By Natalie Pompilio, Contributing Writer When my sister and I were making our plans to visit the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Orlando Resort (the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) in Florida, the question we got most frequently was, “How many kids are in your party?”To which we answered,...

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was “Our Fifty States,” a photo atlas of the U.S. from National Geographic. Published in 1978 (check out that fab Bicentennial-era cover), the book featured photography, factoids and maps of all of the states. I used to pore over it, checking out...

Where: Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside, Portland, OR. 503-228-4651 Claim to fame: A bibliophile’s wet dream, Powell’s City of Books is one of the country’s most celebrated bookstores, for good reason. It’s a block long. It has color coded room based on topics...

  It’s time for another book giveaway! This time, I have a gorgeous coffee table version of naturalist John Muir’s classic, My First Summer in the Sierra. It’s put out by the Yosemite Conservancy and features photos from Dallas-based photographer Scot Miller. It’s the perfect...

The dark days of a February winter are the perfect time to start planning your big 2011 trip. And for inspiration, you can’t do better than the 100 Greatest Trips coffee table book just put out by Travel + Leisure. The 288-page book features photos from some of the best travel photographers out...

My trip planning routine has changed in the past few years. I’ve always done the bulk of my research online ahead of time, then bought a country or city-specific guidebook to carry with me on the ground. But now I find that I’m often skipping the bulky Lonely Planet or Moon Guide in favor...

I finally saw Eat Pray Love, the travel it-movie of the year based on the best-selling memoir from Elizabeth Gilbert, last weekend. For the few people out there who aren’t familiar with the plot, Gilbert spends a year recovering from a failed marriage and relationship by eating pasta in Italy,...

Right now, the winds are swirling and snow is flying outside my Alexandria home. It looks like it’s going to be a full-fledged blizzard out there today, and my muscles are already anticipating the shoveling that will have to be done tomorrow. With that in mind, I’m going to spend part of...

The following is a guest post by Edward Gray, who read and reviewed the book “Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip” by Matthew Algeo. In it, Algeo tries to trace the path that Truman and his wife Bess followed during a 1953 road trip after...

I’m drawn to books that have a strong sense of place – especially if it’s a place that I’ve recently visited (or am about to visit). So after my June visit to Charleston, I looked forward to the release of Pat Conroy’s latest, South of Broad. Conroy has never been one of...