Weirdest Tourist Attractions for Your End-of-Summer Road Trip

Lounging on a beach. Camping in the mountains. Shlepping through a theme park on the hottest day of the year. Summer vacations tend to follow a certain script. And while many of these experiences are relaxing and fun, they’re also a bit… predictable.

That’s partly why road trips are such great alternatives. You never really know what the day is going to bring, which means you can’t guarantee where the drive will take you. Pit stops, planned routes, even the destination — they’re all a bit “penciled in,” allowing you to redraw the lines of a standard vacation.

If that sounds like your kind of getaway, then you’re in luck. We’ve been building up a database of sorts over the past year, a running list of the weirdest tourist attractions to come to our attention. Check out some of the most delightfully strange options below, and consider adding one to your end-of-summer road trip.

Go Panning For Gold

Nearly two centuries have passed since America’s peak Gold Rush, but it turns out there’s still some gold in them thar hills. All it takes is a little hard work (and the occasional tourist fee) to collect it.

There are several states all across the U.S. where you can practice some prospectin’ by trying your hand at panning for gold or metal detecting for nuggets. There are also plenty of tourist attractions where you can dig for crystals, diamonds, and other precious gemstones if that’s more your style.

While we can’t promise you’ll strike it rich, we can guarantee you’ll have an interesting experience. One that should undoubtedly make for some sparkling dinner conversation when you get home.

Here are a few (of the many) public areas where you can join in the thrill of the hunt:

• Rye Patch State Recreation Area in Lovelock, Nevada. Covering more than 2,000 acres, this state park is a popular base camp for metal detecting. As an added bonus, it’s also a prime spot for trail riding and ghost town exploration.
• Catawba River in Burke County, North Carolina. Gold panning is still very popular in this deposit-rich area, famous for being the first state in North America to enjoy a gold rush.
• Coos Canyon in Byron, Maine. Maine? Yep, you can pan for gold along the picturesque Swift River – and then hit up one of the excellent campgrounds nearby.
• Anvil Creek in Nome, Alaska. Go big or go home, right? There’s no shortage of gold in the Last Frontier, and Nome remains a big mining town to this day.

Take a Cowboy-cation

If gold mining isn’t for you, then why not try something a little less Yosemite Sam and a little more Yellowstone? While not the “weirdest” of tourist attractions, the unusual cowboy-cation trend has picked up steam in the past year, and could be a fun way to push you outside of your travel comfort zone.

Sometimes referred to as “agrotourism” – a term we guarantee makes actual cowboys and farmers burst into laughter – cowboy-cations are basically getaways where you get your hands dirty.

You might visit a ranch or farm, where you can engage in a little rural living by working cattle, tracking wildlife, or just taking relaxing horseback rides and learning how to enjoy a slower pace of life. Experiences range from rustic to spa-like, so there’s definitely something for all tastes (and budgets).

Places like Nevada, Colorado, and Montana might be the areas that first come to mind, but don’t sleep on the central states. Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Texas are all keeping cowboy culture alive and well.

Be a Lighthouse Keeper

Alright, maybe all this outdoor recreation isn’t working for you. Maybe you’re looking for something with a little more gravitas, some romance, and a dash of spooky when the sun goes down. How does being a (short term) lighthouse keeper sound?

Believe it or not, there are nearly 800 lighthouses still standing in America – half of which are active. And since the Coast Guard doesn’t have the budget to maintain and manage them all, other organizations help pick up the slack. These include “volunteer keeper programs,” where folks stay anywhere from a single night to a couple weeks and perform a variety of chores to offset part of the reservation cost.

Keeper duties can range from light cleaning to guided tours, so you’ll definitely want to read up on a program before joining. Accommodations run the gamut too, with some lighthouses sporting surprisingly plush (and expensive) amenities, while others completely lack electricity and plumbing.

You’ll need to make a reservation in advance, but if you’re looking for a really unique way to spend a couple nights during a summer road trip, this is definitely it. Check out the United States Lighthouse Society for a list of states where you can enjoy this weird and wonderful tourist attraction.

Sleep in a Cave

If the stale monotony of a Marriot has you imagining out-of-the-box overnight stays for your upcoming road trip, then this one might be for you. There are a surprising number of caves across the U.S. that offer much more than just educational tours on stalactites. Enjoy some rugged spelunking, take in the sites, and then spend the weekend – underground.

Check out Worley’s Cave and Cumberland Caverns, both in Tennessee, if you’re looking for something rugged. Just dress warm, as it holds steady at a chilly and damp 55° when you’re several hundred feet below the earth’s surface. For something with more modern amenities, you can find luxury cave “hotels” and rentals in Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, and Washington.

If a sleepover is simply out of the question, we still strongly urge you to take a tour if you can. You’ll catch some amazing sights — whether you walk, climb, or drive through on a wacky Jeep train like the one featured at the top of this article.

Watch an Animal Migration

Look, we get it, “animal migration” sounds like some boring Nat Geo stuff. But believe us when we say it might be one of the most majestic things you’ll ever see in your lifetime – and it’s certainly a weird tourist attraction worth your time.

For end-of-summer road trips, it’s also the perfect time to catch a bird migration, as flocks head south for the winter. And when we say “flocks,” we mean thousands – sometimes tens of thousands – of birds flying en masse.

Obviously, the northern states are an ideal location to catch an event, but many birds follow a track right down the east coast to Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and beyond. That means, you can tune in anywhere along the route. The West Coast isn’t left out either, as many migrants pass through on their way to South America.

If birds aren’t your thing, there are butterflies, turtles, caribou, humpback whales, even sharks to see. And if you’re really looking for a weird attraction to brag about to friends and family, consider checking out some bat tourism.

Yep, you read that correctly – bats. Despite centuries of bad press, these amazing creatures are still helping out the environment every night by gobbling up insects and pollinating plants. And when they emerge from their caves (not the one you’re sleeping in), they do so by the MILLIONS. It’s an unbelievable sight to behold and definitely one of weirdest tourist attractions that also deserves a place on your bucket list.

Walk the Dino Highway

With dozens of museums across the U.S. featuring prehistoric fossils and exhibitions, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve encountered at least one dinosaur skeleton or cast in your lifetime. While seeing one is an undeniably cool experience, walking in the footsteps of one might be even cooler.

There are several places around the world – and quite a few right here in the U.S. – where you can stroll down a “dinosaur highway,” tracing the tracks made by literal giants. Better yet, since many are part of state parks or wilderness reservations, there’s a host of other fun activities you can enjoy while you’re there, from camping and hiking to swimming, fishing, and mountain biking.

Here’s a shortlist of dinosaur highways you should check out:

• Dinosaur Footprints Reservation in Holyoke, Massachusetts
• Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colorado
• Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas
• Red Gulch Dinosaur Track Site in Big Horn County, Wyoming
• Bull Canyon Dinosaur Track Trail in Grand County, Utah

Tour a Cemetery

Hanging out in a graveyard might not be at the tippy top of your road trip to-do list or, honestly, even in the running for that matter, but hear us out. There are some seriously spooky cemeteries in this country worth checking out – as well as some beautiful, famous, and downright funny ones too.

On the “scary” front, you can’t go wrong with a nighttime walking tour, especially if it’s in a place known for paranormal activity like Sleepy Hollow, Salem, or New Orleans. If you’re looking for something a little less intense, check out America’s oldest pet cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Open since 1896, it has 70,000 (!) interments including dogs, cats, pigs, horses, bunnies, and yes, even goldfish. If New York’s not on your itinerary, don’t worry, you can visit one of the U.S.’s other 200+ pet crematoriums or burial grounds.

Movie buffs passing through L.A. shouldn’t miss the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Serving as the final resting places to some of cinema’s greatest stars, they offer a walk back in time – along with truly breathtaking views of Hollywood Hills.

Believe it or not, these cemeteries don’t even come close to representing the weirdest tourist attractions on the list. There’s an underwater memorial reef in Florida, a creepy cemetery of empty coffin-shaped crypts in Arkansas, a fake cemetery full of comic headstones in Oklahoma, and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor graveyard in Vermont.

Have you visited any of the weird tourist attractions on this list? If so, let us know what you thought about the experience in the comments below.