On and Off the Beaten Path (Lightwood Press) is Carole Ford’s new collection of travel stories. The book is not merely an inventory of places visited from her and husband, Steve’s, road trips throughout the U.S and Canada; it is a detailed exploration of dozens of cultural, historic and natural locales that the couple experienced, some well-known, and many more perhaps unknown to the reader.
Ford writes: “Over the years we’ve visited many well-known places—some were very much on the beaten path. After all, in North America the path has been beaten down—to the Florida Keys, or to the Grand Canyon, to the Black Hills of South Dakota, to the geological wonders of Yellowstone National Park and the Bay of Fundy—precisely because they’re so special and wonderful that everyone wants to see them. But it’s exciting and fun to stray a bit as well; to find someplace offbeat—the Mustard Museum in Wisconsin; an Ojibwa Catholic Church in Ontario; the Clark Gable birth site and museum in Ohio; the fascinating Wolf Park in Indiana; the Elephant Refuge in Tennessee; the wonderful Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas; the Heifer Ranch, also in Arkansas. Or to see something new and unexpected, such as geoducks (an outrageously huge and odd-looking Pacific clam) at an outdoor market in Vancouver. Or to stand at the terminus of Lewis and Clark’s expedition into the western wilderness, at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and wonder what it was like for them?”
Carole Ford tells the stories of people and places that they encountered and creates an engaging and informative narrative. Her personable voice adds humor and insight, and we, the readers feel we’re with her in the couple’s camper, going along for a stimulating and enjoyable ride. And along the way, Ms. Ford offers a number of favorite recipes to satisfy the culinary side of travel. The book is published by Lightwood Press and can be ordered online through Amazon or through your local bookstore. The price is $16.99. If ordering through LIghtwood Press, contact us for s&h.
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Carole Bell Ford had a long career on the faculty of Empire State College, State University of New York, where Women’s Studies was her primary area of scholarship and publication. Her books include: The Girls: Jewish Women of Brownsville, Brooklyn, 1940-1995 (State University of New York Press); The Women of CourtWatch (University of Texas Press), selected by the national organization, Justice for Children, as an outstanding work, and After the Girls’ Club(Lexington), the story of teenage holocaust survivors who built new lives in America. Ford’s essay, “Letters from Riverside” was published in the award-winning anthology, A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley (Codhill Press). Her principal interests outside of her academic work have been in travel and cookery, particularly in ethnic cuisines. She has lived overseas, in England and in Greece, and has traveled extensively, in Europe, China and North America. She currently lives in New Paltz, New York with husband, Steve.
Lightwood 