I mentioned it as a footnote earlier in the day as part of the Amazon Deals of the Day Day 7 post, but thought that it was worth its own post. Barnes and Noble is offering the hardcover version of the Best Coffee Table Book of the Season: Altas Obscura
Finding cool places to visit on a roadtrip
Atlas Obscura is one of my go-to websites (along with Roadtrippers) whenever I am planning a road trip. As many of you know, I am actively trying to visit all 3,143 counties in the United States (I am just over 60% of counties visited; my current map is below).
So when I am planning a county trip, such as to Point Roberts Washington, Minnesota / Wisconsin / Ontario / Manitoba or my recent trip to East Texas / Louisiana / Mississippi, I usually already have a basic route in mind in order to maximize the new counties visited.
Once I have that framework in place, I’ll go out to Roadtrippers or Atlas Obscura and see if there are any cool places nearby our route. From our recent trip to Louisiana, here are some of the quick addon stops that we made
- Poverty Point UNESCO World Heritage site (Northeastern Louisiana)
- The Bonnie and Clyde museum and ambush site (Bienville Louisiana)
- The highest point in Louisiana (Driskill Mountain; elevation 535 feet, quite the change from Texas’s state highpoint!)
- The AR/LA/TX tri-point marker
- Avery Island, the home and manufacturing plant for all Tabasco Sauce
- Or Hollie Tatnell’s grave in the middle of the road (Hearne, Texas)
Many of these were a very brief detour off of our route and if we had just stuck on the highway we’d have driven right past them!
[Roadtrip Rule #1: If you see a giant living creature, you …]
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
Which brings us to the book – Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders. The folks that run Atlas Obscura have taken the 12,500 sites that are on the website and taken it to 700 in the book and given a bit more detail on them.
The Atlas Obscura book is on sale for 50% off as part of Barnes and Noble’s 12 days of deals (Day 9). Also, when I went to the Barnes and Noble website I was prompted with a popup for 25% off using promo code GETGIFTING. That dropped the price from $35 to $13.12 (plus tax and shipping)
The Atlas Obscura book is also available on Amazon (current price $17.50) as well as the Atlas Obscura Page-A-Day Calendar 2018 ($7.49) and the Atlas Obscura Wall Calendar 2018 (also $7.49)
Other great travel books
I’ve added the Atlas Obscura book to my list of the 14 best travel books that will inspire wanderlust and a road trip. A few other books on that list that you might be interested in
- Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth
- The Other Side of Heaven
by John Groberg – the true story of Groberg’s 3 years as a Mormon missionary in Tonga
- Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
- 1000 Places to see before you die
- Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Key link: Today only – Atlas Obscura book is on sale at Barnes and Noble for as low as $13.12 – happy shopping!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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