What the hell is wrong with the Grand Canyon?
Now I want to go to Vermont, just to see the world’s tallest filing cabinet. Forget Tuscany and the South of France. Vermont is party central!
Dover Downs, whatever that is, may be lame, but I am kinda surprised that there are any attractions at all in Delaware, lame or not. As I recall, their “Welcome” sign says, “Hi, you have accidentally entered Delaware. Check your GPS.”
I have not been to the Field of Dreams, and I will concede that it probably sucks, but I can’t see how it could be less interesting than the Bridges of Madison County.
And while I’m on a roll, how could Times Square be a worse New York attraction than this legendary state park?
Trump Park is not a bad attraction because it isn’t an attraction at all, more of a repulsion.
Do you mean this, Nature Mom?
He does. He was replying to my comment in the main post.
Oh, derp – I didn’t see that. Thanks!
I would go there. I love awful tourist sites – the dumber the better. I have to admit, though, that I liked them much more when I smoked dope.
I don’t have any allure to 99% of these tourist traps to be quite honest. What’s funny is if you’re a local to any given ‘attraction’ you see how vapid it all is. I noticed a common theme with historical attractions. Usually it’s just a few thrown together under glass exhibits of some recreated or cleaned up artifact of the past, a lot of empty space with some out of place modern infographics along the tour, and a gift shop with cheaply imprinted keychains, shirts, and other novelty items that wear out their welcome about 5 mins after you get one. And the people you give them to could care less about them.
The natural attractions like Grand Canyon are more interesting, but with the influx of people, trash, and idiots who don’t respect the area and end up killing themselves being irresponsible and causing the rangers problems – its better left to researchers and professionals.
Then again, we think an awful lot of ourselves as humans, dumping our trash and leaving bodies strewn across natural places like Everest for example. Nothing like the American consumer to do what it does best: consume for ego and bragging rights and usually leave a mess behind for others, or trash the ecosphere.
You don’t seem like a happy camper today, Indy. I hope you get to feeling better.
My folks didn’t drag us to many tourist attractions like these. They liked state parks and lakes, which can also be deadly dull to a kid. Fortunately, my father had liked Asbury Park as a child, and we went there for stays three times before we moved too far away to go anymore. In the mid-1960s, although somewhat run-down, it was heaven for an elementary school-age kid.
I just think things off the radar, like the night sky in the Mohave Desert – or visiting every major and minor league baseball park for a game (whenever they return for fans) as more interesting.
As far as historical sites, the only thing I could say really interests me are the holy sites of different religions – out of the curiosity and aura of changing human history. I would say the same of WWII sites as well, both of which are overseas however.
I could spend a week easy on the Smithsonian.
One of the perks of being retired and in DC is all the museums and having as much time as you want to go through them. Not quite London (was there for 9 weeks a few years ago with the GF, housesitting while one of her friends was visiting family in Oz) but pretty good.
The map has to be fairly old, since New Hampshire’s ‘Old Man of the Mountain’ crumbled in 2003 and doesn’t exist anymore.
So now it’s a REALLY bad attraction.
Nature has a way of compensating. Bereft of attractions of their own, the people of New Hampshire are near Vermont and can pop right over to see the world’s tallest filing cabinet.
Not to mention Vermont’s largest zipper. (It’s made of granite.)
I have, in fact, visited this. 🙂
Wait until the organizers of the Pink Penis Parade find out about this.
This could be called “a list to piss people off”.
Branson is probably the best thing in Missouri.
The Alamo isn’t an “attraction” it’s a fucking MEMORIAL and this earns the creator one free ass kicking should they return to Texas.
The Grand Canyon is awesome, Disney World, etc. This is pure bullshit.
Attraction and memorial are not mutually exclusive terms. An attraction, by definition, is a place that attracts visitors. The Alamo is that, and I think I can say that it disappoints nearly all of those visitors.
It is possible that there are worse in Texas. When I lived in Dallas in the 80s, visitors always asked to see Dealey Plaza and “Southfork,” and I usually could not talk them out of it. When I lived in Austin in the 90s, they always wanted to drive down to San Antonio for the Riverwalk and the Alamo. Those four things produced about a 100% disappointment rate.
If visitors left it up to me to give them the best taste of Texas, I’d take ’em to Fort Worth to see Billy Bob’s Texas, the stockyards and the arts district. In Austin I’d take ’em down to 6th street for bar-hopping through the music joints. When Dallas was old Dallas, I’d take ’em out for a raunchy evening of dirty songs and audience humiliation at Bowley and Wilson’s club (best time EVER!). Those things always impressed.
It all depends on your tastes…Austin has the Colorado River and the adjacent Texas Hill Country.
The only thing I’ve ever wanted to visit Texas for is Austin and those bars. There’s also a few (smaller) whiskey distilleries in the area that would be worth a tour.
What can I say, I enjoy to drink.
Austin is a great place to live, as I did for almost two decades: not too congested, young, active. If not for the extreme summer heat, it would probably be my #1 choice in the USA. The people who live there often call it the nicest California city not actually in California – and it delivers that at Texas tax rates – no income tax, moderate property taxes, affordable housing! (I understand the “affordable housing” aspect has been changing rapidly since the time I left.)
Austin is a generic city, not really old Texas, not really Tex-Mex, but those things are close if you want them. In fact Austin is perfectly located within the DFW-Houston-San Antonio triangle, which gives it access to everything within the length of a short morning drive. If you leave Austin after rush hour, you can get to any one of the three big cites in time for lunch.
I have to say that Wisconsin Dells is a poor answer. The downtown of that city, as well as some of the tourist traps, are awful – it reminds me of Niagara Falls, NY – a total cheesefest in cheeseland.
But the actual Wisconsin Dells – the geography, not the city, is one of the most beautiful, mostly unspoiled places I’ve ever seen. It is comparable to the 1000 Islands area between NY and Canada. The boat trips up and down the Dells, or a boat rental to explore on your own, are a great way to pass a gentle day. Not only that, but the water parks in the Dells are also fun in a cheesy family-entertainment way.
We have WAY dumber stuff in Wisconsin. As the absolute worst, I nominate the pathetic Fonzie statue in Milwaukee.
Roger, were you accusing me of supporting the legislation of equality? The biggest mistake in the history of our economy was not letting the banks fail. Free markets require free markets. No prop ups. No bailouts. No liquidity in the hands of the wealthy gifted by the American tax payer. I wasn’t advocating for the break up of the banks. I was pointing out that the banks would have been broken up. GM would have been broken up. Small business drives our economy and is the lifeline of the middle class.
Nope, you said you were against legislating economic equality and putting weights on the fastest swimmers (metaphorically speaking), and I asked who was for those things. What you have given above are not examples of either of those things, so I am still asking.
Texas is probably right, sad to say. The almost universal opinion of everyone who goes to the Alamo is, “is that it?”
Fuckin nailed Minnesota though, screw that mall.
How is the Grand Canyon worse than Meteor Crater, AZ? And Disney? Disney?!
It’s according to one guy’s Instagram followers.
Not what you’d call a randomized poll.
They consistently get Kansas wrong. The biggest ball of twine (in Cawker City, KS) is indeed bad, but worse are both the “Home on the Range” cabin, and my #1 the Middle of the U.S. (which isn’t even correct since the addition of Hawaii and Alaska).