Great Escapes: Selective guides for travelers who want to find quick trips and getaways within a specific locale. They take away the drudgery of sifting through online and printed travel info by listing only the most worthwhile events, activities, and places to stay and eat. Great Escapes: Southern California: Make the most of the SoCal experience by veering toward some unexpected, eclectic haunts: Go "Sideways" along the back roads of the Santa Ynez Valley, find solitude while camping on Catalina Island or the Gaviota coastline, check out San Diego's hip Gaslamp District, and revel in a 50s-style lodge in the desert of Palm Springs.

LET THE MOVIES BE YOUR GUIDE! * Hike THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE Trail! * Behold the KILL BILL Chapel! * Enter THE DOORS Indian Caves! * Swim at BEACH BLANKET BINGO's Malibu! * Escape to SOME LIKE IT HOT's Resort! * Raft the STAGECOACH River! * Explore HIGH PLAIN DRIFTER's Ghostly Lake! * Trek to the LOST HORIZON Waterfall! * Discover the STAR WARS Sand Dunes! Here is the first comprehensive guide to Southern California's outdoor filming locations taking you to more than 50 of the Golden State's most cinematic beaches, mountains, deserts, lakes, hot springs and waterfalls. Illustrated with over 100 scenic photos and 20 easy-to-read maps, Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer's Guide to Exploring Southern California's Great Outdours not only takes you to movie history's most memorable destinations, but also recommends places to dine and lodge along the way, from mountain hideaways to beach side resorts. Written by inveterate movie buffs and outdoors enthusiasts Harry Medved and Bruce Akiyama, these two native Southern Californians have interviewed dozens of actors, filmmakers, location scouts and rangers to help you explore Hollywood's most spectacular scenery.

A weekend in Southern California will never be the same. Swim with sharks off Rancho Palos Verdes, spin the wheels at Drivetech Auto Racing School, and explore a kelp forest while wreck diving the Channel Islands. Organized by season and by difficulty level, 52 Great Weekend Escapes in Southern California provides a year's worth of great short escapes for adventurers of every age, budget, and skill level.

Who minds sleeping under a mosquito net when it's royally draped over the bed in a lush Kenyan, open-walled hut, fashioned from tree trunks and shielded from the sun by a sumptuous thatched roof? This selection of the most-splendid getaway havens nestled throughout the African continent is sure to please even the most finicky would-be voyagers. Photos.

The island of Anacapa, off the coast of California, is overrun with black rats which are threatening the ancient population of ground-nesting birds. Alma Boyd Takesue of the National Park Service is campaigning to exterminate them once and for all, but her systematic plan is in danger of sabotage by two notorious environmental activists, Anise Reed and Dave LaJoy. But when Alma's sights turn to the infestation of non-native pigs on the island of Santa Cruz - where Anise was brought up by her rancher mother - the stakes are raised and the debate threatens to boil over into something much more real...

The author brings to life some of Italy's most amazing landscapes, such as Venice, Lake Como, Florence, the Amalfi Coast and the Aeolian Islands. She explores legendary hotels in which novels have been set, movies made and love stories consummated.