What uniquely odd roadside attraction would you recommend visiting?

The “Grandfather Tree” in Humboldt County, California is pretty cool. It really is quite large. I know I’ve visited that on road trips before. Also, the “Trees of Mystery” in Del Norte County, California. These are all along U. S. Route 101. Those are a couple that have billboards and signs and that we’ve stopped before. Most of those types of things are usually pretty good.

The tourist traps? I rarely stop for those. There are exceptions though.
It has to be good though.

Sometimes, you just have to take a break from driving and why not sample some of the local color while you’re there?

California Crazy and Beyond Roadside Vernacular Architecture By Jim Heimann is a terrific book on some such places here in the Golden State.

In Santa Cruz, people love the Mystery Spot.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic

I knew I was forgetting something. The Mystery Spot is awesome. They used to have something like that at Ponderosa Ranch in Incline Village, Nevada, before they closed that place down in 2004. I visited it all the time as a kid. :(

Also, the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo and just Virginia City, Nevada in general.

I prefer the Winchester Mystery House to the Mystery Spot.

You have tapped one of my major weaknesses, jonsblond! I think because we crossed country by car several times when I was a kid, and my dad never saw a historical marker he was willing to pass by, I developed a lifelong love affair with the roadside kitsch of the 50s and 60s.

I have not yet seen the giant ball of string, but I love The Sinclair Dinosaur in Colorado; jackalope museums; Stuckeys; fruit stands; miniature palaces made out of any number of things; and the like.

Great Question. Thanks for the memories. Yes, I think you should stop. Your kids will love it.

@DominicX It is quite impressive (The Grandfather Tree). You just reminded me of a spot I hadn’t thought of in years. I visited as a child. :)
Also great suggestions. Madonna Inn is definitely a must to visit in San Luis Obispo.

The Mystery Hole in Anstead, WV. The building looks kind of like an old barracks that a VW bug crashed into. It’s an underground series of rooms that are built at angles that seems to defy gravity. It seems as if water is floating in air, chairs won’t sit on the ground, etc. It really is a fun roadside “hole in the wall” tourist attraction. It’s fun as a kid, but I haven’t been back as an adult.

@DominicX I honeymooned at the Madonna Inn. One of the tower rooms. Amazing place, that.

I’ve got this in book form. In summarizes some of the quirkiest spots in the US and you can map them out too. Definitely check this out!!!

Tinkertown Museum

Wall Drug?

Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas is really cool. The guy built all kinds of stuff out of cement and is buried in a pyramid in the back yard. At the end of the tour they unlock the pyramid and you go in and look at his corpse behind glass. It just looks like a real old, dead body, it’s not particularly gross or anything.

The World’s Largest Hand Dug Well in Greensburg, Kansas is not very exciting, but it’s kind of odd. Greensburg is the town that go hit by a tornado a couple years ago and was completely destroyed.

There is a Dickeyville Grotto in Dickeyville, WI that is pretty neat. It has a religious theme, but the story behind it is pretty cool. It is made of mostly small colored stones, fossils, shells and bits of glass. I saw it several years ago and loved it. There is also House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI, and some other attractions in out of the way places. Your best bet is to stick to side roads and avoid the Interstates. I had a truck driver tell me about the largest Cypress tree in Cypress, IL, near a place called Cache Creek. The tree is supposed to be a monster and they have built a walkway out to it so you can walk all the way around the tree.

Another place I like isn’t an attraction, but it is a local piece of geological history. The area of SW Wisconsin, NE Iowa, and the extreme portion of NW IL is called the Driftless Region. It is an area missed by the last Ice Age and contains a range of mountains that were once under a huge inland sea. It is one of my favorite places to visit and driving down the small winding roads and just taking in the scenery between the occasional small towns is fun. You can find some neat little shops in these towns, if you look carefully. It is a beautiful place and best of all, not too far away.

There is also a really neat haunted attraction in Mt. Carroll IL called Raven’s Grin that is pretty neat to visit, and it is open nearly year round, 300 daysd a year, I think. Going there around Halloween is pretty much impossible, due to the heavy traffic.

In Minnesota we love statues of big things. And THAT’s just the cities that begin with the letters a and b. We’ve also got big chairs, a 2 story outhouse, a supper club inside a fish, the Jolly Green Giant, a dinosaur themed car wash, the only gas station in the world designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the world’s largest ball of twine, a big ass chicken, the world’s 2nd largest hockey stick, a tin man family, a giant fish crashing through a building, purple waterfalls, a water tower that looks like a coffee pot, a few different Sinclair Dinosaurs, the Last remaining Happy Chef in the world, my favorite statue ever, the world’s largest snowman, and a giant Pepsi can, among many, many other things. We have about 6 cities with Paul Bunyan’s and we have Paul Bunyan’s girlfriend, his footprints, and a few Babe the blue ox statues. Of course, that doesn’t even mention the Spam Museum. Minnesota is a virtual treasure trove of roadside attractions, and yes, I HAVE seen most of these things in person. The best way to find roadside attractions in the US is this website, which is where I got most of these links.

Thank you everyone! So many interesting places I have never heard of and some I have seen but haven’t thought of in years. I’m ready for a roadtrip now.

@dalepetrie you know, now I actually have about fifty reasons to stop in MN on my way to Canada. Fifty one if I count stopping by your house for a cup o’ coffee. I’ll bring the donuts. =)

@evelyns_pet_zebra – just let me know when you’re coming. I can give you a great list of things to do just in the Twin Cities and map out the greater MN attractions for you. I’ll have the wife make the coffee though…I’m not a coffee drinker…but I’ll just have a bit o cocoa w/ my donut!

Just browsing the local paper today and it looks like we have a new addition to our already lengthy list of roadside oddities here in MN.

Forevertron
A really neat place. Also has unique souvenirs.

@dalepetrie I’ve wanted to visit Minnesota for a long time. I love the northwoods. You have definitely reassured me that I need to visit one of these days!

I’ll hope you’ll be able to visit someday and make sure to make a few minutes to meet up, even if it’s just for lunch or something. As always, let me know if and when you’re coming and I can give you all sorts of suggestions.

@dalepetrie If I come, I want some wild rice.

@Marina – that’s an easy one.