|
Eccentric America
By
Jan Friedman
354 Pages
Quality Paperback
Bradt Travel Guides
ISBN: 1-84162-023-8
$18.95
Review by Cheri Sicard
Order Online and Save 30%!
If your travel tastes tend towards the odds, the eccentric, the wacky
or even the absurd, this book is a must for your travel library.
Encyclopedic in scope, we begin with a look at the USA at large in a
chapter called "America's Peculiar Passtimes." These are not so much tourist
destinations as general US eccentricities: Car Culture, Eccentric Sports,
Eccentric Groups, Miscellaneous Eccentricities, Curious Collections and
Passtimes, and Corporate Eccentricities.
The following chapter, "The Eccentric Year," gives a month by month listing
of odd festivals and special events around the country. Examples include
the International Water Tasting Competition, Mike the Headless Chicken
Days, The Boom Box Parade, the Oatmeal Festival, the Emma Crawford Coffin
Races and many, many more.
The remainder of the book is a state by state guide of the odd, unusual
and eccentric. Categories of high weirdness include
- Eccentric Environments - odd and unusual homes and buildings like
Wisconsin's House on the Rock, Bishop's Castle, and Grandma Prisbey's
Bottle Village.
- Museums and collections - the Museum of Jurassic technology, the
Spam Museum, Museum of Beverage Containers, the Campbell's Collection
of Soup Tureens, a Ventriloquist Museum and more. * Attractions -
more than 100 off-beat, wacky attractions and monuments.
- Just Plain Weird - a catch-all category that describes 90 people,
places or things that defy labels. Examples include the World's Largest
Ball of Twine and Thomasville's Big Chair.
- Cities and Towns - the author has found a dozen or towns so unique
in character they deserve their own category.
- Grandiose Schemes - This category represents exceptionally unrealistic
and ambitious undertakings.
- Tours - more than 60 quirky tours led by knowledgeable guides.
- Shopping - Dozes of unique and unusual shopping experiences.
- Quirky Cuisine - Odd restaurants rated not so much for quality as
for their eccentric quotient.
- Quirky Quarters - Seventy unusual places to spend the night.
- Entertainment - Some long running, unusual entertainment opportunities.
- Maps and Travel Info.
This vacation, do something a little off the beaten path and leave the
hoards of tourists behind. This book is your guide.
Order Online & Save 30%!
Eccentric
America . Regular price $18.95, Amazon.com price $13.27. Usually
ships in Twenty-Four hours. (Amazon.com prices subject to change.)
|
|