Not Just Another 10 Free Roadside Attractions

Related Stores

TravelSmith

South Dakota's Wall Drug started life as a dinky drugstore on the edge of the Badlands. Today, it's a 76,000 square-foot institution, thanks to miles and miles of Wall Drug billboards stretched across the state. A Wall Drug sign was even spotted in Paris.

The out-sized tourist mall represents a uniquely American phenomenon -- the roadside attraction. From the World's Largest Ball of Twine to the House of Shards, our highways and byways are littered with oddities representing uniquely American obsessions and visions.

Some attractions charge for admission, require you visit their restaurant, or try to lure tourists into expensive gift-shop visits, others simply want you to stare at their grandiosity. I've compiled a list of 10 freaky and free attractions to enliven your vacation road trip. For more ideas visit the RoadsideAmerica searchable database and save when you dine with Restaurant.com coupons.

1. Carhenge
Alliance, Nebraska
Hours: Open 24/7, but recommend for daylight hours
American eccentrics love to release their inner druids. An ocean away from England's original rock-slab circle, Americans have created replica Stonehenges out of the weirdest materials, including Styrofoam, refrigerators and -- my favorite -- 38 cars.

Farmer Jim Reinders created Carhenge in 1987 as a memorial to his dad, but it soon became a popular roadside attractive for numbed drivers trying to make it through Nebraska without falling asleep. Alliance, Neb., residents initially hated the "junkyard," going so far as to surround it with fencing. That animosity faded over time and roadside signs now proudly proclaim the sleepy town as "Home of Carhenge."

Don't Miss: The nearby car-art sculpture park, including "The Carnastoga Wagon" and "The Fourd Seasons," a tribute to wheat.

2. Drug Enforcement Administration Museum
Arlington, Virginia
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday t0 Friday
The DEA Museum isn't quite the Debbie Downer you would expect. Side-by-jowl with photos of drug-related beheadings you'll find snakeskin pimp shoes, a teddy bear stuffed with drug money, a simulated head shop, and bongs crafted from a pop bottle and mayonnaise jar (not that they're trying to give anyone ideas).

Don't Miss: The museum gift shop offers such oddities as a rubber duck wearing a DEA hat and key chains with tiny guns or handcuffs.

3. The Museum of Bad Art
Dedham, Massachusetts
Hours: 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday to Thursday
1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday, Saturday and holidays
Conveniently located next to a men's lavatory in the Dedham Community Theatre, the MOBA exhibits more than 400 pieces of highly questionable art. The collection ranges from the work of talented artists gone awry to exuberant crudity by artists barely in control of their brushes. Some of the art is so enigmatic it needs less to be interpreted than "interpretated."

Don't Miss: The "I Just Can't Stop Exhibition" is self explanatory.

4. Ye Olde UFO Store
Sedona, Arizona
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day
The truth is out there: Or maybe the truth is just hiding out at Ye Olde UFO Store. This museum/store explores ancient alien astronauts, famous abductions, Area 51, famous people who believe in UFOs, the Roswell crash, and much more.

Not so free ($75 and up) are the UFO tours for semi-doubters. The literature claims on a typical night, "craft can be seen high above Earth in such a way as to minimize fear, validate people’s suspicions, and change people’s lives."

Don't Miss: The alien-piloted UFO and Alien Recovery Team Van in the store parking lot.

5. BabyLand General Hospital
Cleveland, Georgia
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Remember the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of the early 1980s? This birthing center for the fat-faced moppets attests to a continuing fascination by worshipers of the dolly demon. BabyLand occupies a 70,000 square-foot hospital on 650 acres: That's 15,000 square feet and 632 acres more than the White House.

Staffers dressed as doctors, nurses and orderlies walk the endless halls, cradling and burping the pudgy "babies." (Never call them "dolls!") A glass-fronted Recovery Room allows prospective parents to see newborns measured and weighed (under the watchful gaze of a giant stork, for parents preferring less anatomical revelation).

Don't Miss: Actual birthing act the Magic Crystal Cree are announced with, "Cabbage dilation, all staff on standby!" Beneath the tree you'll find glowing, color-shifting rocks and tubby dolls with their heads sticking out of cabbages.

6. Elvis Fought Here Marker
Madison, Wisconsin
Hours: Ever open
Near an abandoned building in Madison, Wisc., lies a marker preserving an obscure bit of history. Elvis Presley was returning from a concert in Des Moines on June 24, 1977 when he saw two kids beating a young teen. Mr. Swivel Hips leaped from his limo, assumed a karate stance and demonstrated a few classic moves. The youths recognized Elvis, shook hands and promised to stop fighting. ...and...scene.

Don't Miss: The marker. That's all there is.

7. Forrest Gump Shrimp Boat
Lake Buena Vista, Florida (Planet Hollywood)
Hours: Ever open
An unfounded rumor claimed the shrimp boat used in "Forrest Gump" was to be cut in half and parcelled out to Planet Hollywood restaurants in Los Angeles and New York City. On the plus side, the false rumor renewed interest in the Hollywood flotsam, now nestled in its own mini-lagoon behind the Lake Buena Vista Planet Hollywood.

Don't Miss: "Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it."  From "Forrest Gump"

8. Swetsville Zoo
Timnath, Colorado
Hours: Ever open, but best seen in daylight.
Colorado farmer Bill Swets slowly evolved from farm keeper to zookeeper, thanks to a bout with insomnia. Swets zoo, however, has no living creatures. All his creations -- including giant dinosaurs, lady bugs and unidentifiable --, are created from old car parts, farm machinery and scrap metal. The first critter, built back in 1985, was a shovel-beaked bird with bicycle frame body. Swets nightly hobby grew to include over 160 humorous animals arranged along a winding wooded path.

Don't Miss: See this collection on its natural soil, before the nearby town's rampant development overwhelms Swets' property. The town has promised to relocate the bulk of the zoo, but many critters will end up in storage until a park can be erected.

9. Fred Smith's Concrete Park
Phillips, Wisconsin
Hours: Ever open
Fred Smith was a tavern owner in his late 60s when he began building sculptures in 1948. The former lumberjack created more than 200 concrete sculptures covered in found objects and broken bottle glass from his tavern. Smith's nearly life-size figures include cowboys, miners, Native Americans and soldiers, as well as representations of Kit Carson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the Statue of Liberty, the Budweiser Clydesdale team, a double wedding, Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, and the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

Shortly after Smith's death in 1976 a storm knocked down 70 percent of the figures, but a private foundation restored it and turned the park over to the county.

Don't Miss: A puppet show depicting Fred Smith's life, performed each August 1st takes its title from the craftsman's most oft repeated quote about his obsession: "It's Gotta Be In Ya to Do It."

10. Mammy's Cupboard
Natchez, Mississippi
Hours: Lunch only, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday
Mammy's is one of those, "Did I really see that?" mirages. Built before the days of political correctness, this scarily designed restaurant is shaped like a 28-foot-tall black woman in a gigantic pink skirt. The original restaurant was built in 1940 and has endured cycles of decay and restoration. Recent reports suggest repairs have been made and the restaurant is a going concern.

Don't Miss: According to reviews the food is hit or miss so you might want to eat before visiting this pink lady.

Tweet