Business travel can be mentally draining, if not downright stressful, at times. You have to be alert, and often working at high velocity. When the day is done, and you have a chance to blow away the cobwebs, you are often looking for something a little lighthearted.
Eccentric America is a good traveling companion. This wacky book by award winning author, Jan Friedman, is great for dipping into, back in the hotel room or in a cafe over a latte. If you have a chance to do a sidetrip to your business travels, and you're looking for something a little different, Eccentric America may be the book you need to guide you, or should that be, to lead you astray.
It is organised by state, and has a comprehensive index, and regional maps. There are also contact details, and where available, website addresses. Categories include festivals and events, eccentric environments, museums and collections, attractions, quirky towns, tours, just plain weird, odd shopping, quirky cuisine, rooms with a skew, quirk alerts and cross country quirks.
In the light hearted spirit of Eccentric America, I opened three pages at random. In Virginia you can go to see the Bottle House, built from 100 000 bottles which were saved by a pharmacist in the 1940's. In North Carolina, see the World's largest chest of drawers, which at 40 feet tall, Friedman says "are twice as high as the house next door."
There's even an ode to Tupperware in Florida. Imagine a one hundred foot tall tower made entirely of plastic bowls, and surrounded at the base by plastic cups. The whole edifice is constantly illuminated. Now that is weird.
The Eccentric America guidebook is fun, but more than that, it provides an added dimension to your business travel sidetrips, or to travel with your family. Even if you can't manage any sightseeing during or after your business trip, it gives you an idea of what is weird and wacky in the area where you are.
As kids often have an off the wall sense of humor, it would also be great to share some of the eccentricities of the area with them when you call home at night, or email. You could also check out what there is to see in the area where you live. It's often amazing to discover what's in our own backyard, which we either didn't know existed, or have never visited.
This book combines the best elements of trivia and a good joke, in that it just has to be shared. Did you know...? Have you heard...? Can you believe...? Don't you find it amazing that...?
Jan Friedman clearly revels in tracking down all that is weird and wacky. While written in a tongue in cheek style, she does not make fun of the eccentric people or places mentioned. She shares the information in a "Let's discover, let our hair down and have fun" kind of way. She takes the approach that the notion of an Eccentric America, with all its quirks and foibles, is something to be celebrated and enjoyed.
Jan Friedman has also written "Eccentric California".
Highly Recommended
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