This two-volume self-guiding road tour series is replete with useful knowledge and features nearly 90 scenic destinations scattered throughout the American Southwest. Thus, an all-inclusive travelogue and knowledge base that provides readers with useful facts and interesting details about each featured destination is listed alphabetically in the index. Written in the guise of a comprehensive encyclopedia, the reader decides on preferred scenic places to visit. This literary account of featured scenic places denotes a veritable traveler's guide that explains all the essentials straightforwardly. The methodology of the text also presents subject matter that focuses on geology, natural and human history, as well as contact information, driving directions, and geographic particulars. Where applicable, supplemental details for select destinations are also included. For example, hiking trails, germane topics such as archaeoastronomy, paleontology, and ethnobotany, as well as lionized movies filmed in some of the locations such as Monument Valley. An added convenience for the reader is how each destination's presentation entails the most essential to more detailed particulars. Thus, what subject matter to peruse or omit? Presented in the semblance of an A to Z encyclopedia, "Exploring Peerless Places in the American Southwest" can be read cover-to-cover or piecemeal.
With this introduction in mind, here is a teasing description of what this unique sightseeing traveler's book offers when reading and learning about the Southwest's assorted eye-candy landmarks. Thus, an expressive description of features and some of the many places introduced:
Vivid arid landscapes (the Painted Desert). Scrimshaw-carved canyons (the Grand Canyon). Island-like plateaus downsized into square-topped mesas and buttes. Quintessential Western scenery (Monument Valley). Whimsical and colorful hoodoos (Bryce Canyon). Ginormous monolithic blocks of rock (Valley of the Gods). Leviathan artificial oasis' stretched out for hundreds of miles (Glen Canyon-Lake Powell). Graceful viaducts of stone (Rainbow Bridge). Verdant valleys with majestic white-rock backdrops (Zion Canyon). Monoclines measuring close to 100 miles long (viz., Comb Ridge). Towering mountains formed by magma (La Sal and Abajo ranges). Captivating volcanoes (Sunset Crater). Gothic volcanic necks rising from desert landscapes (Shiprock). Laccoliths (the Sleeping Ute and Navajo Mountains). Enormous stratovolcanoes (San Francisco Peaks). Lofty Cliff palaces (Canyon de Chelly and Sand Canyon). Mystifying archaeoastronomy sites (Chaco Canyon).
(end)