty appendage. And before the saddlebag…or messenger bag as they are now called after an apparently widely successful rebranding effort…there was the briefcase.

Don’t even get me started on what an outdated symbol of 1950s American salarymen chic that was. I still think the briefcase is a silly thing to carry for pretty much everyone except obscenely rich guys who chain them to their wrists when they transport a pound of uncut diamonds.

But back to bags. So the point I’m straining to reach here is that all this time, I’ve been partial to one form of “crap transport”, and that is the backpack. But the backpack has its drawbacks. Even when you cinch them up around your shoulders, they flop around. They are pretty much useless for rigorous activity like running. If you will, flashback to high school and think of how the geeks would sometimes get all excited and run around with their packs on…well, you see what I mean.

So now there is a company seeking to solve the pack flop problem. Called the Sportback, the pack here looks a little bit like a training bra for Sir Edmund Hillary, but the idea is fresh, original and solves the problem of pack-flop. The company making the new pack, which wraps over your shoulders and seems to fit as snugly as a vest, does do away with some of the problems of traditional packs. The company is called Symbiot Design, and according to Jonathan Gross who started the company with some friends, they came up with the idea and design to help folks who are into biking, hiking, running and adventure racing.

The Sportback looks very cool, and certainly useful if you are a runner, mountain biker, tri-athelete ,etc .There are space limitations, so you’ll have to cut back a bit on the amount of stuff you carry, but you should be doing that anyway. Oh, and there is space for your water bladder should you want to have the pack replace your Camelback.

Seaway Trail

by Erik Olsen on

The idea of diving cold rivers may sound less appealing than diving, say, the Bahamas…it does to me…but over at Divester, they suggest that if you pair the diving with a beautiful drive, well, that may make the whole thing worth while.

Divester calls out the Seaway Trail in New York State, a 454-mile scenic route that runs along Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. You can drive and dive, as it were, following the suggestions of the “Dive the Seaway Trail” campaign. And before you complain too much that diving lakes holds little interest, keep in mind that the lakes of the region were once major hubs of interstate and international commerce, and so they are loaded with wrecks. Wrecks, of course , mean fish. Divester provides some links to back up the claim:

So perhaps you were heading up-state anyway, or hadn’t yet made up your razadook what to do with your summer. Diving in New York may sound kooky at first glance, but the idea might be worth a second look.

Pikes Peak Celebrates 200 Years

by Adrienne Wilson on

…on America’s map. The Seattle Times covers an awesome happening this year surrounding the 14,110-foot summit along the eastern slopes of the Rockies known as Pikes Peak in Colorado. The peak was placed on American maps 200 years back after Zebulon Pike spotted the peak, never reached its top, had a horrible time in the Rocky Mountains, was eventually captured by the Spanish and taken into Mexico. To celebrate these fine details in history the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and other organizations will run lectures, reenactments and hikes over the year. The events scheduled will illustrate Zebulon Pike’s 1806 journey and images of the mountain in art and advertising. Very cool!

As a teen living in Colorado Springs I never gave a whole lot of thought to the beauty or the story behind ole Pikes Peak. For the most part it made for fun family outings except the one time my father thought he knew the gas tank better than he did and we ran out of gas up yonder. Though it may be a bit smaller in comparison to Pike’s troubles, I’ve still got my own stories to tell about that very same mountain. In any case the real explorer’s tale sounds much worth trekking to Colorado sometime over the next year to experience the all the activities.

Backpacking.net

by Erik Olsen on

Whether you are a novice or a hard-core backpacker, you will find the immense amount of information at backpacker.net  (or  Backpacking Lightweight) a welcome resource. I had the site in one of my old bookmark folders and hadn’t thought about it or checked it for a while, but I just spent some time noodling around the site and was really impressed by all the information that is there. There are gear reviews and feature articles on hikes, there are checklists to help you prepare for your next trip and several planning primers. There are lists and reviews of backpacking books and magazines. A fine resource for backpackers and campers alike.