Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
Bands of blue, purple and gray bentonite form steep badlands around pieces of petrified wood. A loop road and trail descend into terrain that looks more extraterrestrial than typical Arizona desert.
Eminence, MO
Blue Spring is famous for its intense sapphire color and exceptional depth. A foot trail from the conservation-area access leads to the spring, which is protected from swimming and other disturbance.
Eureka Springs, AR
An intensely blue natural spring emerges from the Ozark landscape at this historic site. The grounds combine geology, Native American history and landscaped trails around the spring basin.
Orange City, FL
Major winter manatee refuge centered on a powerful spring and historic Thursby House.
Tucumcari, NM
One of Route 66's best-preserved neon motels still operates beneath its famous blue-swallow sign. Travelers can appreciate the exterior from public areas, but guest spaces remain private unless staying at the property.
Catoosa, OK
Built by Hugh Davis in the early 1970s, this huge smiling concrete whale rises from a pond beside historic Route 66. The former swimming-hole attraction has become one of Oklahoma's defining pieces of roadside Americana.
Bedford, IN
Bluespring Caverns contains one of the longest known cave systems in Indiana and an extensive navigable underground river. Commercial tours take visitors by boat through the dark cave system rather than along a standard walking path.
Noel, MO
Discovered in the 1920s and opened as a show cave soon afterward, Bluff Dwellers Cave preserves extensive speleothems and archaeological context from the Ozarks. Guided tours operate from the privately run cave complex outside Noel.
Sweetwater County, WY
A 400-foot volcanic neck rises abruptly from the Killpecker plain; BLM prohibits climbing and recommends high-clearance access.
Columbia, MO
Six fiberglass boats stand vertically in the Missouri River bottoms in a tongue-in-cheek imitation of Stonehenge. The folk-art installation appeared in 1993 and has repeatedly survived floods, making it one of central Missouri's best roadside oddities.
Los Angeles, CA
A surviving marionette theater stages hand-operated puppet productions using a collection built over decades by puppeteer Bob Baker.
Dagsboro, DE
This enormous fiberglass bull spent decades outside an Ocean City steakhouse before being rescued, restored and moved to Parsons Farms in Delaware. Bob still wears his oversized chef hat and sunglasses, preserving one of Delmarva's classic roadside mascots.
Concrete, WA
Concrete's carved wooden bear mascot talks when visitors press a button, delivering a short recorded introduction to town. The sculpture dates to 1980 and remains an active local roadside attraction.
Tacoma, WA
A giant coffee-pot-shaped building has served as a Tacoma tavern and music venue for decades. Its exaggerated novelty architecture survives as one of the city's classic roadside landmarks.
Mukilteo, WA
The visitor center interprets commercial aircraft design and assembly beside Boeing's enormous Everett factory complex. Factory experiences are ticketed and operational access can change, so check current offerings.
Hilo, HI
A series of lava-carved pools, channels, and submerged tubes makes floodwater churn as if the river were boiling. The same geology that creates the visual effect also makes the site dangerous; admire it from established overlooks and never enter the river during high flow.
Mineral, CA
One of the largest hot-water lakes in the United States sits in Lassen's Warner Valley, surrounded by steaming ground and hydrothermal features.
Lake Wales, FL
Art Deco singing tower and carillon standing atop one of peninsular Florida's highest points.
Enterprise, AL
Enterprise erected a monument to the boll weevil after the pest devastated cotton farming and pushed local agriculture toward diversification. A classical female figure holds an oversized insect above her head in one of America’s strangest civic monuments.
Burfordville, MO
A four-story brick gristmill stands directly beside Missouri's oldest surviving covered bridge, creating one of the state's best preserved transportation-and-industry pairings. The bridge is pedestrian-only and the mill interior is available through scheduled tours.
Lexington, KY
Joe Bondurant designed his 1970s pharmacy as an enormous mortar and pestle, complete with a tall pestle projecting from the roof. The pharmacy eventually closed, but the bizarre building survived under new commercial uses and remains one of Lexington's most literal pieces of novelty architecture.
Wendover, UT
A vast crust of white salt covers the remnants of ancient Lake Bonneville and has hosted generations of land-speed record attempts. Conditions vary seasonally, and driving on wet salt can damage the surface and strand vehicles.
Niantic, CT
Hundreds of thousands of used books are scattered through buildings, sheds and themed corners at this sprawling book compound. Cats, goats, strange decorations and sections with names such as Hades and The Haunted make it feel more like a literary scavenger hunt than a normal bookstore.
Boone, IA
Historic trains carry visitors across the Des Moines River valley on former interurban and railroad routes. Steam, diesel and excursion equipment make the site a moving museum of Iowa rail history.
