36 Hours

"36 Hours" is a column that was first published in The New York Times in 2002. It is a guide to getaway weekends in the USA and Canada. "It takes readers each week on a carefully researched, uniquely designed two-night excursion to an embraceable place. With a well-plotted itinerary, it offers up an experience that both identifies the high points of the destination and teases out its particular character", writes editor Barbara Ireland.

"Every 38 Hours follows a workable numbered itinerary," I learn and that "the itineraries do not all follow exactly the same pattern". In other words, this is a practical guide that does not fail to point out that "it is inevitable that some of the featured businesses and destinations will change in time".

I first checked out some of the cities I've been to – only to discover that most of the places mentioned I had not even heard of. And that is exactly what makes this tome useful: it gives you hints and points to potential discoveries. It goes without saying that it at the same time is excellent advertising for the businesses mentioned.

36 Hours is also a picture book and the photographs are most impressive. In fact, most of the time that I spent with this tome I did actually look at the photographs. And, some of them I now can't get out of my mind: The Salt Lake City Public Library, the Quadracci Pavillion at the Milwaukee Art Museum and Homer, Alaska, "a city of about 5,000 people on the Kenai Peninsula" that has been called "the End of the Road, the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World, and the Cosmic Hamlet by the Sea".

The New York Times
36 Hours
150 Weekends in the USA and Canada
Taschen, Cologne 2011