Who doesn’t love a good road trip? These are my favorite top ten roadside attractions in the United States that I have been to (with the exception of number seven, the Coral Castle).
10. Mike the Headless Chicken – Fruita, Colorado
Mike the Headless Chicken originally had a head. He was a healthy, normal chicken until one day, someone decided to eat him. His head was cut off, but the person that did the chopping didn’t do a particularly good job, leaving part of the brain stem. Mike went on to live another 18 months, being dutifully fed from an eyedropper by his would-be murderer, until he choked one day on a corn kernel. Now he is memorialized in a festival held every year in May.
9. Old Faithful (of California) – Calistoga, California
This geyser usually erupts about every 45 minutes, although the day I was there it seemed a little more frequent than that. However, the geyser isn’t the only excitement at this attraction; they have fainting goats! Sort of. They don’t really faint all the way, but if you run at them screaming wearing a robot costume, they do twitch and buckle at the knees for a few seconds.
Not that I would know.
8. Marsh’s Free Museum – Long Beach, WA
The major draw to Marsh’s Free Museum is Jake, the Alligator Man, who is pictured above. The museum
is filled with many other curios to make the trip out to Long Beach worthwhile, though.
They have enough taxidermied animals to open a zombie zoo and a large collection of old arcade machines, including ones with dirty movies. There are even some weird old dioramas with creepy Christian messages. Also, don’t forget to visit the World’s Largest Frying Pan, located across the street!
7. Coral Castle – Homestead, Florida
This is the only attraction on my list that I have not visited, but I hope to see it someday.
Edward Leeskalnin, a Ukranian immigrant, built this compound out of huge rocks of coral, each weighing up to 30 tons, without the use of any construction equipment. How he did it is a complete mystery, but he is incredibly fascinating.
6. Trees of Mystery – Klamath, California
When driving on Highway 101 through the redwoods, you can’t miss the Trees of Mystery. There is a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox standing in from, beckoning you to drop by and say hello.
On weekends, Paul actually talks to you! For a good time, try fondling Babe’s big blue balls and see what he has to say. I’ve never actually seen the mysterious trees themselves, but I hear it’s pretty disappointing. The gift shop, however, is pretty amazing and has a machine that makes fresh carmel corn for a quarter.
5. Wall Drug – Wall, South Dakota
Wall Drug has billboards starting about 500 miles away, advertising free ice water, its initial draw to get customers to stop by.
These days, this attraction has a lot more to offer.
In addition to the free ice water, there is an enormous gift shop and many animatronic vignettes to delight people of all ages. Watch out for the T-Rex, he’s fierce!
4. Mystery Spot – Santa Cruz, California
There are many of these so-called “mystery spots” around the country, and I’ve been to most of them.
The Mystery Spot of Santa Cruz, California is my favorite, with the Oregon Vortex a close second.
Essentially, in these mystery spots, gravity is defied, no one can stand up straight, balls roll uphill, pedulums swing the wrong way. There are many theories about why these things happen, but no one really knows. Or do they?
3. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Monastery – Munster, Indiana
This one isn’t intended to be a roadside attraction, it’s actually a pilgrimage site, but nonetheless, it’s one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever been. When you drive up, it just looks like a normal church with a large yard. Upon closer examination, you see a giant behemoth of a building covered in rock. Inside, is a winding cave several stories tall, accented with quartz and coral, and filled with religious shrines. There is an entire hall of frescoes that is about half a city block long. Don’t miss the holy stairs across the yard that you must ascend on your knees only!
2. Ship Ashore – Smith River, California
This place is Mecca for anyone who likes creepy museums. I have never seen anything like it in my life, and I hope to God I never do. The top floor is a gift shop, but precariously stepping down the tiny stairs to the museum is a little like stepping down into the set for a horror movie. There are several rooms dedicated to animal parts in jars (including a whale eyeball and fetus), an ancient, loud nickelodeon, a pirate wax figure diorama, and a display of taxidermied animals intertwined with stuffed toy animals.
What really took the cake was the room of Nazi memoribilia followed by an empty room, save for a taxidermied crocodile missing an eye and covered in blood. True story.
1. Rock City – Chatanooga, Tennessee
As a child growing up in Indiana, we took many road trips down to Florida to visit relatives and I was always taunted by giant barn roofs painted with the words, “See Rock City.” Finally, the summer after my first year of university, I took a five-week long road trip with my boyfriend-at-the-time
solely to see Rock City.
It was completely worth it. The majority of the attraction is a hike through mossy rocks that look like a fairyland. The hike has a lookout called Lover’s Leap where you can actually view seven different states at once (TN, GA, KY, SC, NC, AL, and VA). However, the most amazing part of this attraction is the caves. There are several caves, dripping with coral, day-glo paint, and rhinestones, full of dioramas of Mother Goose stories and gnomes.
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