Lonely Planet Southwest USA’s Best Trips Kindle Edition

Lonely Planet Southwest USA’s Best Trips (Travel Guide) Kindle Edition
Author: Visit ‘s Lonely Planet Page ID: B00IACQI1K

Done.
File Size: 134750 KBPrint Length: 360 pagesPublisher: Lonely Planet; 2 edition (January 1, 2014)Publication Date: January 1, 2014 Sold by:  Digital Services, Inc. Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1741798124ISBN-13: 978-1741798128ID: B00IACQI1KText-to-Speech: Not enabled X-Ray: Not Enabled Word Wise: Not EnabledLending: Not Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled Best Sellers Rank: #103,845 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > United States > Regions > West > Mountain #91 in Books > Travel > Food, Lodging & Transportation > Road Travel #100 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Guidebook Series > Lonely Planet
I have never read a Lonely Planet book before. Usually when we’re going on a car trip I get some AAA maps and Tour Guides, then spend lots of time doing internet research and taking copious notes to fill in the blanks and come up with a plan. I feel that the people at The Lonely Planet have done all the research for me – just the way I would do it and packaged it up in a colorful, compact, well-thought out book. The Lonely Planet Southwest USA’s Best Trips (Travel Guide) is an amazing book. It is small enough to take along in your backpack and big enough to contain a huge amount of information, right there at your fingertips.

It contains the information for 32 road trips throughout the Southwest – certainly enough to keep us busy for quite a while. Once I started reading this, it was hard to put it down. In addition to maps, it has facts, history, places to eat and sleep (not exhaustive but certainly a good place to start). For some of the larger cities, there is a feature called "Stretch Your Legs" – gives you an idea of what to see on a short walk in the city – usually 1/2- 2 miles by foot depending on the city.

It’s divided into several sections: Plan Your Trip – this includes a welcome to the southwest, some information on "classic trips", highlights, "need to know" facts. Then the On the Road section is divided up into states and the different states are color coded so it is easier to find information, i.e., Arizona (green), New Mexico (red), Texas (blue) Utah/Colorado/New Mexico (orange). It finishes up with a little section on Driving in the Southwest. In summary, it is a good all-around planning book with maps, thoughtfully researched and presented.
I love the American Southwest and I love road trips. This book has 32 trips within Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Nevada. They are short and long, each with some kind of theme. they certainly give you a good flavor of this area.

The book is, mostly, organized by trip. The first page has a thumbnail map with summary information (length, etc). The second page has a more detailed map, often with references points you’ve heard of and other tours that link up with it. Both maps point out highlights that are described in the text.

Each highlighted point has a short entry with information, schedule and costs. The strong emphasis of most entries is on nature and hiking. Scenic drives, good places for kids and handicapped accessibility are pointed out. But I do not know that they are always pointed out. To me that’s a flaw. It’s also a flaw that often less nature-oriented activities are neglected. The book would be better if more comprehensive.

A nice feature is that at the end of each entry is driving directions to the next highlight.

Nearby but off the tour sites are in boxes.

At the end of each drive there is a one-page eat & stay summary. For most possibilities this means, at most 2 restaurants and 2 lodgings. With many of these being campgrounds, the choices for more traditional lodgings are slim, you’ll have to find them somewhere else. For many trips this just isn’t enough to plan the trip properly. Many of the lodgings they present are quite small or fill fast. You’ll need other listings to supplement these short lists.

A great thing the guide does is point out where access is restricted in some way.
Obviously, a guidebook that covers six large states in 340 some odd pages is going to only offer brief descriptions, so I would consider this book to be a starting point for some interesting road trips, not a definitive guide. As long as one doesn’t consider this to be definitive, it can be a very useful book. It is focused on road trips not long stays in any one place.

I was actually surprised that there are many reasonably out of the way trips mentioned and some fairly obscure destinations. There are also some very busy spots including Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce National Parks and Santa Fe, NM, as well as Sedona, AZ. As someone who went to high school only 40 miles from Zion National Park in Utah and who has a vacation condo in Prescott, AZ, this is home country for me. I’m an avid landscape photographer and there’s an immense number of stunning locales covered in this book that I’ve visited.

Some personal favorites include the Georgia O’Keffe country trip in New Mexico, The "Loneliest Road" on Hwy 50 across Nevada, and Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, which includes the single most spectacular section of road (The Hogback) I’ve ever driven. A close second for spectacular views is also included, the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado. The latter two are not for those afraid of heights. This is just a start as there are enough beautiful trips here to last an avid traveler for decades. Don’t forget that there’s a lot of history here, too, from ancient native cliff dwellings to old Spanish towns to the American Old West of mining and cattle towns and the hideouts of fabled outlaws.
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