From roadside attractions along since-forgotten highways to the carpet inside of an airport, this country is full of quirky tourist attractions that are just waiting to be discovered. Most of these attractions aren’t worth a trip in and of themselves, but when on the road, they are a great way to break up the trip and see something new, like the world’s largest pistachio.
So, let’s hit the American highway and find some of the quirky places and things that make life on the road so great.
PDX Carpet
Is it any surprise that Portland would be home to an Instagram-famous airport carpet design that has even served as the grand marshall for the city’s most famous parade? This city, well known for keeping it weird, has been known for a lot over the years (voodoo doughnuts, the unipiper, etc.), but its carpet becoming an Instagram sensation was probably quite unexpected.
There was a minor uproar in 2013 when it was announced the carpet was being removed, but fear not, as it is returning once the airport’s main terminal is finished with its remodel in late 2024.
Seattle’s Gum Wall
Beneath one of Seattle’s most famous attractions, Pike Place Market is one of its quirkiest: the gum wall. This alley, formally known as Post Alley, is a well-visited and photographed location that is covered floor to ceiling in used chewing gum.
Back in the 90s, lines would form along the alley to get into the edgy Market Theater, and patrons would stick their gum on the wall. This eventually took on a life of its own, and when the walls were cleaned for the first time in 2015, over 2,000 pounds of gum was removed!
It didn’t take long after the cleaning for the walls to get fully covered once again in used gum.
Carhenge
Carhenge is a great example of what makes so many of these quirky attractions great. It serves no real purpose, it isn’t along a busy stretch of interstate, and it doesn’t cost any money to visit.
Located just north of Alliance, Nebraska, Carhenge was built in 1987 by Jim Reinders and is a replica of Stonehenge. But instead of using stones to build it, he used vintage American cars that were spray-painted grey.
Today, the site is open to the public and serves as an attraction and oddity in this remote section of the Midwest.
UFO Watchtower
Like most of these attractions, the UFO watchtower, located in Colorado, isn’t particularly close to anything of note. Located in the southern part of the state, where dark skys rule the night, this tower was built on a ranch where numerous UFO sightings had occurred over the years.
The owner of the ranch decided to capitalize on this minor bit of fame by building a viewing platform, a small gift shop, and hosting campers who want to try their hand at coming into close contact with beings from outer space.
Enchanted Forest
If you’re burned out on the over-commercialization of the mega theme parks, then Oregon has just the place for you. The Enchanted Forest, located just off of I-5 south of Salem, Oregon, is a quirky park that was started as a passion project and still features the original hand-built displays of castles and the famous witch.
Today the park features a few more modern touches but still retains its original charm that makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time 30 years.
Fremont Troll
The Fremont Troll, located in the Fremont district of Seattle, Washington, has some friendly neighborhood competition when it comes to the quirkiest tourist attraction on the block, which includes a “Cold War era soviet rocket” and a bronze statue of Lenin.
The Fremont Troll still reigns supreme, though, as the #1 attraction in the area. Located under the Aurora Bridge, the concrete troll clutches a real Volkswagen Bug in its hand. For decades now tourists have made a pilgrimage to this site to climb on the troll and take pictures of this beast of the Pacific Northwest.
Cabazon Dinosaurs
Located between Palm Springs and Los Angeles, the Cabazon Dinosaurs were constructed in the 1970s as a roadside attraction. The dinosaurs, a brontosaurus named Dinny the Dinosaur and a tyrannosaurus rex named Mr. Rex, stand 160 feet long and 65 feet tall, respectively.
They are easily seen from the highway as the original owner and builder, Claude Bell, hoped they would lead drivers to stop and then grab a bite to eat at his diner. Today, the dinosaurs are still wowing drivers making the commute to sunny Palm Springs, and even though the diner is gone, they still make a great excuse to stop and take in their grandeur.
Cadillac Ranch
Just outside of Amarillo, Texas, is a uniquely American art installation made up entirely of junked Cadillacs buried in the ground at a very specific angle. This roadside attraction dates back 50 years now and has been bringing in visitors looking to both take in the sights and add their own art to the cars as spraypainting them is both allowed and encouraged.
The installation itself is located just off of I-40 in a cow pasture, so if it has been raining lately, be sure to bring some boots, as things can get muddy. There are no services or fees to visit, just a row of cars buried in the dirt for everyone to enjoy.
Igloo City
Located on the Parks Highway just outside of Denali National Park is an homage to a uniquely Alaskan hotel that never was. This 4-story igloo-shaped building was started in the 1970s with plans to turn it into a hotel. Like many projects in the Last Frontier, this one was never finished, and although a gas station was run on the property for many years, the igloo sat mostly vacant.
It has served as a fun photo op for passers-by who are almost always amazed by the sheer size of the building and its unique shape.
Word is that new owners are breathing life into the building once again, and hopefully, it will be open to the public in the near future.
Enchanted Highway
What better place to build out the world’s largest collection of scrap metal sculptures than along an out-of-the-way 32-mile stretch of 2-lane highway in North Dakota? The highway has 10 unique sculptures, all built by artist Gary Geff, who was inspired by the area’s local wildlife and historical figures.
The largest of the sculptures, Geese in Flight, stands 110 feet tall and 150 feet long and is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world.
Each sculpture has a pull-out and picnic table, so you can stop and enjoy them individually.
World’s Largest Pistachio
When most folks think of American roadside attractions they likely think about the world’s largest versions of balls of twine or buffalo (we’ll get to that later) or, in this case, a pistachio.
Only in Alamogordo, New Mexico, can you find a strikingly realistic-looking 35-foot-tall pistachio, built to memorialize local pistachio nut salesman Tom McGinn.
Today, the towering pistachio draws in visitors from all over the world who take photos with the giant nut before heading into the gift shop to buy all sorts of pistachio-themed odds and ends.
Desert of Maine
The Desert of Maine, located near Freeport, Maine, is a natural oddity that is very American in its formation. Originally farmland in the 1800s, poor soil management led to all the topsoil eroding away, which left only the glacial sand that had been laying underneath since being deposited during the last ice age.
Even though the area receives plenty of rain and snow, which means it is not an official desert, the sand makes it nearly impossible for plants to grow, resulting in the area being turned into a public attraction in the 1920s.
It is still open to the public, and you, too, can enjoy the oddity of walking across sand dunes in the middle of a lush Maine forest.
Dog Bark Park
Home to the world’s largest beagle, the Dog Bark Park was, up until last year, also an inn where you could spend the night inside this famous roadside attraction.
The owners of the Dog Bark Park have since retired the inn portion of the business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still make a stop when driving through this section of western Idaho and snap some photos of the beagle or take home one of their famous dog chainsaw carvings.
Field of Corn
Driving through the Midwest during the summer months means there is no shortage of places to see fields of corn. Luckily, in Ohio, they decided to break up the monotony a bit by funding an art installation that features 109 concrete ears of corn embedded into the ground in neat rows.
The installation lies on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, which makes it one of the more urban roadside attractions on the list.
Wall Drug
If you have ever driven I-90 through South Dakota, then you have surely seen the free ice water signs that line the highway. What may seem like a curiosity now was once a novel idea as the allure of free ice water drew in weary travelers who were making the trek across this hot and dusty stretch of the country back before air conditioning in cars was a thing.
That entrepreneurial spirit resulted in Wall Drug growing into the multi-city block-sized attraction that it is today. We could try to capture the essence of Wall Drug in a few sentences, but it’s really just one of those places that you have to experience in person.
Oh, and the ice water is still free!
South of the Border
Another roadside attraction that is just as well known for its road signs as it is for the attraction itself. Like Wall Drug, if you have driven along I-95 in South or North Carolina, you have seen the numerous silly signs announcing South of the Border.
Once you finally make it, you can’t help but stop and see what all the fuss is about! There isn’t one signature attraction at South of the Border but instead a collection of touristy things to do although none of which are all that noteworthy.
Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum
Located in McLean, Texas, along the famed Route 66, you can find the Devil’s Rope Museum: a museum all about the history of barbed wire.
The museum is said to hold the largest collection of printed material about barbed wire in the world. It is also a great spot to stop for families as there are a number of hands-on exhibits that really walk you through the history of this important ranching tool.
Coffee Pot Tower
On a drive across the country, you’ll pass by hundreds of water towers dotting the landscape and typically standing unassumingly against the backdrop of farms and rolling hills. But not in Kingsburg, California!
Here, they decided to honor their Scandinavian heritage by decorating the town’s water tower as a Scandinavian-themed coffee pot.
At night, the tower is lit up, so you can enjoy it whenever you’re able to visit.
World’s Largest Buffalo
Of course, we had to save a the world’s largest attraction for last. And the honor here goes to the world’s largest buffalo in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Standing 26 feet tall, this buffalo has been standing watch over the town and over roadside travelers since the 1950s. Luckily, the buffalo sits just off of I-94, so there’s a good chance that if you’re driving across the state, you’ll pass right by it!
