Honestly the last few cities I’ve lived in I’ve found it a fun thing to have “tourist day” and see all the “highlights” of the place.
If I have to choose one, the architecture tour by river boat in Chicago guided by someone who is clearly deeply nerdy about architecture (told us about city planning meetings) was pretty stellar.
The Corn Palace (in… Kansas, I think) was so cheesy it was cool.
Mitchell, South Dakota
Sounds pretty corny, if you ask me
Rock City Gardens near Chattanooga would be my recommendation. Super cool cave system and trail with waterfalls and scenic views. We decided to stop there on a whim after seeing billboards advertising it from hundreds of miles away. It was a welcome break from a long drive!
Yes. And I loved it so much I never left. I live here now. But I’m not gonna tell you where I live 😉
You could have said what the place is without mentioning you live there
True. I got so excited about it, I botched the assignment 😞
was it Disneyland ?
No and I don’t think people live at Disneyland. That’s a theme park. But between ages 7-17 I have been there 25 times 😄 1992 was the last time I went to Disneyland.
All of those physical illusion spots are pretty cool. In California its the mystery spot and confusion hill.
The fudge factory in Uranus, Missouri has a lot of great t-shirts and magnets. Just make sure you turn the right way when exiting the highway because Uranus is one way and Dixon is the other.
There was a place in South Dakota, somewhere near Mount Rushmore, where optical illusions made it look like a ball rolled uphill and chairs could stand on edge. Can’t remember thr name of it, though.
If you’re driving a road trip in the Dakotas or thereabouts, do not bother with Wall Drug.
optical illusions made it look like a ball rolled uphill and chairs could stand on edge
I went to one like this in Ohio in the 80’s as a kid. Balls rolled uphill, you could lean a ladder against a wall & climb it, when you went into the little house you walked leaning sideways…
I always thought it was a trick in how they built the place, but never figured it out.
I think the one we went in Ohio was called Mystery Hill.
I ❤️ Uranus
Best Fudge Packers union in the tri-county area!
Always pay my dues when passing through Missouri.
Just make sure you turn the right way when exiting the highway because Uranus is one way and Dixon is the other.
Dixon has the most amazing cider bar. I hear your mother loved it.
#####sorry…couldn’t help myself…
“If it’s clear and yellow, you’ve got juice there fellow! If it’s tangy and brown, you’re in cider town.”
Wall Drug is so notorious I’ve heard people complaining about it in Canada. And not even the bit north of it.
As the story goes, anyway, they’ve put signage up teasing it over and over again for quite a distance, but then you get there and it’s just a drug store.
but then you get there and it’s just a drug store
Alright, I’m calling BS on this one.
It’s a huge ‘drug store’ with multiple restaurants, an arcade, and even an animatronic dinosaur. But what I found interesting there is that they actually have huge sections of walls devoted to historical photographs, dating all the way back to the old west era. There’s some interesting stuff there if you take the time.
(And, of course, Badlands NP is a 10-minute or so drive from there, across the interstate, and that is definitely worth a visit!)
So it’s a really nice, on steroids kind of drug store? (And TBF what I heard probably dates back decades)
And in particular, I found their collections of historical photos to be actually kind of interesting (and the only part of the experience that isn’t completely dumb and vapid):
If I remember right, this is actually just a hallway that leads to one of the bathrooms, but if you’re interested in the history of the old west, you could spend hours just looking at that.
Overall, Wall Drug definitely is not worth it as the destination of your trip. If Wall Drug is the main attraction you’re headed for, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. But, I do think it’s definitely a worthwhile stop if you’re passing by there on the way to somewhere else.
Like I said, it’s very conveniently close to Badlands NP. If you’re coming from the east, it’s also on the way to the Black Hills (worth visiting for a few days), Wind Cave and Jewel Cave (the 3rd and 4th longest cave systems in the world, respectively – don’t miss those, though if you have to pick, Jewel Cave is definitely the more impressive for a quick visit – oh, and there are other, privately operated caves in the area; skip those, none of them are nearly as cool as Wind and Jewel), and Mount Rushmore (pretty meh – best to just look at it from the road as you go by and instead spend time hiking the Black Hills around it). If you’re coming from the east toward those (better) attractions, then I’d definitely recommend:
1 - Stay overnight in the town around Wall Drug, visit the drug store if you have time before bed.
2 - Spend a full day exploring Badlands NP (more if you’re really into it, but a day is enough to see most of it casually).
3 - Stay that night in Wall again.
4 - Drive to Rapid City and the Black Hills the next day.
Pretty much and inter-state billboard ad campaign for an off brand Walgreens.
I am extremely biased on this, but “The Enchanted Forest” in Oregon on I-5 looks like a tourist trap. And it is. But it is also pretty neat! The founder just recently died, but he built it by hand and it’s still a family run business. Tickets for rides are egregious, but the “storybook trail” that it’s known for isn’t bad! Also, don’t eat the food.
Hi from Oregon. Enchanted Forest is cheeky but it definitely holds a special place in my heart.
I went to the Farina Cologne shop (the factory that developed the first Cologne) in Köln where they do tours with the guide in period costume pretending to be the founder. I wasn’t expecting much but it was genuinely fascinating and the guide was very charming and witty.
Drove across the country with my wife son and newborn daughter. I’ll never forget staring up at the crotch of some giant green clothed leaf man many stories tall…
World’s biggest Apple in Colbourne, Ontario. Has any apple or apple accessories you need, but I did fuck with them and told them there was a bigger apple in Osaka, Japan.
I stopped at a rest stop in Arizona with “The Thing”. I needed a bathroom, but took a look at the gift shop. I bought a t-shirt because of how friggin awesome it was. Alien cowboy riding a dinosaur. I have no clue what the actual thing was.
The House on the Rock in Wisconsin was a lot funner than I thought it would be. I happened to visit when there was hardly anyone there, so that helped greatly. There’s a huge room with a full size whale statue in the middle. And a suspended triangular room with a window on the floor overlooking treetops. Plus all sorts of other random stuff.
Came here to post this. Early in our relationship, my girlfriend “dragged” me into this place, promising I wouldn’t regret it. 3 hours later, we walked out in a daze. It is almost impossible to describe to anyone. Just talking about the things you see in there in no way does justice to the experience of being inside. You mention the whale… But neglect that said whale is fighting a giant octopus? And that all of this is surrounded by a 3 story ramp lined with hundreds of huge model ships? Or the giant carousel? Or the plinth room that juts from the front of the place high above the trees you can feel bouncing as you approach the end? Those are just a few of the highlights. There’s absolutely no way to understand what you’re walking into… It just needs to be experienced.
One of my favorite memories. That place is so weird.
Not really that cheesy, but Johnson Space Center south of Houston. I spent an entire day there, and visiting the restored Mission Control from the lunar landings was amazing.
This is like the opposite of the question:
Three months ago we were traveling with the kids and we needed to stop for gas and bathrooms. We had a choice between Love’s and Bigfoot. We picked the Bigfoot because maybe it would be kitschy and fun.
It was not. There was a life-size monkey statue holding Coors and… a powerful smell.
Do. Not. Recommend.
We went to the Novosibersk (Siberia) winter festival in the main square thinking it would be lame, but it was actually really cool.
