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.
Holbrook, AZ
Large homemade dinosaur figures surround a long-running petrified-wood and rock shop on Route 66. The concrete creatures turn a geology store into a classic roadside photo stop.
Thermopolis, WY
Hot mineral water builds and stains broad travertine terraces in Hot Springs State Park, creating constantly changing bands of color.
Raleigh, NC
A towering fiberglass Muffler Man stands on private commercial property near Overlook Road, repurposed from the classic roadside-advertising giant form. It is visible from public roads and should be treated strictly as a drive-by/photo stop.
Manchester, NH
A bronze statue of inventor Ralph Baer sits on a bench in Arms Park near the Manchester mill buildings where he developed pioneering home video-game technology. Baer is widely credited as the "father of the video game" for work that led to the Magnavox Odyssey. Visitors can sit beside the life-size figure overlooking the Merrimack River.
Inglewood, CA
A huge concrete donut sits on the roof of the original 1950s drive-in, one of Southern California's most recognizable examples of roadside architecture.
Pittsburgh, PA
Artist Randy Gilson transformed his North Side property into a brightly painted outdoor folk-art environment beginning in the 1990s. Visitors can walk through courtyards filled with murals, mannequins, mirrors, signs and repurposed objects during posted hours.
Valle, AZ
The old Flintstones-themed Bedrock City survives inside Raptor Ranch, where concrete cartoon buildings now share the property with a birds-of-prey attraction and campground. The operator explicitly states that Bedrock remains open, preserving a rare 1970s roadside theme park.
Manti, UT
A small museum celebrates Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, creator of the grotesque hot-rod mascot Rat Fink, in the Utah town where he spent his later years. Memorabilia connects custom-car culture, monster art and underground illustration.
Fruita, CO
A remote concentration of large natural sandstone arches hides in McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. The upper access road is seasonal and high-clearance dependent, while hiking approaches are long, so conditions should be checked before routing.
Tucson, AZ
This pedestrian bridge is shaped like a giant diamondback rattlesnake, with users entering through the open jaws and exiting near a sculpted tail. Sound effects and scaled details turn ordinary infrastructure into one of Tucson's most literal pieces of creature architecture.
Tuscumbia, AL
A restaurant and saloon sits beneath a huge natural rock overhang on the Seven Springs property, giving the dining area the appearance of a cave-front hideout. Operations are seasonal and days are limited, so check the current calendar before routing.
Ravenden, AR
A large black raven statue greets travelers in Ravenden, turning the town’s name into a literal roadside mascot. It is simple, strange and exactly the kind of tiny-town marker OddWay is built to surface.
Albany, GA
A rotating bronze sculpture of Ray Charles sits at a piano in a riverside plaza, with his music incorporated into the memorial experience. The kinetic, musical monument gives Albany a much more interactive tribute than a conventional standing statue.
Raymond, WA
More than 200 metal silhouettes of people and animals appear along streets, docks, and roads around Raymond. The town-scale installation turns an ordinary drive into a long scavenger hunt for welded figures.
Las Cruces, NM
A giant roadrunner sculpture built largely from discarded shoes, electronics, metal and other trash stands at the I-10 rest area west of Las Cruces. Its recycled construction turns a familiar state bird into one of New Mexico's strangest public artworks.
Ashford, WA
Artist Dan Klennert's property is filled with large sculptures assembled from salvaged machinery, scrap metal, driftwood, and discarded objects. Check current access before making a special trip because it is a private art environment.
Shell, WY
Hundreds of Middle Jurassic dinosaur footprints cross an ancient tidal-flat surface at Wyoming's largest documented tracksite.
Carthage, MO
Artist Lowell Davis rebuilt a version of his vanished hometown by relocating and restoring old rural buildings on his property outside Carthage. The result is a deliberately recreated ghost town filled with vintage structures, roadside art and a surreal sense of displaced history.
Warren, NH
A full-size Redstone missile stands improbably in a small New Hampshire town park. The missile type was originally developed as a ballistic weapon and later adapted to launch Alan Shepard, the New Hampshire-born first American in space. Its towering presence beside ordinary village surroundings makes it one of the state's strongest roadside oddities.
Palmer, AK
A working farm offers scheduled encounters with reindeer and other northern animals beneath the Chugach Mountains. The domesticated herd turns an Arctic-associated species into an accessible roadside-style experience.
Rapid City, SD
This long-running Black Hills attraction specializes in snakes, crocodilians and other reptiles, with a giant dome anchoring the grounds. Its unusual concentration of reptile exhibits has made it a classic piece of South Dakota roadside-tourism history.
St. Cloud, FL
Long-running serpentarium focused on venomous snakes, reptiles, and live educational snake demonstrations.
Andrews, NC
A vintage Sinclair service station was restored in 2025 with period pumps, signage, and the brand’s familiar green dinosaur imagery. It no longer operates as a normal gas station, making it more of a preserved roadside time capsule and photo stop. Restoration background: https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2025/11/andrews-nc-old-sinclair-gas-station.html
Pembroke, ME
Powerful tides force water through a narrow channel here, creating standing waves, whirlpools, and rapids that reverse direction as the tide changes. It is a dramatic natural oddity best treated as a viewing stop rather than a swimming location.
