Backroads
Of Washington: Your Guide To Washington's Most Scenic Backroad
Adventures, by Diana
Fairbanks; photography by Mike Sedam
Backroads of Washington, a prose-and-picture
journey along the scenic byways of one of America's most photogenic
states, comes the closest I've ever seen to being a road trip
in book form. I happened to read it when I was actually in Washington,
but if I hadn't, this book would have left me eager to go. Author
Diana Fairbanks is a Washington native who grew up taking Sunday
drives with her family on the routes she describes. Her engaging
prose dovetails beautifully with the entrancing images of photographer
Mike Sedam, also a local expert. Rare is the book that qualifies
as both an excellent coffee table enhancement and a true road
trip planning resource. This book makes the grade.
Divided into five sections, Backroads of Washington
covers twenty-five routes around the Olympic Peninsula, Puget
Sound, the Cascade Mountains, the Columbia River, and the
mountains and plains of eastern Washington. Each section includes
full-page maps and routes that are not only artistically pleasing
but also appropriately detailed and easy to follow. The text
and photos take readers on each route from beginning to end,
describing and illustrating what there is to see and do along
the way. In addition to Sedam's stunning photos of scenery,
flowers, animals, fish, activities, bridges, roads, and other
sights, there are historic photos that enhance the text. Fairbanks
includes historical, archaeological, and geological details,
along with suggestions about where to stop and what to look
out for, visit, and eat. An advocate of the "poking around"
method of road tripping, Fairbanks is informative and inspiring,
but never prescriptive. As she says in her introduction, planning
resources are great, but all you really need is "a tank
of gas, enough cash for hamburgers, and pure curiosity."
Backroads of Washington is a great book.
Every state should be so lucky as to have such a plethora
of fascinating byways as well as writers and photographers
as gifted as Fairbanks and Sedam to capture them between two
covers.
Megan
Edwards
4/4/05
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