Lonely Planet Southwest USA's Best Trips (Travel Guide)
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Lonely Planet Southwest USA's Best Trips (Travel Guide) Paperback – February 1, 2014
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More About the Author
Amy practiced law in Virginia before moving to Los Angeles to try to break in as a screenwriter. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the horrified screams of her parents echoing through the space-time continuum. After a stint as a writer's assistant on Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, she jumped into freelance writing, focusing on travel, food, and the outdoors.
She has hiked, biked, and paddled across Southern California, the Southwest, New England, and the South. Her top picks for U.S. adventure include the cables of Half Dome, the South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, the road to the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, the Gauley River during dam release, and the doorbell at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
Amy has authored or co-authored 25 books for Lonely Planet, including Arizona, Los Angeles Encounter, Los Angeles & Southern California, Caribbean Islands, Discover Maui, Hawaii, Florida & The South's Best Trips, New England's Best Trips, and USA. She has also written for Backpacker, BBC.com, Every Day with Rachael Ray, theknot.com, Lonely Planet Magazine, Redbook, Vegetarian Times, and Women's Health. Amy's essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Southern Living, the Washington Post, and the travel anthologies Go Your Own Way and The Thong Also Rises. She thanks you for reading this far.
http://amycbalfour.wordpress.com/
She has hiked, biked, and paddled across Southern California, the Southwest, New England, and the South. Her top picks for U.S. adventure include the cables of Half Dome, the South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, the road to the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, the Gauley River during dam release, and the doorbell at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
Amy has authored or co-authored 25 books for Lonely Planet, including Arizona, Los Angeles Encounter, Los Angeles & Southern California, Caribbean Islands, Discover Maui, Hawaii, Florida & The South's Best Trips, New England's Best Trips, and USA. She has also written for Backpacker, BBC.com, Every Day with Rachael Ray, theknot.com, Lonely Planet Magazine, Redbook, Vegetarian Times, and Women's Health. Amy's essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Southern Living, the Washington Post, and the travel anthologies Go Your Own Way and The Thong Also Rises. She thanks you for reading this far.
http://amycbalfour.wordpress.com/
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
Man in the Middle
VINE VOICE on June 22, 2014
Format: Paperback
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As a new resident of Southern California, I was really looking forward to this book as a way of exploring the new neighborhood. Sadly, Lonely Planet appears not to consider Southern California to be part of the Southwest USA, so these trips will be most useful for us when we can add an extra 6 hours each way by car just to get to the nearest starting points.
Fortunately, we've already been to many of these destinations in previous cross-country trips and vacations, so it was fun to look up places we've been and see what the authors thought of them. From that, we concluded that this book is just a quick overview of the places described. We stayed overnight in April at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ, famous from the original "Cars" movie, and pretty much as I remember it being from another vacation 30 years earller. But the info here is too sparse to know why anyone would care to stay here, let alone where to walk for dinner when you do. Same thing with Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks - some of my favorite places in the U.S., but only briefly described.
I was interested in reading about Big Bend in TX, as we haven't been there yet, but no mention was made of the safety issues recently at the border that kept us away during a recent cross country drive.
In short, this remains a good introduction to the area it covers, and is likely to form the basis for several trips with grandkids over the next few summers. But I'll be supplementing it with further necessary details. I wonder if perhaps this would be better as an Ebook - one in which you could click through several layers deeper for additional details about an area or location of interest?
Fortunately, we've already been to many of these destinations in previous cross-country trips and vacations, so it was fun to look up places we've been and see what the authors thought of them. From that, we concluded that this book is just a quick overview of the places described. We stayed overnight in April at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ, famous from the original "Cars" movie, and pretty much as I remember it being from another vacation 30 years earller. But the info here is too sparse to know why anyone would care to stay here, let alone where to walk for dinner when you do. Same thing with Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks - some of my favorite places in the U.S., but only briefly described.
I was interested in reading about Big Bend in TX, as we haven't been there yet, but no mention was made of the safety issues recently at the border that kept us away during a recent cross country drive.
In short, this remains a good introduction to the area it covers, and is likely to form the basis for several trips with grandkids over the next few summers. But I'll be supplementing it with further necessary details. I wonder if perhaps this would be better as an Ebook - one in which you could click through several layers deeper for additional details about an area or location of interest?
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By
Susan W
VINE VOICE on June 8, 2014
Format: Paperback
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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.Read more ›
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.Read more ›
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By
Janet Perry
VINE VOICE on June 7, 2014
Format: Paperback
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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.Read more ›
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.Read more ›
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