A kids guide written by Jefferson County Public School students, grades 4-6, as an enrichment program.  Divided into geographical areas, each section contains historic sites and museums, animals and nature, businesses and organizations, restaurants, and amusements, complete with addresses, phone numbers, hours, and costs.  Among the attractions in the southwest section are the International Bell Museum in Evergreen (more than 4250 bells), the Children’s Farm in Englewood (you can touch the animals!), Rapp Scallions Restaurant in Littleton (choice of three cheeses on your burger), and Tiny Town in Morrison (1/6 scale).  It also covers seven of the mountain towns.

F3280.C6 .E96 1990

Published by the American Automobile Association, this tour book is the sort of slick publication to which we’re accustomed.  The text includes a points of interest index, with notations of a red star if the attraction is particularly outstanding, such as Garden of the Gods. AAA’s handicapped accessibility criteria complied with the recently enacted Americans With Disabilities Act.  The guides uses the diamond rating system.  Denver had two 4-diamond restaurants – Tante Louise, and Tuscany.  Wendover, Utah’s three establishments all rated three diamonds.

F774.3 .A44  1996

A specialized guide by UCDHSC-DD’s “Dr. Colorado.”  Contains alphabetically arranged chapters on 75 Colorado communities from Alamosa to Yampa.  Each chapter begins with a community history.  The tavern entries provide not only history but descriptions of architecture (Silver Cliff’s Silver Dome Saloon and Music Hall is a geodesic dome), interior décor (The Quincy Bar in Grand Junction has a 14 foot high, gilded, paraquet pressed-metal ceiling),  and local color (Sign in Victor: Victor doesn’t have a town drunk – we all take turns!)  Also includes a short bibliography and index.

TX950.57.C6 N64 1999

Open Road guides tend to be a bit more opinionated, with more intimate first-person voices than other all-encompassing guides.  Take this entry from Rangely, “…it would be unfair to characterize it as the best place to eat in Rangely because it’s the only place.”  A more family-friendly guide, it’s light on the nightlife aspect.  There’s no rating system here but entries are described from Very Expensive to Inexpensive.  It also contains a list of sidebars which focus on a particular topic – Average temperatures and precipitation, Music festivals, The Famous exploits of H.A.W. Tabor & Baby Doe, Valentine greetings from Loveland, etc.

F774.3 .L84 2001

An interesting take on seeing Colorado, all the tours recommended here are free.  Divided into geographic sections, it also contains a list of Free Days, Free Festivals, County Fairs, and Farmer’s Markets.  Plus it also has an index by subject, i.e. Agriculture, Great For Kids, Crazy Good Fun, etc.  Each entry contains useful information on how to get there, when to go, degree of difficulty and contact information.  The tours are unique, varied and sometimes unexpected – for example the KUSA TV station; the Baldpate Inn (named for a mystery novel) and its world’s largest key collection; or Longmont’s Cheese Importers.

F774.3 .J55 2003

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