Sacred
Places North America, by Brad Olsen
This is a refreshingly different kind of guidebook.
You won't find any battlefields between its covers, but rather
an eclectic selection of destinations across the continent that
are, for a wide variety of reasons, held sacred by human beings.
Brad Olsen, who has written a number of travel guides, is generous
in his definition of "sacred," including not only
the Native American sites you might expect, but also places
like Graceland and Salt Lake City's Mormon Temple. In addition,
he includes areas of archaeological interest because of the
"OOPAS" found there. "OOPAS," as Olsen explains
in his introduction and conclusion, are "out of place artifacts,"
many of which remain unexplained or ignored by historians and
archaeologists. What, for example, is an inscription with runes
characteristic of the middle Viking Age doing in central Oklahoma?
Olsen also includes plenty of sites associated with UFOs and
alien sightings.
Sacred Places North America made me want
to hit the road immediately, especially as I read about fascinating
places in my own region that I had never heard of before.
One such destination is Arcosanti, an "urban experiment"
in Arizona built according to concepts of "arcology,"
a blend of architecture and ecology. And I can't help wanting
to head to Florida to check out the ancient remains at Bimini
that might tie in with the legend of the lost continent of
Atlantis.
In addition to providing detailed descriptions
and clear directions and instructions for visiting each of
the 108 destinations he profiles, Olsen has included hand-drawn
maps for each area. At first glance, these might seems inferior
to the slick, computer-generated maps we've all become so
accustomed to, but they are definitely worth a closer look.
Without sacrificing accuracy, Olsen's maps read like treasure
maps, and they enhance the sense of mystery and wonder he
creates with his prose.
Olsen has criss-crossed the continent numerous
times, and he has left no region unrepresented in this book.
In Rhode Island, you can visit Newport Tower, "the most
hotly disputed structure in New England." In the South,
check out ancient "temple mounds" in Alabama, Arkansas,
and Florida. In Canada, discover the Moose Mountain Medicine
Wheel, a 2,000-year-old astronomical observatory, and take
a tour of California's historic missions. Find the best spots
for UFO-sightings in Nevada and New Mexico, and take the waters
at Indian Hot Springs in southern Texas. Sacred Places North
America is an extraordinary collection of unique road trip
destinations, and reading it is a great armchair adventure,
too.
Megan
Edwards
3/6/05
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