Great American Road Trips: Scenic Drives. Edited by Kirsten Schrader et al, Reader’s Digest, 2020.

Great American Road Trips: Scenic Drives guides the reader through 45 scenic highway trips around the United States. The photography is lovely, and each trip is described by a person who knows the route well and has photographed it.

The book covers most parts of the country outside of Hawaii even if it misses a few states. The guide book tells us the best time of year to take the trip—many are in the fall because of colorful foliage. Some routes are not passable in the winter. A few routes have warnings about switchbacks and deep canyons with no guardrails on the roads.

Some readers may find a few explanations unclear or less helpful without a photograph. For example, we are told about the distinctive “offshore rock formations called sea stacks” in Oregon, but there is no photo or explanation about them or where specifically they are found. That could be annoying; however, we suspect it was meant to be enticing. Take the Oregon Coast Highway and see for yourself!

Having lived and traveled in the Northeast, I am familiar with some of the road trails. The descriptions are pretty accurate and the photos are terrific. One warning to readers—New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway is gorgeous in the fall, but even though it is out in the boondocks, you may come across an occasional traffic jam at the height of the fall leaf colors.

If a person were to drive straight through most of these trips, they would take less than a day, mostly four to six hours. Of course, the reader is exhorted to enjoy the scenery and the attractions on the road. Besides a colorful description each entry has a sidebar with warnings, if necessary, and recommended side trips.

When I was boy, we had an elderly aunt live with us for a few years. She was in her nineties but still mentally sharp. She subscribed to Arizona Highways magazine. To the best of my knowledge, she lived her whole life in Pennsylvania and never visited the American West, but she thought the magazine was lovely. It is still published today and contains some of the most colorful and eye-catching natural photography and artwork. Even if you never drove any of these Great American Road Trips, the book would be worth it just for the pictures the same way Aunt Rene loved Arizona Highways.