Weird Roadside Attractions

Posted on by in General, Opinion, Saving Money & Finances, Vacations

best roadside attractionsWeird Roadside Attractions - As a foreigner traveling USA there is something very special about the leftover hints of a bygone 1950′s America. The times when Deet was saving the world’s food problems, people believed an atomic bomb would create swamp men and getting fries delivered to your car by a roller skated lady was normal. This of course was also the time when roadside attractions were a big deal. Since then all manor of attractions have come and gone and as their popularity had dies off the survivors have aged ungracefully (in most cases) and gained an undeniable level of kitsch.

You can approach a roadside attraction in 2 ways. With the attitude that the mothball aligator dog dummy is just stupid and boring or with complete irony and good humor. Take the 2nd route and a simple road trip can provide a budget vacation of endless fun for a group of any age.

If you take the right attitude then America has a never ending highway of fun awaiting with the most amazing amount of attractions and oddities that one can ever imagine.

Here are some of the funniest and best roadside attractions that I could come across. Sadly I have not managed to visit any of these ones but I can’t wait to someday. I just hope they are still there when I get the chance!

Weird Roadside Attractions, my picks….

Titan Missile Museum – 1580 W Duval Mine Rd, Green Valley, AZ
This place interests me as it’s one of the few remaining nuclear bunkers that was allowed to survive after the cold war. I’m not pro war in any sense but there is still something quite amazing about seeing relics from troubled times!

Toilet Seat Museum - 239 Abiso Ave., San Antonio, TX
This place is literally someones garage covered with painted and artistically embellished toilet seats. How awesome is that!

Roadside America – Smartesville, PA
I love model villages and this one is quite large with over 300 buildings. The founder died in 1963 and aparently the place has been preserved rather than updated so it’s a museum too. Excellent!

World’s Biggest Rubber Band Ball – 3398 22nd Street, San Francisco, CA
Ever since I saw this on a TV show I have wanted to go and see it. A giant ball made of rubber bands is so stupid that it has to be worth a stop off!

Wall Drug Store – 510 Main St., Wall, SD
 This place started out as a drug store that simply put up a sign offering free ice water (as all drug stores used to). The sign worked wonders and the owner went sign crazy putting up around 3000 signs at one point! There are still significant signs up but also a host of other roadside wonders such as a full size t-rex, mini mount Rushmore many other monuments and curiosities and still you get free ice water.

More info about these attractions and endless details on others all around USA can e found at RoadSideAmerica.com

Your Weird Roadside Attractions

 

America is litered with these wonders but so it Canada, Mexico and much of the world. Just a simple drive from my old home in Montreal to the USA border I would pass two huge statues, my fave being a giant man holding a hot dog and a Pepsi. From Montreal to Quebec City Hotel Madrid had awful but wonderful fiber glass dinosaurs and a man with baby goats! In Montreal itself you can still get the original Orange Julep served at the Orange Julep, a giant fiber glass orange. Here in Egypt the roadside attractions tend to be pharonic related tack! I would love to hear about the best, weirdest and downright scary attractions you have come across on your travels.

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15 Responses to “Weird Roadside Attractions”

  1. Everyday Tips

    07. Oct, 2010

    For me, it is the ‘Mystery Spot’ in the upper penninsula of Michigan. I am sure there are mystery spots all over the place though.

    I will never forget the impact it made on me as a kid when it seemed like things were defying gravity. I went back as an adult and it didn’t have the same allure to me, but the kids loved it.
    Everyday Tips recently posted..Thoughts For Thursday- Appreciate The Small Things In Life- Part 2My Profile

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    • Forest

      10. Oct, 2010

      Hey Everyday Tips, that sounds fun :) ….. What was it that make things appear to defy gravity there? I need to go to Michigan one day, maybe on a road trip to from Vermont to Washington to see Seattle I will pass through.

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  2. Jolyn@Budgets are the New Black

    10. Oct, 2010

    Oh my gosh, you ever hear about the Big Butter Jesus off I-75 in between Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio? It got struck by lightening fairly recently, made all the headlines, even nationally. You-tube spoofs were made about it, it was hilarious. People were musing that “maybe it was becoming an idol” and that’s why it was destroyed. Google it sometime for some kicks.

    You ever listen to Weird Al Yankovich? He did a song about this once, “The biggest ball of twine….” Pretty funny.

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    • Forest

      10. Oct, 2010

      Ha ha, will definitely be googling the butter jesus, missed that sadly!

      Not heard that Weird Al song, well maybe I have but don’t remember it, will def look that up too and prob add the link to this post :) .

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    • Nanaverm

      31. Mar, 2011

      If you’re looking for it, I think it was called Touchdown Jesus because of the way he was holding his hands up. Butter colored, though.

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  3. Traci

    11. Oct, 2010

    Haven’t been to the toilet seat museum, but we just featured the world’s largest toilet (Columbus, IN) on our blog, Go BIG or Go Home. My family loves traveling to see quirky roadside attractions like these. The blog chronicles what happens when our small-town family visits the “world’s largest”…whatever!

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    • Forest

      13. Oct, 2010

      Ha ha ha, that is brilliant, what a fun blog and activity!

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  4. Len Penzo

    26. Mar, 2011

    As someone who has gone on many many cross country roadtrips of America, I love this topic.

    There are so many of these things it’s impossible to list them all!

    I’ve been to Wall Drug before. I’ve also been inside an old missile silo that was converted into a home (it is outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming). The buried cadillac’s outside of Amarillo, TX (Cadillac Ranch) is another fun roadside attraction.

    May I also recommend the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. And because it gets a new design every year it never gets old!

    All the best,

    Len
    Len Penzo dot Com

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    • Forest

      31. Mar, 2011

      Hey Len, the corn palace sounds crazy but brilliant!

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  5. Squirrelers

    26. Mar, 2011

    An iconic one for us when I grew up was driving by a giant tire in Michigan, which we saw every year. Also have seen pictures of my parents in the 1960′s, on driving trips in the Upper Midwest, where they were standing by this giant, enormous statue of a freshwater fish.

    I’ve been to Wall Drug as a child (LONG time ago), but still remember it. It topped the list for weird places. Maybe a 2nd place one would be this South of the Border themed place somewhere in the South – I think South Carolina. Totally cheesy. Wall Drug was at least fun.

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    • Forest

      31. Mar, 2011

      Ha ha, thanks Squirelers, I wonder if the roadside attraction will be dead in 20 years!

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  6. sewingirl

    30. Mar, 2011

    Another not-to-miss in Michigan, the Dinosaur Gardens in Ossineke, on the eastern shoreline. Large statues of different dinosaurs, and cavemen (OK so it’s not historically correct) on a path thru the woods. You can even go up the stairs into the brontosaurus’ tummy! Whats not to like?

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    • Forest

      31. Mar, 2011

      Hey Sewing Girl, that sounds like an awesome place not to miss :)

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