“Giant Roadside Attractions”: 77 Things That Are Definitely Worth Pulling Over To See In The USA

According to Road Genius, a whopping 1.95 billion road trips were taken across the United States in 2024. And if you live there or have ever visited the vast country, you know exactly why it’s such a great place for road tripping. The nation has 63 national parks, as well as 423 national park sites. And while the majority of these parks are located in the Western part of the US, there’s no question that there’s plenty to see across the entire nation.

On any road trip, drivers will encounter plenty of signs urging them to pull over and see “The World’s Largest Pistachio” or something mysterious called “The Thing.” These roadside attractions ensure that no road trip gets boring, and Americans always have somewhere to stop to grab a snack and stretch their legs.  

If you’re planning on embarking on a road trip but aren’t sure where to stop, Fifty Grande has compiled a list of the weirdest attractions to visit in every single state. First, there’s Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage Center, which allows visitors to rifle through real unclaimed baggage to see if they can find anything of value. 

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, anyone driving through can stop at Thorncrown Chapel. This is a gorgeous chapel with only a wooden framework, no real walls, so you can see all of the stunning nature around it, even from the inside. Then, if you make it all the way out to California, you can go through the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree. This is literally a massive tree that cars can fit through. 

In Colorado, you can find Rita the Rock Planter, a massive wooden troll sculpture made from recycled wooden pellets. And in Idaho, there’s the Idaho Potato Hotel. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but basically, this is a ginormous, hollowed-out structure that looks just like a potato. And in Indiana, anyone passing through can stop to see a 12-foot-tall statue of a pink elephant who’s drinking a martini.

If you’re a huge fan of blueberries, you’ve gotta visit Maine. There, you can find Wild Blueberry Land, a seven-acre blueberry-themed park. Then, if you find yourself in Michigan, don’t forget to check out the 80-foot-tall Uniroyal Tire. In New Mexico, you can find the International UFO Museum. And in North Carolina, you might come across the world’s largest chest of drawers. Standing at an impressive 36-feet-tall, it also has what are probably the largest socks in the world. 

Now, you might be scrolling through this list wondering why the heck anyone would ever create these massive attractions. But according to The Roaming Yeti, these attractions became intertwined with American culture between the 1930s and 1950s. Once Route 66 and various interstates were created, it opened the floodgates for tourism via automobile. And what better way is there to attract tourists than to have something they’ve never seen before?

While we certainly don’t see as many of these attractions popping up today, people still love visiting them thanks to the nostalgia they can bring. Perhaps they remind people of the road trips they took with their families as young children, or maybe they transport older Americans back to the decades when these attractions were appearing seemingly everywhere. They’re fun and whimsical, and they can bring some unexpected excitement to hours and hours of driving on the highway.