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The Rough Guide to the USA (Rough Guide Travel Guides) PDF

1131 Pages·2011·2.84 MB·English
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THE ROUGH GUIDE to The USA Iconic cities • National parks • Classic journeys THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Kauai Oahu CANADA Honolulu MoMloakuai 15 CANADA Vancouver Big1 I6sland Anchorage Juneau Seattle Portland Helena Bismarck Montréal 14 Boise NYEALTLIONWASLT OPANREK 4 Toronto 2 B3oston 10 11 MOUNT Detroit NFaiallgsara 1 Salt Lake City RUSHMORE Chicago Philadelphia N Yoerwk City San F YrOaSnEMciIsTcEo NATIONAL PARK Denver KanCsiatsy Cincinnati 5 WASHINGTON 13 DC Las Vegas GNRATAINODN ACLA NPAYORNK Oklahoma Los Angeles City Memphis 6 ATLANTIC San Diego 12 Albuquerque Charleston OCEAN Dallas Savannah 9 8 PACIFIC MEXICO New Orlando OCEAN BIG BEND Houston Orleans NATIONAL 7 PARK Gulf of Miami Mexico 1 New York City 9 Texas 2 The Mid-Atlantic 10 The Great Plains 3 New England 11 The Rockies 4 The Great Lakes 12 The Southwest CUBA 5 The Capital Region 13 California 6 The South 14 The Pacific Northwest 7 Florida 15 Alaska 0 400 miles 8 Louisiana 16 Hawaii About this book Rough Guides are designed to be good to read and easy to use. The book is divided into the following sections, and you should be able to find whatever you need in one of them. The introductory colour section is designed to give you a feel for the USA, suggesting when to go and what not to miss, and includes a full list of contents. Then comes basics, for pre-departure information and other practicalities. The guide chapters cover the USA in depth, each starting with a highlights panel, an introduction and a map to help you plan your route. Contexts fills you in on history, books and films, while individual colour sections introduce the USA’s cuisine, music, architecture and great outdoors. The book concludes with all the small print, including details of how to send in updates and corrections, and a comprehensiveindex This tenth edition published March 2011. The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to the USA, however, they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide. The Rough Guide to the USA written and researched by Samantha Cook, J.D. Dickey, Nick Edwards and Greg Ward with additional contributions from Jeff Benzak, Tim Burford, Max Grinnell, Charles Hodgkins, Sarah Hull and Andrew Rosenberg www.roughguides.com Contents J California........................... 835 Colour section 1 K The Pacific Northwest ....... 945 Introduction ............................... 6 L Alaska ............................... 997 Where to go ............................. 10 M Hawaii ............................. 1029 When to go .............................. 13 Things not to miss ................... 16 Contexts 1051 History ................................. 1053 Basics 25 Books .................................. 1074 Getting there ............................ 27 Film ..................................... 1084 Getting around ......................... 30 Accommodation....................... 36 Small print & Index 1091 Food and drink ........................ 40 Festivals................................... 43 The outdoors .......................... 45 From burger bars to Sports ...................................... 51 bistros colour section Travel essentials ...................... 52 following p.216 Guide 63 American music 1 New York City ..................... 65 colour section 2 The Mid-Atlantic................ 111 following p.456 3 New England ..................... 163 4 The Great Lakes ................ 245 5 The Capital Region............ 327 The great outdoors 6 The South ......................... 397 colour section 7 Florida ............................... 491 following p.656 8 Louisiana .......................... 551 9 Texas................................. 585 G The Great Plains................ 631 Building America H The Rockies ...................... 679 colour section I The Southwest .................. 751 following p.896 3 왗왗 Leo Carillo State Beach Park 왗 Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park | CONTENTS | C A N A D A 12 11 1 10 2 9 3 12 8 4 11 1 7 6 5 910 23 8 4 Vancouver PACIFIC 7 6 5 STANDARD TIME MOUNTAIN STANDARD Seattle TIME 15 90 W A S H I N G T O N N O R T H Portland M O N T A N A Helena D A K O T A Butte 94 Bismarck 5 I D A H O O R E G O N Boise S O U T H D A K O T A 84 YELLOWSTONE Rapid City NATIONAL PARK 25 MOUNT RUSHMORE 90 W Y O M I N G 80 N E B R A S K A Reno Cheyenne Salt Lake City 80 San Francisco N E V A D A U T A H 70 Denver K A N S A S YOSEMITE NATIONAL 15 C O L O R A D O 70 PARK Las 5 Vegas Wichita C A L I F O R N I A GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK Flagstaff 25 OKLAHOMA Los Angeles 40 A R I Z O N A Santa Fe Amarillo Albuquerque 17 10 Phoenix Oklahoma San Diego City 8 N E W Tucson M E X I C O T E X A S Dallas P A C I F I C 10 El Paso 20 O C E A N 35 BIG BEND 10 NATIONAL PARK San Antonio MEXICO CANADA ALASKA HAWAII-Kauai Oahu ALEUTIAN Molokai Anchorage STANDARD Juneau TIME Honolulu Maui 12 12 11 1 11 1 910 23 ALASKAN 910 23 HAWAI I 4 8 4 STANDARD 8 4 7 6 5 TIME 7 6 5 Big Island | INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO 00 200 miles 12 11 1 10 2 9 3 8 4 7 6 5 12 11 1 CENTRAL 10 2 STANDARD 9 3 8 4 TIME 7 6 5 EASTERN u STANDARD MAINE TIME Montréal M I N N E S O T A 95 Lake VERMONT Huron 87 NEW Portland W I S C O N S I N HAMPSHIRE NEW 75 Toronto Boston Minneapolis- St Paul Niagara 90 YORK MASSACHUSETTS Cape Cod MICHIGAN Falls RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT Madison Detroit 80 I O W A PENNSYLVANIA Des Moines Chicago Philadelphia New York City Cleveland Pittsburgh NEW JERSEY INDIANA Atlantic City I L L I N O I S DELAWARE 35 71 O H I O MARYLAND Cincinnati WEST WASHINGTON DC M I S S O U R I 70 VIRGINIA 65 Richmond Kansas St Louis 75 VIRGINIA City 44 KENTUCKY 81 77 NORTH 95 Nashville CAROLINA A R K A N S A S T E N N E S S E E Memphis 40 85 SOUTH A T L A N T I C Atlanta CAROLINA 65 Little Rock 20 O C E A N 55 30 Birmingham Charleston MISSISSIPPI Savannah 20 A L A B A M A GEORGIA 75 65 59 10 LOUIS IANA 95 Feet Houston 10 New Orleans 9800 Orlando 6500 FLORIDA 3300 Miami 1600 G u l f o f 700 M e x i c o 330 0 CCUUBABA 5 e p r o i r | INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO L a M e k c i i h n a g a L e i r E k a k e e L S Introduction to the USA Lauded as a beacon of freedom, reviled at times as bent on global domination, the United States has many faces, and leaves no one short of opinions. The images of the country that named itself after a continent are embedded in the mind of every traveller: endless highways cutting through bleak deserts; forests of skyscrapers towering over urban jungles; acres of beaches dotted with surfboards and sun worshippers; high mountain peaks and green river valleys; magnificent feats of engineering, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Hoover Dam. The country’s emblems are so familiar that they constitute as much a part of the world’s culture as its own – Lady Liberty, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, the US Capitol, the “Hollywood” sign…the list goes on. For over five hundred years, travellers have brought their hopes and dreams to America. The first European explorers were followed by millions of immigrants, escaping the hidebound societies of the Old World. Eventually, they were joined as free citizens by the Native Americans – the continent’s true pioneers – and the slaves who had been shipped over from Africa and the Caribbean. Together they formed a nation that not only ofered something genuinely new, but has continued to re-invent itself in the face of each fresh challenge, with a capacity to inspire that remains undimin- ished. The combination of a shoot-from-the-hip mentality with laissez-faire capitalism and religious fervour can make the US maddening at times, even to its own residents. But what’s most surprising, perhaps, is how such an initially daunting land can prove so enticing – its vibrant mix of peoples, striking 6 landscapes and city skylines, and rich musical, cinematic and culinary heritage seduce almost every visitor in the end. | INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO The sheer size of the country prevents any sort of overarching statement about the typical American experi- ence, just as the diversity of its people undercuts any notion of the typical American. Many of the stereotypes do hold true – this is a place where you can find real life cowboys, gangsters and other Hollywood standbys – but they are far from widespread. And yet, there are a few common bonds between residents. For one, vigour and passion are animating forces in politics and culture here. While this tendency has deep roots in the country’s religious heritage (modern evangelism was perfected here), it afects everything from the firm opinions people hold over even trivial matters, to the public stand they make over God, government, guns and other incendiary topics. There is, in short, no such thing as the stif upper lip in American life – that was left behind a few centuries ago on the voyage west. While the US is one of the world’s oldest still-functioning democracies and the roots of its European presence go back to the 1500s, the palpable sense 7 | INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO 왖 Church choir, St Louis 왖 Bryant Park, New York City Five iconic road trips One of the best ways to see the US is to devote several hours, or days, to an in-depth tour of its highways or byways. The old stretch of Route 66 has since been carved up into smaller sections by interstate freeways and these days, the following roads are the finest the country has to offer: Hwy-1/Pacific Coast Highway This stunning, serpentine road travels from Los Angeles past the surf beaches of the Central Coast and intriguing sights like Hearst Castle up to the foggy reaches of the Bay Area. Overseas Highway A hundred-mile stretch connecting the major islands of the Florida Keys, you pass countless waysides for fishing, snorkelling, kayaking and scuba diving before arriving at laidback Key West. Blue Ridge Parkway This route’s golden foliage is splendid in the autumn, but you can enjoy excellent year-round hiking in evocative Great Smoky Mountains National Park and take in lively towns like Asheville. Hwy-100 A perfect rural stretch for experiencing historic small-town America, this Vermont route passes beautiful villages, dazzling autumn trees, vibrant ski resorts and the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory. I-40 A memorable transcontinental journey passing the Grand Canyon and Ancestral Puebloan sites, oil-and-cowboy landscapes in the Texas Panhandle, and Tennessee, cradle of blues and country music. of newness here creates an odd sort of optimism, wherein anything seems possible and fortune can strike at any moment. The country’s history – from the Gold Rush to the Space Race – testifies to this mentality, and it’s still evident whether Americans are constructing towering skyscrapers, trans- forming their landscape with massive dams and highways or trying to win the jackpot in Las Vegas – or in the stock market. Americans relocate at a rate greater than people of any other society as they try to advance themselves economically and socially, although this wanderlust can create an equal sense 8 of dissatisfaction, as expectations are left unmet and friends left behind in the search for the next golden opportunity. | INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO

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