Best Colorado Travel Guides

Featuring 32 amazing road trips, from two-day escapes to two-week adventures, you can cruise historic Route 66 or be captivated by red-hued rock formations, all with your trusted travel companion. Lavish color and gorgeous photography throughout Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests Get around easily - 116 easy-to-read, full-color route maps, detailed directions Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road - local driving rules, parking, toll roads Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Useful features - including Stretch Your Legs, Detours, and Link Your Trip Covers Route 66, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Arizona deserts, Phoenix, Santa Fe, New Mexico's Enchanted Circle, Texas Hill Country, Big Bend, Austin, San Antonio, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Monument Valley, Moab, Utah, Denver and more. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Amy C Balfour, Michael Benanav, Greg Benchwick, Lisa Dunford, Mariella Krause, Carolyn McCarthy and Ryan Ver Berkmoes.

Color maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - landscapes, art, history, customs/etiquette, shopping, wildlife, hiking, cuisine, wine, shopping, outdoor adventure Over 65 color maps Covers Las Vegas & Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Southwest Colorado, Sante Fe, Park City, Utah and more. Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalize your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing. Looking for more extensive coverage?

Admire the near-constant blue skies of Denver, hike through Rocky Mountain National Park, or climb the ice walls in Aspen while listening to live music; all with your trusted travel companion. Color maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests Insider tips save you time and money, and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including customs, history, art, politics, landscapes, wildlife, outdoor activities, road trips and scenic drives, and cuisine Over 35 color maps Coverage of Denver, Aspen, Vail, Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder, San Luis Valley, Durango, Silverton, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Monte Vista, Trinidad, Alamosa, Twin Lakes, Manitou Springs, and more.

Featuring 32 amazing road trips, from two-day escapes to two-week adventures, you can cruise historic Route 66 or be captivated by red-hued rock formations, all with your trusted travel companion. Lavish color and gorgeous photography throughout Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests Get around easily - 116 easy-to-read, full-color route maps, detailed directions Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road - local driving rules, parking, toll roads Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Useful features - including Stretch Your Legs, Detours, and Link Your Trip Covers Route 66, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Arizona deserts, Phoenix, Santa Fe, New Mexico's Enchanted Circle, Texas Hill Country, Big Bend, Austin, San Antonio, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Monument Valley, Moab, Utah, Denver and more. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Amy C Balfour, Michael Benanav, Greg Benchwick, Lisa Dunford, Mariella Krause, Carolyn McCarthy and Ryan Ver Berkmoes.

In these accounts, written with sensitivity as cautionary tales about what to do and what not to do in one of our wildest national parks, Whittlesey recounts deaths ranging from tragedy to folly—from being caught in a freak avalanche to the goring of a photographer who just got a little too close to a bison. Behind the gripping adventure, drama, and heartbreak of the stories told in this uniquely authoritative book are deep lessons—not only in personal responsibility but in the role of national parks in our society. Lee Whittlesey's compelling study of Yellowstone fatalities wisely reminds us of both the price and the pricelessness of protecting wild nature. While guides may wish to discuss the role of wolves or forest fires in a wilderness ecosystem, their passengers too often just want stories of the misfortune of their fellow travelers—and this is the seminal work on the subject. The sheer weight of new material added to bring this second edition up-to-date is a clear indication that the Yellowstone landscape continues to demand both our awe and our respect.

Leaving out the traditional scenic trips to the Mississippi River bluffs and the Amana Colonies, this guide will take the adventurous traveler to the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, the home of the "Lonely Goat Herder" marionettes from The Sound of Music , and the world's largest Cheeto. — The Daily Nonpareil Jerome Pohlen is the author of the Oddball series and a regular travel commentator for 848 on WBEZ, the Chicago affiliate of National Public Radio.

From her years as a spirited, secretive child, through her university studies—a period of exquisite freedom that imbued her with a profound appreciation of friendship and a love of travel—to her escape to a new life in California, Mayes exuberantly recreates the intense relationships of her past, recounting the bitter and sweet stories of her complicated family: her beautiful yet fragile mother, Frankye; her unpredictable father, Garbert; Daddy Jack, whose life Garbert saved; grandmother Mother Mayes; and the family maid, Frances’s confidant Willie Bell. Her “southern memoir” is a tale straight out of Faulkner, rife with episodes of dissipation and disillusion, parents who loved and fought with equally wild abandon, and ancestors with names like Big Mama and Daddy Jack. But she and her husband were sufficiently compelled to relocate from Northern California to North Carolina, settling in a university town with a far enough remove to allow her an objective distance from which to analyze the signature episodes of her childhood. With her trademark skill for capturing the essence of place and time, Mayes candidly reveals a youth riddled with psychological abuse and parental neglect that, nevertheless, ignited a fiery passion for adventure and self-discovery. “With perfect-pitch language, Mayes unblinkingly describes her growing-up years… One can almost taste the mushiness of ‘a pot of once-green beans falling apart in salt pork’; one can almost smell the cloying scent of honeysuckle, gardenias and overripe peaches that infuse the always-too-humid air.”– USAToday.com “Just the right balance of humor, irony and tragedy. “ Under Magnolia is a gorgeous, dreamy remembrance of hot Southern afternoons, mothers in red lipstick and Shalimar, Elvis turned up loud to cover up the family troubles that ran deep. In her new southern memoir, Under Magnolia , Frances Mayes describes the birth of her extraordinary sensibility, the deep-pooled clarity of her writing, her giddy love of nature, and her sharp and satirical eye for those who brought her up to honorable womanhood in the tortured South of her girlhood. “No one could have invented a more combustible, joy-starved pair of glam and oblivious parents or a more incandescent child to dive into the blue ruins, explore the sealed-off passages, blacked-out dreams and neglected outlets by the beams of her own incredulous eyes; then break the surface a smart-mouthed, truth-seeing sensualist, fully in attendance to the vibratory moment. The deft framing, the exacting word picks, apposite references, high speed wit, singled out synecdoches of a life; the cadence, phrasing, and pulse of a muted Georgian accent are all signature to the prose and poetry, stove-tops and passport stamps of Frances Mayes. Frances Mayes, a petite, brainy beauty from what we used to call politely 'a troubled home' has written an unnervingly honest and refreshingly open account of how a child can be neglected even amid privilege and a large family...

It was a time before Terlingua Ranch and chili cook-offs, and you could drive a hundred miles without seeing another vehicle or another person. He also writes about the lower Big Bend as it is found now, and what one can still rediscover just over the next rise. An eighth-generation Texan, BEN H. ENGLISH was raised mostly in the Lajitas-Terlingua area.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2012: At age 26, following the death of her mother, divorce, and a run of reckless behavior, Cheryl Strayed found herself alone near the foot of the Pacific Crest Trail--inexperienced, over-equipped, and desperate to reclaim her life. While readers looking for adventure or a naturalist's perspective may be distracted by the emotional odyssey at the core of the story, Wild vividly describes the grueling life of the long-distance hiker, the ubiquitous perils of the PCT, and its peculiar community of wanderers. But Strayed doesn't want sympathy, and her confident prose stands on its own, deftly pulling both threads into a story that inhabits a unique riparian zone between wilderness tale and personal-redemption memoir. Two months before Wild was published I stood on a Mexican beach at sunset with my family assisting dozens of baby turtles on their stumbling journey across the sand, then watching as they disappeared into the sea. Echoing the ever-popular search for wilderness salvation by Chris McCandless (Back to the Wild, 2011) and every other modern-day disciple of Thoreau, Strayed tells the story of her emotional devastation after the death of her mother and the weeks she spent hiking the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail. As her family, marriage, and sanity go to pieces, Strayed drifts into spontaneous encounters with other men, to the consternation of her confused husband, and eventually hits rock bottom while shooting up heroin with a new boyfriend. Woefully unprepared (she fails to read about the trail, buy boots that fit, or pack practically), she relies on the kindness and assistance of those she meets along the way, much as McCandless did.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and , unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Digging deeply, he takes an inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity , and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness.

Lonely Planet Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. User-friendly highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices, emergency information, park seasonality, hiking trail junctions, viewpoints, landscapes, elevations, distances, difficulty levels, and durations Focused on the best - hikes, drives, and cycling tours Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, camping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, summer and winter activities, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Contextual insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, geology, wildlife, conservation Over 47 full-color trail and park maps and full-color images throughout Useful features - Travel with Children, Clothing and Equipment, and Day and Overnight Hikes Covers Yellowstone National Park area, Mammoth Country, Roosevelt Country, Canyon Country, Lake Country, Norris, Geyser Country, Bechler Region, Grand Teton National Park area, Jackson and more. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travelers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. Bradley has lectured on Central Asia to the Royal Geographical Society and recently traveled across Asia in the footsteps of Marco Polo for a five-hour French-German TV documentary.

There are meditations on downtown Mobile, where Hoffman's grandparents arrived as immigrants a century ago; the waterfront where longshoremen labor and shrimpers work their nets; the back roads leading to obscure but intriguing destinations. As he writes, "When buildings are leveled, when land is developed, when money is spent, when our loved ones pass on, when we take our places a little farther back every year on the historical time-line, what we have still are stories." After 21 years in New York City, Roy Hoffman (Almost Family) returned with his wife and daughter to his hometown of Mobile, Ala. Back Home: Journeys Through Mobile is a collection of his writings feature stories, memoirs, essays about the town, many of which were previously published in the Mobile Register. Hoffman interviews many of Mobile's distinctive characters, like Joseph Langan, a longtime Mobile mayor now in his 80s, who was once vilified as a Communist by whites who thought he was too sympathetic to blacks, and a racist by blacks who didn't agree.

Easy, moderate and difficult routes are color coded, while symbols quickly show kinds of vehicles allowed on each trail. A separate mileage log ties numbered locations along the route to a custom map featuring a detailed relief background.

Three months on the New York Times bestseller list, PrairyErth is now in paperback. "Bill McKibben has called this book "the deepest map anyone ever made of an American place" -- a majestic survey of land and time and people in a single county of the Kansas plains.

Check out Fodor's travel guides to Boston and Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times “The Fodor’s guides are notable for their ratings of sights, restaurants, shops, accommodations and attractions.” – Chicago Tribune.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Natural State has to offer! Wyatt and Janie Jones are Arkansas natives, whose love of their home state inspired them to write Hiking Arkansas , also published by Globe Pequot Press.

Answering an insistent demand for this guidebook from loyal readers of the Frommer's series, the Chicago residents among our writers have labored hard to capture the unique spirit of this dynamic city that every American must visit at some point of their lives. Before moving to Chicago, she lived in Las Vegas, where she co-authored Pauline Frommer's Guide to Las Vegas and Frommer's Las Vegas Day by Day.

Check out Fodor's travel guides to Boston and Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times “The Fodor’s guides are notable for their ratings of sights, restaurants, shops, accommodations and attractions.” – Chicago Tribune.