Roadside attractions and oddities in the West
Roadside attractions and oddities across the West, each compiled from its own sources: where to pull over, hours, and who keeps it up.
Point at a dot to see the place.Tap a dot to see the place.
Arizona
- Bedrock City at Raptor RanchValle · Historic cartoon landmarkA 1972 Flintstones roadside town on Highway 64 at Valle, Arizona, hand-sculpted from wire mesh and gunite, now kept open inside a birds-of-prey ranch.
- Giganticus Headicus at Antares PointActivityA 14-foot green tiki head and a 16-foot scrap-metal Guardian stand outside a former Route 66 motel on the two-mile curve northeast of Kingman, Arizona.
- Jack Rabbit Trading PostJoseph City · Trading postA Route 66 souvenir post west of Joseph City, Arizona, whose yellow "HERE IT IS" billboard has faced the old highway on the same boards since 1949.
- Rainbow Rock Shop DinosaursHolbrook · Dinosaur statues: seven brontosaurusesOwner Adam Luna built each dinosaur as a steel skeleton covered with rebar netting and coated with concrete skin.
- Space Age LodgeGila Bend · Motor lodgeSpace-themed motor lodge off Interstate 8 in Gila Bend with retro roadside charm and modern comfort near the Sonoran Desert.
- The ThingBenson · Tourist stop and museumThe Thing is not only the name of the store, but of the star exhibit of the museum. Originally owned by lawyer Thomas Binkley Prince, The Thing was built as a tourist stop and museum around the strange exhibit and other collected items.
- Wigwam Village Motel #6Holbrook · MotelOne of the most iconic landmarks along historic Route 66; the motel offers a nostalgic journey back to the golden age of American road trips, with distinctive teepee-shaped units.
- World's Largest KokopelliCamp Verde · StatueThis statue stands 32-feet tall. In case you're wondering a Kokopelli is the Navajo Indian God of wealth and fertility. The statue stands in front of the Krazy Kokopelli Trading Post in Camp Verde.
- World's Tallest Kachina DollCarefree · Roadside attractionStanding nearly 40 feet tall, the massive Kachina doll statue is believed by some to be the largest of its kind. Built in the 1970s as the neighborhood developed, the structure weighs about 14.5 tons and is made of cement blocks and steel.
California
- Cabazon DinosaursCabazon · Roadside attractionTwo concrete dinosaurs beside Interstate 10 in Cabazon, California, raised from cast-off freeway steel by a Knott's Berry Farm artist who began the first in 1964.
- Desert Christ ParkYucca Valley · Sculpture parkA hillside sculpture park above Yucca Valley, California, where a retired aircraft patternmaker set more than forty white concrete figures from Christ's life, meant to survive atomic war.
- East JesusNiland · Art museumEast Jesus, a 30-acre off-grid art museum built from discards on the edge of Slab City near Niland, California, keeps its founder's ashes in its music room.
- Elmer's Bottle Tree RanchOro Grande · Two-acre ranchElmer's Bottle Tree Ranch, on old Route 66 near Oro Grande, California, is a two-acre forest of 200 welded pipe trees hung with bottles and topped with salvaged signs.
- Galleta Meadows Sky ArtBorrego Springs · Metal sky art sculpturesRicardo Breceda's 130-odd welded scrap-steel creatures stand across Galleta Meadows outside Borrego Springs, California, among them a 350-foot serpent that dives under Borrego Springs Road.
- Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle VillageSimi ValleyA one-third-acre folk art environment in Simi Valley, California, built from dump bottles by Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey, who began at 60 to house 17,000 pencils.
- Olancha Sculpture GardenOlancha · Sculpture gardenMade up of a dozen or so large, and often darkly humorous metal sculptures, the garden is the work of artist Jael Hoffmann.
- Salvation MountainNiland, California · Folk-art hillsideSalvation Mountain is a literal man-made mountain 28 years in the making, covered in half a million gallons of latex paint.
- The Mystery SpotSanta Cruz · Gravitational anomalyA gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.
- Watts Towers of Simon RodiaLos Angeles · Masterpiece of folk artThe Watts Towers is a masterpiece of folk art; the only public access is a guided tour, with rotating exhibitions at the Watts Towers Arts Center.
- World's Largest ArtichokeCastroville · Concrete sculpture20-foot tall, 12-foot wide concrete version of an artichoke, erected at the front of the fruit stand and restaurant called the Giant Artichoke in Castroville.
Colorado
- Bishop CastleRye · World's largest one-man projectBishop Castle, a stone-and-iron castle off Highway 165 near Rye, Colorado, raised by Jim Bishop alone from 1969 to 2019, open free from sun-up to sun-down.
- Herkimer, World's Largest BeetleColorado Springs · StatueHerkimer, a male Hercules beetle built 48 times life size, marks the turn from Colorado 115 to the May family's tropical insect museum south of Colorado Springs.
- UFO WatchtowerHooper · Observation platform and campgroundTen-foot-high metal viewing platform with a stucco saucer dome gift shop, opened in the summer of 2000 on Judy Messoline's ranch in the San Luis Valley; surrounded by the Healing Garden and offering primitive camping.
- World's Wonder View TowerGenoa · Roadside attractionA century-old roadside landmark on Colorado's Eastern Plains is welcoming visitors again this weekend, capping a decade of restoration work on one of the state's most quirky and beloved attractions.
Idaho
- Captive GeyserSoda Springs · Captive geyserGeyser Park, Soda Springs, Idaho, where a 1937 well drilled for hot water struck a gas chamber and a timer now releases the geyser every hour on the hour.
- Center of the Universe ManholeWallace · Roadside attractionA sewer access cover slightly off-center from Bank and Sixth Streets in Wallace, Idaho, proclaimed the Center of the Universe in 2004 by a mayor answering the EPA.
- Dog Bark ParkCottonwood · Roadside architecture of the early automobile-vacation type.The World's Biggest Beagle, a dog-shaped former inn beside US 95 at Cottonwood, Idaho, built with money from chainsaw-carved dogs sold on QVC.
- Idaho Potato Museum and giant baked potatoBlackfoot · Unique museumThe Idaho Potato Museum fills Blackfoot's 1913 stone railroad depot with potato mashers, burlap tuxedos and a Guinness-certified Pringle, under a giant sculpted baked potato out front.
- Miner's Hat buildingKellogg · Full service real estate companyA small Idaho town was once the heart of Idaho's booming mining industry, and today is home to a massive miner's hat. In 1940, a round red building was constructed in the town to look like a giant miner's hat. In 2021, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- World's Largest Horseshoe-Shaped TownNew Plymouth · Horseshoe-shaped townNew Plymouth is the World's Largest Horseshoe. It doesn't own this horseshoe; rather, it is shaped like one. The blvd. mimics the general shape of a horseshoe.
Montana
- Free Enterprise Radon Health MineBoulder · Radon therapy mineA former uranium mine on a hillside above Boulder, Montana, where since 1952 visitors have ridden an elevator eighty-five feet down to sit and breathe radon gas.
- Montana Dinosaur Center (Seismo the Seismosaurus)Bynum · Science museumWe are a dinosaur museum in Bynum Montana situated between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
- Our Lady of the RockiesButte · 90-foot statue placed on the east ridge overlooking butteEntirely nondenominational tribute to women and mothers everywhere, built in the likeness of Mary, Mother of Jesus; draws visitors from all over the world.
Nevada
- Alien Research CenterHikoA silver Quonset-hut souvenir shop on the Extraterrestrial Highway near Hiko, Nevada, where a 2019 Storm Area 51 festival drew a tenth of its planned crowd.
- Goldwell Open Air MuseumBeatty · Open air museumAn outdoor sculpture park at the edge of Rhyolite ghost town near Beatty, Nevada, begun in 1984 with hollow plaster ghosts posed as Leonardo's Last Supper.
- International Car Forest of the Last ChurchGoldfieldA field of more than 40 junked cars, buses, and trucks set on end in the desert outside Goldfield, Nevada, where the man who began it lies buried.
- Seven Magic MountainsHenderson · Art installationSeven towering totemic forms made from thirty-three brightly painted, locally sourced boulders, with columns 30 to 35 feet high.
- Thunder Mountain MonumentImlay · Unconventional sculpture gardenOpen-air folk-art gallery of fierce and unique concrete sculptures that reads as a creative garden with a sprinkle of theme park and backyard fort.
- Tom Devlin's Monster MuseumBoulder City · Monster museumCurated by an award-winning special makeup effects artist, the museum celebrates horror movie icons through screen-used props, life-size figures, and an on-site screening room.
- Tom Kelly Bottle HouseRhyolite (unincorporated) · Roadside oddityA glass-bottle-and-mortar house built by miner Tom T. Kelly from 50,000 discarded beer and liquor bottles; the surviving structure beside the Cook Bank and the railway depot at Rhyolite. Nevada's best preserved bottle house.
- Wendover WillWest Wendover · Mechanical neon cowboy signA six-story mechanical neon cowboy decked out in 1,184 feet of neon tubing, straddling the Utah-Nevada state line in West Wendover and waving road trippers over the border into Nevada.
New Mexico
- Recycled RoadrunnerLas Cruces · Outdoor sculptureThe Recycled Roadrunner is made from materials salvaged from a long-gone City landfill; the sculpture measures 20 feet tall and 40 feet long.
- Sparky's Burgers, Barbecue & EspressoHatch · Roadside attractionHatch, New Mexico's Best Burgers, BBQ, and Espresso. Sparkys has grown to be a major roadside attraction known for their World Famous Green Chile Cheeseburger and great BBQ and live music.
- Tinkertown MuseumSandia Park · Artist-built environmentRoss Ward's miniature world, grown from a single building welcoming 943 visitors in 1983 into a world-renowned roadside attraction hosting some 25,000 visitors each season.
- World's Largest Chile PepperLas Cruces · Concrete sculpture47-foot chile pepper sculpture welcomes Scoville heat unit obsessed tourists to the Big Chile Inn.
- World's Largest Flip FlopSan Jon · Flip-flop-themed gift shopa 40-foot-long flip-flop designed to draw visitors off Interstate 40 and adjacent Route 66
- World's Largest PistachioAlamogordo · 30-foot-tall tan-and-green pistachioThe 30-foot-tall tan-and-green pistachio was built in memory of owner Timothy McGinn's father, Thomas McGinn, who died in 2007.
Oregon
- Bigfoot TrapRuch · The only bigfoot trap in the worldThe only bigfoot trap in the world, on the Collings Mountain Trail, which features spectacular views of the Siskiyou Crest and Applegate Lake.
- Enchanted ForestTurner · Theme parkA family-built storybook theme park on a wooded hill beside Interstate 5 at Turner, Oregon, begun in 1964 by Roger Tofte one bag of cement at a time.
- GlockenspielMount Angel · GlockenspielA 49-foot glockenspiel tower in downtown Mount Angel, Oregon, billed as the nation's tallest, where carved figures of the town's founders come out four times daily.
- Mill Ends ParkPortland · ParkA two-foot circle of soil in a downtown Portland traffic median, Mill Ends Park held the world's-smallest-park title for decades and, by its founder's account, houses leprechauns.
- Oregon City Municipal ElevatorOregon City · StructureOregon City's municipal elevator, a 130-foot 1955 concrete tower lifting riders from a tunnel under the railroad tracks to a bluff-top deck, platted as Elevator Street.
- Paul Bunyan StatuePortland · 31-foot-tall concrete and metal sculpture of mythical logger paul bunyanA 31-foot concrete-plaster Paul Bunyan in Portland's Kenton neighborhood, raised for Oregon's 1959 centennial and framed in the machine shop that still faces him across Denver Avenue.
- Peace Candle of the WorldScappoose · Distinctive roadside attractionA cylindrical structure approximately 50-feet tall and 18-feet in diameter, once covered with real candle wax, now painted red with a custom neon flame replica.
- Petersen Rock GardenRedmond · Rock gardenThe 91-year-old Petersen Rock Garden outside Redmond was bustling Saturday afternoon as the historic attraction reopened after an extensive renovation.
- Prehistoric GardensPort Orford · Roadside attractionA roadside park on U.S. 101 between Port Orford and Gold Beach, where 23 life-size concrete dinosaurs built by a former accountant stand in a coastal rainforest.
- The Freakybuttrue PeculiariumPortland · Museum & oddities gift shopNo jump scares; a whole host of weird, wild and goofy things, from aliens to zombies and everything in between.
- The Last BlockbusterBend · Roadside oddityThe world's last Blockbuster video store, in a Bend, Oregon, strip mall at U.S. 20 and Revere Avenue, still rents discs and displays Russell Crowe's Robin Hood hood.
- The World's Smallest HarborDepoe Bay · Smallest natural navigable harborThe City is now proud to be the 'World's Smallest Navigable Harbor'.
Utah
- Big John StatueHelper · Fiberglass statueAn 18-foot fiberglass coal miner, glossy black, on Helper's Main Street in Utah, made in 1964 from a Paul Bunyan mold with a pick in place of the axe.
- Dinah the Pink DinosaurVernal · 40-foot pink dinosaur statueA 40-foot candy-pink fiberglass brontosaurus on US-40 at the east end of Vernal, Utah, built in 1958 to draw motel trade and listed on the National Register in 2023.
- Hole N" The RockMoab · Roadside attractionA 5,000-square-foot home carved into a sandstone cliff on US 191 south of Moab, with a bust of Franklin D. Roosevelt cut into the rock above it.
- Metaphor: The Tree of UtahWendover · Abstract artistic sculpture87-foot-tall sculpture created by the Swedish artist Karl Momen in the 1980s and dedicated in 1986, on the west bound side of Interstate 80, about 25 miles east of Wendover. The trunk holds up six spheres coated with natural rock and minerals native to Utah.
- World's Largest Fishing FlyDutch John · Roadside attractionThe coolest, neatest and down right Rad, road side attraction this side of the East coast. The world's largest fly fishing fly.
Washington
- Bob's Java JiveTacoma · Coffee-pot bar & music venueA 1927 concrete coffee pot on South Tacoma Way, the old US 99, now a bar where karaoke runs every night beneath a ceiling of visitors' signatures.
- Dick and Jane's SpotEllensburg · Art site, home, and studioDick and Jane's Spot, at First and Pearl in Ellensburg, Washington: a home and yard begun in 1978, seen from the fence, studded with over 10,000 bottle caps.
- Dinosaur TownGranger · Townwide dinosaur collectionGranger, a Yakima Valley town where the city's Public Works crew has built life-size wire-and-concrete dinosaurs since 1994, and townspeople help coat them in cement each June.
- Hat 'n' BootsSeattle · Public sculptureA 44-foot cowboy hat and a pair of mismatched boots, built as a Highway 99 gas station and its restrooms, stand in Oxbow Park in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood.
- Marsh's Free MuseumLong Beach · Curios museumA roadside curio hall on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, Washington, run by the Marsh family since the 1920s, where Jake the Alligator Man sits mummified in a glass case.
- Nutty Narrows Squirrel BridgesLongview · Squirrel bridgeSquirrel Bridges were made to keep squirrels from having to cross the road.
- Rubber Chicken MuseumSeattle · MuseumA free museum of rubber chickens at the back of Archie McPhee, the Wallingford novelty store in Seattle, holding the world's largest rubber chicken and the world's second-smallest.
- Stonehenge Memorial & Klickitat County Veterans MemorialGoldendale · Full-scale replica of stonehengeA full-scale concrete replica of Stonehenge on a bluff above the Columbia near Maryhill, Washington, raised by Sam Hill as a World War I memorial to Klickitat County's dead.
- Teapot Dome Service StationZillah · Historic landmarkThe building, which was vacant for many years and slowly deteriorating, was renovated and brought back to life. The new site was designed to mimic the Teapot Dome's long-time gas station operation.
- The Childhood ExpressSpokane · Interactive sculptureThe Childhood Express, a 26-ton Radio Flyer wagon of steel and concrete on the south edge of Spokane's Riverfront Park, has a handle that doubles as a slide.
- The Codger PoleColfax · Chainsaw artworkArtist John LaBenne used a chainsaw to carve the faces of all 51 players into five 65-foot tall cedar poles.
- The Fremont TrollSeattleConcrete sculpture of the troll under the Aurora Bridge underpass in Seattle, with its Volkswagen Beetle detail; a free outdoor park.
- Toppenish MuralsToppenish · Outdoor mural collection and self-guided walking tourToppenish, Washington, has painted roughly 80 historical murals on its downtown walls since 1989, many in a single day while townspeople watched from lawn chairs and bleachers.
- Wild Horse MonumentGeorge · SculptureFifteen life-size steel horses run along a ridge above the Columbia River near Vantage, Washington, the finished half of a centennial sculpture whose great basket was never built.
- World's Largest EggWinlock · A quirky roadside attractionA 1,200-pound fiberglass and chicken-wire egg built in 1991 by Vern Zander, sat atop a 10-foot steel pole, affixed to a pedestal inscribed 'World Largest EGG.'
- World's Largest Frying PanLong Beach · Roadside oddityThis roadside attraction is free to visit and photograph at any time of day.
Wyoming
- Campus Moai replicasRock Springs · Easter island statues known as moai; nine ton concrete replicasTwo nine-ton concrete moai on the Western Wyoming College campus in Rock Springs, poured in 1987 so a professor could test how Easter Islanders moved their statues.
- Fossil CabinMedicine Bow · Dinosaur-bone building at the medicine bow museumFossil Cabin, a 1932 Lincoln Highway roadside attraction mortared from Como Bluff dinosaur bones, now stands at the Medicine Bow Museum in Wyoming after a seven-mile move in 2026.
- Giant Head of Abraham LincolnLaramie · Monumental bronze sculptureA 12½-foot bronze head of Abraham Lincoln on a granite pedestal at Sherman Summit Rest Area on I-80 east of Laramie, cast in Mexico City and shipped north under armed guard.
- Mama Mimi, giant troll bridgeWilson · Giant recycled-wood troll sculptureA giant recycled-wood troll built by Thomas Dambo that has emerged from the banks of R Park's pond, looking out over the pond with one leg resting on a small island.
- Ride the Jackalope, Giant Jackalope Exxon Country StoreDubois · Convenience store with a jackalope museum and a full-sized jackalope ready to rideGasoline and diesel, but also a convenience store, a jackalope museum, and a full-sized jackalope ready to ride.
- World's Largest Elk Antler ArchAfton · Historic antler archPasses through the historic Antler Arch on our Main Street.
- World's Largest JackalopeDouglas · Concrete beastJackalopes, Wyoming's mythical antler-rabbits, are everywhere you look around downtown Douglas.
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