Northwest to the Max

Public radio and TV personality Rudy Maxa is the amiable host for Northwest to the Max, which compiles three episodes—on Seattle, San Francisco, and Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.—from his televised Smart Travels series. Shot in high-def, each half-hour finds Rudy hitting a few tourist attractions, sampling local cuisine, and day-tripping to nearby landmarks. In “Seattle,” a “vibrant city with laidback charm and natural beauty”—birthplace of grunge rock (as well as Microsoft, Starbucks, and Amazon.com)—Maxa visits the Pike Place Market (where the fish fly back and forth between the sellers in a show that a few years back would have put the Seattle Seahawks' wide receivers to shame) and the almost-all-glass-exterior Seattle Public Library, samples the seafood at Etta's, takes a ferry ride to lovely Bainbridge Island (I suspect the upscale locals would bristle at his use of the word “rural”), hikes around the base of Mt. Rainier, and flies over to the San Juan Islands. “Vancouver & Victoria, B.C.” finds Maxa checking out the sights in historic Gastown (birthplace of modern Vancouver), taking a sky-ride up the face of Grouse Mt. (I hiked the near-vertical slope once: the saddest sign I ever encountered read “you have reached the halfway point”), walking across the Lynn Creek suspension bridge, and strolling around Victoria's horticultural jewel: the 55-acre Butchart Gardens. “San Francisco” includes visits to Chinatown and North Beach, as well as the wine country in the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The DVD also features seven extended scenes on topics ranging from Tibetan monks to street musicians. Other titles in the series include Australia to the Max, China to the Max, Hawaii to the Max, Mexico to the Max, and New Zealand to the Max. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)