Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for July 23, 2009

i’ve seen “the big apple” on highway 401, and “huskie the muskie” in Kenora (on hwy 17), as well as “the world’s largest dinosaur statue” in Drumheller (among other things. Wawa goose, anyone?). it seems like long Summer trips just wouldn’t be the same without some kind of hokey tourist sights that are made up just in the hope of attracting visitors.

There is a Big Nickle at North Bay Ontario and a Big Loonie near Sault St. Marie Ontario

doc, you’d need to open a B&B for that. “One quick look” wouldn’t be enough time to peruse all those comics!

The tourist attraction that I want to visit is the Playboy Mansion. Sitting in the grotto surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women … man, what a vacation.

We stopped in the southern tip of IL (forget the town’s name) where they had a huge statue of Superman. Amazingly, our boys enjoyed the stop, and it wasn’t expensive, either! We bought a couple Superman shirts which weren’t overpriced, and other than some food, that’s all it cost. The statue and other photo-op items were out in the public square with free access (and no lines).

That would be Metropolis, the home of Superman. They even have a phone booth around the corner from the statue if you want to try your own quick change.

Oh, and keeping with comics themed tourist sites… Chester, Illinois is the hometown of Elsie Segar, the original cartoonist of Popeye. There’s a nice statue of the sailor man in a little park next to the Mississippi River bridge, suitable for photo ops.

Road side attractions can be a lot of fun. If you are ever in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan be sure to go to Ishpeming to catch Da Tourist Trap. A wonderful place with a humorous look at the whole roadside business. “Say ya to da U.P. eh?”

moving from california to new york state in mar. of 96 we stopped at the herbert hoover museum in iowa. it was actually an interesting stop.

RRAmom, we were in Metropolis this summer, too! Fun little side trip. In the same town is a store with an unfortunate name along the line of “Big John’s”, they have a giant lumberjack looking guy in the parking lot.

On the same trip, we saw the World’s Largest Catsup bottle in Collinsville, IL (not far from St Louis). The real attraction in Collinsville is the Cahokia Mounds, but the catsup bottle added the right amount of kitsch to the trip.

I assume Adam’s last line should be spoken with a John Wayne accent, pilgrim.

Went to North Dakota once, it seemed all they had were stupid “World’s largest _ something or another that was made out of stone. The d@mn things block the beautiful landscape.

Glad my roadtrip days are behind me

Hey Johnnydoc… I lived in North Dakota. WHAT beautiful Landscape???

Actually that was a bit unfair., But most of ND is flat as a pool table.