Gas prices being what they are, you may be re-thinking that summer-vacation road trip. And flying? Fuggedaboutit!

But thanks to a slew of new regional-cuisine cookbooks, you can still "get away" to — and taste the foods of — such travel magnets as the Rockies, New England and North Carolina's Barrier Islands. Even better, you can win some of those cookbooks by entering a drawing just for readers of Crave.

Available for the taking are "Dishing Up Vermont: 145 Authentic Recipes from the Green Mountain State," by Tracey Medeiros (Storey Publishing, $19.95); "New West Cuisine: Fresh Recipes from the Rocky Mountains," by Chase Reynolds Ewald and Amy Jo Sheppard (Gibbs Smith, $29.95); the second edition of "The New England Clam Shack Cookbook" by Brooke Dojny (Storey Publishing, $16.95) and "The Outer Banks Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from North Carolina's Barrier Islands," by Elizabeth Wiegand (Globe Pequot Press, $19.95).

Here's how to enter the drawing:

Using the word "whitsett" in the subject line, send an e-mail that includes your name and a daytime phone number to lmckinnon@VenturaCountyStar.com.

Your phone number will not be published; rather, it will be used when we call to make arrangements for you to pick up the cookbooks at the Ventura County Star office in Camarillo.

The deadline to enter the drawing is 4 p.m. Aug. 7, 2008.