AMERICAN VACATION challenges you to leave behind your familiar background and carries you 12,000 miles into the Wild West. It trades your usual city streets for 170 miles of hiking through 7 types of natural landmarks. You will climb from 260 feet below sea level up to 14,000 feet of altitude. Starting in The Land of Lincoln, you will experience a 45-day tour across 19 states at times asking yourself whether you have left the earth and landed on a different planet. You will ride along to discover 33 national, state, and tribal parks and corners of paradise hidden deep within the North American landscape. You will laugh and empathize with Raluca whenever she has to overcome her fears and limits, like climbing down rugged rocks in Spooky Gulch or reaching the summit of Mount White.

As a vivid slice of Raluca's travel experience, this book stands witness to a small fraction of this world's flawless beauty, which has taken hundreds of millions of years to perfect.

American Vacation. 12,000 Miles Into the Wild West is Raluca Barbu's fifth book, the first four having been published in her home country, Romania. It is a travel book about the most iconic Western landmarks, seen through the eyes of a Romanian writer. It is in many respects one-of-a-kind because no other Romanian author has traveled and written about the American West. It provides a foreign writer's take on the American landscape and tourism through the eyes of a former citizen of a communist country. It is a homage given both to the beauty of the American outdoors and to the way nature is respected and preserved by the authorities and visitors.

What makes American Vacation special is the travel narrative that Raluca has brought back as a literary genre. In a world of Google reviews, travel blogs, and vacation guides she manages to shine a light on the lost art of travel memoirs.

Praise for American Vacation. 12,000 Miles Into the Wild West

"I thoroughly enjoyed American Vacation -- from destination to destination, and cover to cover. Interesting and informative in a framework of armchair travel, the book is so much more. It provides the reader, at times, an opportunity to reflect about the amazing landscapes, large and small, that are America, and about us, as their caretakers. It is insightful, funny, charming -- and a tribute to Nature and the tourists and park rangers who care about wild places. When I'd finished the last page and closed the cover, I couldn't help but smile...feeling quite positive and hopeful! Perfect gift book all around."

Donna Blomquist (LaSalle Public Library, IL)

"This read is a Mobil Travel Guide, and a Travels With Charley: In Search of America (John Steinbeck) without the dog, in one book. If you are going on a trip in America to the West and Pacific Coast it is a must read. If you are staying home it is also a must read for the positive message. The Author sees America's parks as rich in beauty - good enough to eat and kind travelers along the way gladly share the feast. This Book belongs in your Beach Bag or Hiking Backpack for a delightful educational summer read."

Lynn Sanders