BOOK YOUR VACATION
Books that focus on “best of” lists are becoming tedious, but here and there worthwhile compilations can be found, and “101 Best Outdoor Towns: Unspoiled Places to Visit, Live & Play” ($19.95, The Countryman Press) may be one of them. The fact that it’s written by two Vermont authors, Sarah Tuff and Greg Melville, and sports a Salida photo on the cover caught my eye; it turns out that this collection features several Colorado towns, and the way it makes every small locale sound so darned appealing in a well-researched but not PR-ish way kept me reading it like a novel. Each town’s write-up includes a couple of restaurant recommendations, including breakfast (Salida’s are, of course, Bongo Billy’s and the Patio Pancake Place, which let me know these two know their stuff), places to get gear for whatever adventures the area is known for, local happenings, a handful of lodgings, the population, distance to the nearest airport and one outdoorsy photo that will make you want to go there now.
