Tag: Kimberly Cordova

Denver

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Cordova, Kimberly Burk. Denver Dossier: Themed Adventures for Every Traveler.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review program for LibraryThing I review books from time to time. This is my second time receiving an audio book.

Cordova calls this a comprehensive guide to Denver. I cannot completely agree. While each chapter holds a beautifully descriptive (wordy!) essay about each landmark, the audio version is not a useful guide. There is nothing visual to serve as reference, like a map. I would have to write down specific landmarks if I wanted to remember them for my next trip to Denver. Luckily, I have friends and family who live near the mile-high city and my partner travels there for work 4-5 times a year, so I know where the public bathrooms are located. I know how to navigate public transportation. I know the different seasons and how to dress for an altitude city.
Repetition. There is a great deal of repetition in Denver Dossier. Cordova may use different words and phrases but really she is saying the same thing eight different ways. She uses words like diversity, heritage, and culture over and over again. Maybe it’s an AI thing or maybe it’s a quirk of the author…but here are the phrases I noticed that were used over and over and over and over again: “Fill-in-the-blank is a testament to fill-in-this-other blank.” The testament statement was used over thirty times. Even more repetitive than testament was “fill-in-the-blank is not just a fill-in-this-other blank,” or “blank is more than just a blank…” That similar phrasing was used over one hundred and ten times. The more repetitive the words or phrases, the more I became aware of them.

Aside from the verbosity of the narrative, Cordova lists an impressive number of sights to see. She does not provide hard facts like admission fees, location addresses, or contact information for museums or parks. In the restaurant section she does mention very specific dishes that may or may not be still on the menu when you visit; and she gets little fanciful when she suggests you engage with a mural. There is nothing about banking, bathrooms, hospitals, or cheap places to stay.
Here are a bunch of places mentioned in Denver:

  • Colorado State Capital
  • Molly Brown House
  • Five Points
  • Capital Hill
  • Larimer Square
  • Union Station (several times in different chapters)
  • Red Rocks (several times in different chapters)
  • Confluence Park
  • Hiking Trails
  • Bicycle rental stores and locations
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Denver Zoo
  • Children’s Museum
  • Elitch Park
  • Denver Aquarium
  • Dinosaur Ridge
  • Denver Nature and Science Museum
  • Denver Art Museum (a few times)
  • Butterfly Pavillion
  • Denver Public Library
  • Denver Escape Room
  • History of Colorado Museum
  • Cherry Creek
  • An impressive list of breweries and distilleries
  • Music venues, both popular and obscure
  • Sports arenas and stadiums
  • Specific foods local to Denver/Colorado

As an aside, I am also reviewing Cordova’s book about Santa Fe. The two travel books cannot be any different.

Playlist: Billy Holliday, Duke Ellington, John Denver, U2, Church Fire, Beethoven, and Belvederes.

Santa Fe

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Cordova, Kimberly Burk. Santa Fe: Read by Hannah Stone. Kimberly Burk Cordova, 2024.

Reason read: As part of the Early Review program for LibraryThing, I specifically requested Santa Fe because I love the Southwest.

Santa Fe is full of practical information, explained almost as if to a foreigner to the United States. Time zone, how to get to New Mexico by airplane, train, or bus, local customs, cultural etiquette, dining etiquette (eat slowly!), emergency contacts, tipping, public transportation, what to pack for each season (comfortable walking shoes), even how to drive (right side of the road, wear a seatbelt, do not use your phone unless you are hand-free, and so on) and how to take photographs. Most of this information is readily available on Google so I found myself speeding up the narrative to get to the stuff I didn’t know…like the margarita trail, the top ten tourist traps, and the popularity of blue doors!
As with other travel guides written by Cordova, there was a plethora of information that was often repeated. Certain excursions for toddlers, teenagers, and young adults were mentioned more than a few times (the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and the Botanical Garden, to name two). The sample itineraries seems to be filler. The plans for if you have three, five and seven days in Santa Fe were the most basic and, while the fourteen day seems to include everything from the other days, it had more detail, like specific restaurant names.
Having an audio travel guide is not practical. At least for me, it is definitely not. Case in point, the restaurant list. Cordova gives the mailing address (complete with zip code) for every single place on her list. While some of the places sound fantastic, I would never remember them without writing them down somewhere. Plus, I need maps.

As an aside, after trying to navigate the Roman public bathrooms for my friend with digestive issues, I now would like every travel guide to talk about public toilets. Banks and hotels wouldn’t hurt, either. Especially when Cordova suggests an overnight in Taos if you have fourteen days to spend in New Mexico.

Author fact: Cordova shares a couple of intimate details of her own life, like where she exchange wedding vows in Santa Fe and her favorite restaurants.

Book trivia: Santa Fe is not limited to Santa Fe. Cordova includes Taos and Albuquerque.