Those reader travel photos provided a real getaway; Blue Ridge Parkway

After reading through the paper with its normal deluge of depressing news (bombs, more financial woes, more Trump and someone seriously wanting to restrict voting only to “a small, highly educated elite”), your readers’ travel photos lightened my soul [“Well-Observed,” Sept. 18].

The young teen with his arms outstretched in a joyful embrace of wind, the woman laughing as a storm ruffles her tropical paradise, a boy’s surprising flip into the sunset, the soul-searching gaze of an Icelandic pony, even that grumpy owl: Don’t know if it was the editors’ deliberate intent, but the photos this year were a wonderful life- and world-affirming antidote to a our regular grim news cycles. Thank you.

Ramsey Avery

Sherman Oaks

Reliving the wonder of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Thanks for bringing tears to my eyes as you brought back special memories of my former home [“You’ll Want to Slow Down,” by Christopher Reynolds, Sept. 11]. When I was a child, my family drove the Skyline Drive every autumn and it was always a wonder.

However, I’m perplexed by the writer’s choice of airports. Better to use Dulles International to get to Front Royal than Washington National, some 20 miles farther with much worse traffic. And you can knock 90 miles off driving to Atlanta by choosing to fly out of Knoxville, Tenn.’s McGhee Tyson Airport, served by five major airlines, including the big three.

As for taking seven days instead of four, spot on!

Thomas Michael Kelley

Newbury Park

Hey, hoteliers, make life a little easier for the guests

No, Lucy Breeden, you are not the only one frustrated by the lack of towel racks in hotels [Letters, Sept. 11]. Whenever I review a hotel I almost always make a comment about that lack. In one hotel we stayed at recently there were no towel racks or hooks. Worse yet, when there are towel racks, and we dutifully hang up our towels, often the housekeeper will remove them and give us new ones. I do not fault them, but rather their management.

Louise Schuman

Fountain Valley

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I wholeheartedly agree that although hotels encourage their guests to be green they don’t help in any way.

Not enough towel rods to hang towels to dry, not enough counter space for two toiletry bags and only one folding rack for suitcases.

I keep thinking the hotel industry could figure out what travelers need, but so far I have been disappointed.

Margarete O’Brien

Manhattan Beach