Modern Bride has recently entered into a deal with American Express Vacations, agreeing to produce vacation guides offering special travel packages in the magazine every six months for the next three years.

Travel is said to broaden the mind, which is good for the purchasers of a new series of vacation guides.

Request a free vacation guide from Moloka'i Visitors Association today.

A map inside a free vacation guide from the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau (501 Greenfield Road off Route 30 east, 800-723-8824; www.padutchcountry.com) shows miles and miles of country roads.

North Carolina's vacation guide has extravagant pictures and watercolor maps.

The sheer sandstone walls of the gorge along Route 128 are recommended for their beauty on vacation guides from as far away as France and Germany.

A free vacation guide is offered by the State of Alaska; write Division of Tourism, Box E-529, Juneau, Alaska 99811 or phone 907-465-2010.

No reply was so bad as the worst ones of 1991, so it seemed as if everyone was tending toward a middle ground: an acceptable magazine-style vacation guide and perhaps an accommodations guide or other publication.

For years, it was listed in the state's annual vacation guide; it was eliminated in the late 80's because, it was charged, squirrels were getting in the house to eat the nuts.

Thus far, many of the inquiries have come from readers who are taking the state up on its offer for a free vacation guide, he said.