Some are beautiful, many are strange, but each of these 50 tourist attractions shows off the flavor of the state in which it’s located.

You like to think you’re a savvy traveler, and you wouldn’t be caught dead at a cheap and cheesy tourist trap swarming with gawkers in fanny packs. But just because an attraction is extremely popular with tourists  shouldn’t mean it’s automatically off your list of to-dos when you’re on the road. Every state in the U.S. has a long list of unique and often strange tourist attractions; here are 50 of the greatest and most unique, including monuments, bizarre roadside attractions, museums, tours and historic sites.

Alabama – Ave Maria Grotto

Alaska – Four-Story Igloo-Shaped Building

Arizona – Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory

Arkansas – Diamond Mines

California – Chandelier Tree, Redwood Forest

Colorado – Cano’s Beer Can Castle

Connecticut – River Boat Ride

Delaware – Fort Delaware

Florida – Coral Castle

Georgia – The Georgia Guidestones

Hawaii – Puuhonua o Honaunau

Idaho – Craters of the Moon National Monument

Illinois – Cahokia Mounds

Indiana – Conner Prairie

Iowa – Grotto of the Redemption

Kansas – Underground Salt Museum

Kentucky – Louisville Mega Cavern

Louisiana – Zam’s Swamp Tours

Maine – Desert of Maine

Maryland – Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Massachusetts – Salem

Michigan – The Heidelberg Project

Minnesota – Cathedral of St. Paul

Mississippi – Longwood Plantation

Missouri -Billion Gallon Lake, Bonne Terre Mines

Montana – Roosevelt Arch

Nebraska – Carhenge

Nevada – Hoover Dam

New Hampshire – America’s Stonehenge

New Jersey – Lucy the Elephant, Cape May

New Mexico – Old Town, Albuquerque

New York – Top of the Rock

North Carolina – Mile High Bridge, Grandfather Mountain

North Dakota – Enchanted Highway

Ohio – Amish Country, Berlin

Oklahoma – Belle Starr Cowboy History Tour

Oregon – Astoria Column

Pennsylvania – Philadelphia Historic District

Rhode Island – WaterFire, Providence

South Carolina – Angel Oak, Charleston

South Dakota – Crazy Horse Memorial

Tennessee – Crossville Treehouse

Texas – Cadillac Ranch

Utah – Hole in the Rock, Moab

Vermont – Aerial Tramway, Jay Peak Resort

Virginia – Colonial Williamsburg

Washington – Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

West Virginia – Coal House, Williamson

Wisconsin – House on the Rock

Wyoming – Mill Iron Ranch, Jackson Hole

Top image: Gabriella Corrado

The post 50 Roadside Attractions For An Epic U.S. Journey appeared first on EcoSalon.

Norway’s Nasjonale Turistveger is taking the highway rest stop to a higher level.

American rest stops are often associated with abductions, rapes, snipers, drug trafficking, and the obesity epidemic. Unless you happen to be traveling through Vermont, they’re cautionary places to quickly attend to your business without talking to strangers. That could all change if we, as a nation, adopted more of a Norwegian attitude towards road trips.

In 2005, Norway launched The National Tourist Routes, a government-sponsored campaign to combine sustainable tourism with bold architecture. They’re working with architects, including Margrete Friis, Peter Zumthor, PUSHAK arkitekter, Code Arkitektur, Manthey Kula, Snohetta, and Jensen & Skodvin, and asked them to create gorgeous, nature-aware, rest stops, observation decks, and other small-scale projects, which are dotted along scenic drives that trace the Norwegian countryside from the southern town of Jaeren to the northern city of Varenger.

Clearly, we here at EcoSalon have a bit of a Scandinavian fetish going. We heart their food, their (local) labor practices, their eco lodges, their eco writers. We’re pretty obsessed. Here are eight more reasons we love them, nine, if you count the picnic area above designed by 70ºN Arkitektur.

The Norwegian Uthus

Canadian-born, Norway-based architect Todd Saunders designed this structure. It’s a toilet. On the side of the road. Overlooking a fjord. Yeah.

Observasjon dekk

This is the adjoining observation deck at Aurland.

Naturskjønn rute

The Trollstigen, in rural Norway, is what you would call the scenic route. This lookout was designed by Reiulf Ramstad Architects.

Butikker

Also found at the Trollstigen lookout, these roadside concession stands are by Reiulf Ramstad Architects, as well.

Piknikbord

This one-person picnic table was designed by Jensen & Skodvin Architects.

Fugl tårn

A bird watching tower by 70ºN Arkitektur for when you feel like pulling over and observing some birds, of course. The entrances to the towers are screened off with high walls so that no human silhouettes are cast, thus disturbing the main attraction.

Bike Bygning/Meditation Room

A bike shed situated at Grunnfør on Austvågøy in northern Lofoten with a view towards Vesterålen. Here, you can seek shelter from the wind, which can get intense, and meditate. Also by 70ºN.

En annen toalett

You won’t find a footpath or toilet like this on the New Jersey turnpike, but you will at the Tungeneset rest stop. The service facilities, access ramp and picnic area are by Code Arkitektur. Landscape architecture by Aurora Landskap.

God bless America and all, but Norway puts this….

…to shame.

Images: Nasjonale Turistveger; ArchDaily; Good; Maryland Route 5

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