Lonely Planet Western USA , livre ebook

Western USA

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Western USA
Western USA’s Top 25
Need to Know
Accommodations
If You Like…
Month by Month
Itineraries
Route 66 & Scenic Drives
Outdoor Activities
Eat & Drink Like a Local
Family Travel
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Rocky Mountains
Colorado
Denver
Boulder
Northern Mountains
Central Colorado
Southern Colorado
Wyoming
Cheyenne
Laramie
Lander
Jackson
Cody
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Montana
Bozeman & Gallatin Valley
Billings
Helena
Missoula
Whitefish
Glacier National Park
Idaho
Boise
Ketchum & Sun Valley
Stanley
Southwest
Nevada
Las Vegas
Around Las Vegas
Western Nevada
The Great Basin
Arizona
Phoenix
Central Arizona
Grand Canyon National Park
Around the Grand Canyon
Northern & Eastern Arizona
Western Arizona
Southern Arizona
Around Tucson
Southeastern Arizona
Utah
Salt Lake City
Park City & Wasatch Mountains
Northeastern Utah
Moab & Southeastern Utah
Zion & Southwestern Utah
New Mexico
Albuquerque
Along I-40
Santa Fe
Around Santa Fe
Northwestern New Mexico
Northeastern New Mexico
Southwestern New Mexico
Southeastern New Mexico
California
Los Angeles
Southern Californian Coast
Disneyland & Anaheim
Orange County Beaches
San Diego
Palm Springs & the Deserts
Palm Springs
Joshua Tree National Park
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Mojave National Preserve
Death Valley National Park
Central Coast
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo
Morro Bay to Hearst Castle
Big Sur
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Monterey
Santa Cruz
San Francisco & the Bay Area
San Francisco
Marin County
Berkeley
Northern California
Wine Country
North Coast
Sacramento
Gold Country
California’s Northern Mountains
Sierra Nevada
Pacific Northwest
Washington
Seattle
Olympia
Olympic Peninsula
Northwest Washington
San Juan Islands
North Cascades
Northeastern Washington
South Cascades
Central & Southeastern Washington
Oregon
Portland
Willamette Valley
Columbia River Gorge
Oregon Cascades
Oregon Coast
Southern Oregon
Eastern Oregon

Understand

Western USA Today
History
Way of Life
Native Americans
Arts & Architecture
Land & Wildlife

Survival Guide

Directory A–Z
Accessible Travel
Customs Regulations
Discount Cards
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
LGBTIQ+ Travelers
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Visas
Women Travelers
Transportation
Getting There & Away
Air
Land
Sea
Getting Around
Air
Bicycle
Boat
Bus
Car & Motorcycle
Local Transportation
Train
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Western USA

Landscapes and legends draw adventurers to the West, where a good day includes locavore dining, vineyard wine-sipping, wildlife-watching, Native American history and outdoor adventure.

Great Outdoors
The landscapes here are stunners, from the high Rockies to the dramatic coastline, from the Great Plains’ big-sky horizons to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Some of America’s most iconic animals animate the wild, including grizzlies, wolves, elk and bison. Elsewhere, surfers, kayakers and beachcombers flock to sunny San Diego and the rocky beaches of Oregon and Washington. Red rocks, plunging gorges and prickly-pear deserts lure hikers and cyclists to the Southwest and Grand Canyon. Over in the Rockies, snowcapped peaks offer some of the world’s best skiing and snowboarding.

Regional Food & Wine
Fish tacos in San Diego, Sonoran dogs in Tucson, trout and bison in the Rockies, green and red chiles in New Mexico and wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest: regional specialties here are as diverse as the landscapes. One commonality? Chefs and consumers alike are focusing on fresh and locally grown food, a locavore trend that started in the West. Wine producers have embraced this eco-consciousness in an industry where Napa and Sonoma increasingly share the spotlight with Washington, Oregon and central California.

Urban Allure
Western cities have distinct personalities. In California there’s the hey-bro friendliness of San Diego, the Hollywood flash of Los Angeles and silicon-meets-bohemian in San Francisco. Further north in Seattle, cutting-edge joins homegrown. Rootsy vibes and outdoor fun pair in Denver, while patio preening and spa pampering give Phoenix a compelling spoiled vibe. Artsy, historic Santa Fe is a world unto itself. And then there’s Vegas, a glitzy neon playground where you can get hitched in the Elvis Chapel, spend your honeymoon in Paris and then bet the mortgage – all in the same weekend.

Hands-On History
Climb a wooden ladder into a cliff dwelling, poke around the ruins of a Pony Express station, contemplate where Native American tribes drove buffalo herds over cliffs, or simply join the congregation inside a 1700s Spanish mission. What else is there to explore? Crumbling forts and trading posts. Abandoned ghost towns. Adobe pueblos. Petroglyphs etched onto boulders and cliff faces. Wander historic sites like these for up-close and evocative links to the region’s rich, multilayered past. And excellent museums? Western USA has them, many of them, in abundance.

Mesa Verde National Park | BRYAN MULLENNIX/GETTY IMAGES ©

Why I Love Western USA
By Anthony Ham, Writer
I love this place, and the love affair began out on the Great Plains. The combination of wildlife, Big Sky landscapes, and soulful Native American stories had me from the beginning. But the spirit of the American West is just as much about the new sophistications of the Pacific Northwest as it is the hardscrabble, red-rock canyons and old American stories of Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. And whichever side of the incomparable Rockies I find myself, from California to Colorado, I keep coming back to one thing: this is one beautiful, extraordinary place.
For more, see Our Writers
Western USA’s Top 25

Yellowstone National Park
What makes the world’s first national park so enduring? Geological wonders for one thing, from geysers and fluorescent hot springs to fumaroles and bubbling mud pots. Then there’s the wildlife: grizzlies, black bears, wolf packs, elk, bison and moose, roaming across some 3500 sq miles of wilderness. Pitch a tent in Yellowstone’s own Grand Canyon, watch wildlife in Lamar Valley, admire the Upper and Lower Falls, wait for Old Faithful to blow and hike through the primeval, fuming landscape for a real taste of what is truly the Wild West.

Grand Prismatic Spring | LORCEL/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences

San Francisco
Change is afoot in this boom-bust city, currently enjoying a very high-profile boom. Amid the growth, fog and clatter of old-fashioned trams, the diverse neighborhoods of San Francisco invite long days of wandering, with great indie shops, fabulous restaurants and bohemian nightlife. Highlights include peering into Alcatraz, strolling across the Golden Gate and dining inside the Ferry Building. And you must take at least one ride on the trolley. How cool is San Francisco? Trust us – turn that first corner to a stunning waterfront view, and you’ll be hooked.

ELIZA SNOW/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences

Grand Canyon National Park
The sheer immensity of the canyon is what grabs you at first – a two-billion-year-old rip across the landscape that reveals the earth’s geological secrets with commanding authority. But it’s Mother Nature’s artistic touches, from sun-dappled ridges and crimson buttes to lush oases and a ribbon-like river, that hold your attention and demand your return. To explore the canyon, take your pick of adventures: hiking, biking, rafting or mule riding. Or simply grab a seat along the Rim Trail and watch the earth change colors before you.

MATT MUNRO/LONELY PLANET ©

Top Experiences

Los Angeles
A perpetual influx of dreamers, go-getters and hustlers gives this sprawling coastal city an energetic buzz. Learn the tricks of movie-making during a studio tour. Bliss out to acoustically perfect symphony sounds in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Wander gardens and galleries at the hilltop Getty Museum. And stargazing? Take in the big picture at the revamped Griffith Observatory or look for stylish, earthbound ‘stars’ at the Grove. Ready for your close-up, darling? You will be – an hour on the beach guarantees that sun-kissed LA glow.

HAYK_SHALUNTS/SHUTTERSTOCK ©; ARCHITECT: RICHARD MEIER

Top Experiences

Coastal Highways
A drive along America’s stunning western coastline is road tripping at its finest. In California, Hwy 1, also called the Pacific Coast Highway , Hwy 101 and I-5 pass dizzying sea cliffs, idiosyncratic beach towns and a few major cities: laid-back San Diego, rocker LA and beatnik San Francisco. North of the redwoods, Hwy 101 swoops into Oregon for windswept capes, rocky tide pools and, for Twilight fans, Ecola State Park, the stand-in for werewolf haven La Push, Washington. Cross the Columbia River into Washington for wet-and-wild Olympic National Park.

MICHAEL URMANN/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences

The Deserts
The saguaro cactus is one of the West’s most enduring symbols. A denizen of the Sonoran Desert, it’s a hardy survivor in a landscape both harsh and unforgiving, but also strangely beautiful. Five deserts – the Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, Great Basin and high Colorado Plateau – stretch across the Southwest and California, each with its own distinct climate. Each is also home to an amazing array of well-adapted reptiles, mammals and plants. This thriving diversity makes a stroll through the desert a wondrous, one-of-a-kind experience – try it at Saguaro National Park .

SASHA BUZKO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experience