1

Spray-paint a Cadillac in Texas

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, is an interactive public art installation near historic Route 66, where visitors can spray-paint ten classic Cadillacs buried nose-first in the ground. It's located just off Interstate 40, west of downtown Amarillo. Admission is free, and the site is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The ten vintage cars, dating from 1949 to 1963, are tilted at the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza and caked in thick layers of colorful spray paint. Ant Farm, an experimental art and architecture collective, created the installation in 1974. Local businessman and art patron Stanley Marsh III commissioned the project, which celebrates the evolution of Cadillac's iconic tail fins, with each car representing a different stage in their development, while poking fun at America's postwar car culture and consumerism.

2

Walk inside a giant blue whale in Oklahoma

The Blue Whale of Catoosa is an 80-foot-long and 20-foot-tall roadside attraction on historic Route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma, about 20 miles east of Tulsa.

Zoologist Hugh Davis built it in 1972 with his friend Harold Thomas as an anniversary gift for Davis's wife , Zelta. The structure used 126 sacks of concrete, 15 tons of sand, and a metal framework. Visitors can walk inside the whale's head and body via its mouth and explore a secret compartment hidden area accessed through a ladder. Swimming is no longer allowed in the adjacent pond, but the park is free to visit. A new visitor center, gift shop, and upgraded facilities opened on May 30, 2026.

3

Stop at a palace made of corn in South Dakota

The World's Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, is a roadside landmark covered in massive murals crafted from naturally colored corn and other grains, framed with native grasses. Admission is free, and summer hours extend from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Built in 1892 (with the current structure completed in 1921), the palace honors the agricultural roots of the Great Plains. Artists create new exterior murals each year around a different theme. The building also serves as a community venue for events and concerts, with historical displays, a gift shop, and concessions.

4

Find America's answer to Stonehenge in Nebraska

America's answer to Stonehenge is Carhenge, a full-scale replica of England's ancient monument built entirely from vintage American cars located just north of the city of Alliance in Nebraska. Jim Reinders created it in 1987 during a family reunion as a tribute to his late father.

It features 39 cars painted gray and arranged to mimic Stonehenge's circular layout. The surrounding 10-acre site has grown into a larger folk-art installation featuring other vehicle-based sculptures. It’s open year-round from dawn to dusk, with free admission, although donations are appreciated. There’s also parking, picnic tables, and a seasonal gift shop, typically open from May through September.

5

Take a photo with enormous dinosaurs in California

The Cabazon Dinosaurs are an iconic roadside attraction located off Interstate 10 in Cabazon, California, near Palm Springs.

Built starting in the 1960s by artist Claude Bell, the site features Dinny, the 150-foot Apatosaurus, and Mr. Rex, the 65-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex. Visitors can view the giant dinosaurs from the parking lot for free or pay an admission fee to explore the dinosaur park, climb inside Mr. Rex's head , or check out the gift shop located inside Dinny's belly.

6

Visit a legendary drugstore in South Dakota

Wall Drug Store, located in the tiny town of Wall, South Dakota, is one of America’s best-known roadside attractions. Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the pharmacy in 1931, during the Great Depression.

In 1936, Dorothy came up with the idea to put up highway signs offering free ice water to thirsty travelers driving across the prairie. The clever marketing campaign turned a struggling small-town pharmacy into an iconic American road-trip landmark that now attracts more than two million visitors a year. They still proudly offer free ice water and 5-cent coffee.

7

Meet a giant concrete elephant in New Jersey

Lucy the Elephant in Margate City, New Jersey, is a six-story, 65-foot-tall wood-and-tin building shaped like an elephant. Built in 1881 by real estate developer James V. Lafferty Jr., it was designed to attract buyers to nearby land and is famous for being one of the oldest surviving roadside attractions in the United States .

Lucy weighs approximately 90 tons and is an example of 19th-century "folly" or novelty architecture. Visitors can climb a spiral staircase inside one of her legs to reach a "howdah" (a carriage-like structure) on her back, where they can enjoy panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1971) and was designated a National Historic Landmark (1976).

8

Hunt for enormous metal sculptures in North Dakota

The Enchanted Highway is a roughly 32-mile scenic drive in southwestern North Dakota featuring a series of giant scrap metal sculptures.

Created beginning in 1990 by local retired schoolteacher Gary Greff to attract visitors to the area, the self-guided route showcases towering roadside installations including Geese in Flight (which holds the Guinness World Record as the largest scrap-metal sculpture at 110 feet tall), Deer Crossing , Grasshoppers in the Field , Fisherman's Dream , Pheasants on the Prairie , Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again , and the World's Largest Tin Family .

9

See a giant ball of twine in Kansas

The World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine is located in Cawker City, Kansas, where it sits beneath an open-air pavilion on Main Street. Local farmer Frank Stoeber started the ball on Christmas Eve in 1953 using leftover baling twine, and he donated it to the town in 1961.

The community continues to expand the ball during an annual "Twine-a-thon" every August. It now weighs nearly 29,000 pounds, measures over 46 feet in circumference, and contains more than 8.5 million feet of twine. Visitors can stop by for free 24/7 and even tie their own piece of twine to the structure.

10

Stop for a giant concrete totem pole in Oklahoma

Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park in Foyil, Oklahoma, is home to a remarkable 90-foot-tall totem pole, built between 1937 and 1948, with a giant turtle at its base.

On site, you can also admire intricate bas-relief carvings, walk through the 11-sided Fiddle House museum to view hand-crafted fiddles and inlaid wood art, and take a break at the picnic tables or explore nearby walking trails. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is folk art inspired by Native American imagery .

1

A renovation project saved thousands of lives on 9/11

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 189 people. Few people know this part: the death toll could have been much higher. But there was a renovation project underway at the time of the attacks.

The Pentagon’s five-sided structure is divided into five "wedges," and workers had been renovating them one at a time. Flight 77 struck the wedge that had just been completed. Of the 4,500 people who normally worked in that section, only about 800 had moved back in. Without the reinforced construction and the incomplete occupancy, experts believe the casualties would have been catastrophically higher.

2

The Cold War and the hot dog stand

In the middle of the Pentagon’s five-acre center courtyard once stood a modest hot dog stand. According to a Cold War legend (one still retold by official Pentagon tour guides on every public tour), between the 60s and the 80s, Soviet satellite images tracked large groups of high-ranking military officials converging on that small building at the same time every day.

Soviet intelligence reportedly concluded the structure must be the entrance to some underground bunker in America. In reality, all it did was sell lunch. In 2006, the original stand was torn down, and a sandwich shop was built in its place.

3

Its construction began on September 11th, exactly 60 years before the attack

Builders broke ground on the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. That was exactly 60 years to the day before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that would strike the same building.

Construction had been ordered by Army Brigadier General Brehon Somervell, who wanted a permanent headquarters for the Defense Department to replace its then-17 scattered offices across Washington, D.C.

The project was extraordinarily ambitious: plans called for the world’s largest office building to be completed in just 16 months. In the end, the conception, design, and construction of the entire Pentagon building took a total of 15 months.

4

The same person oversaw its construction and the Manhattan Project

Colonel Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers took charge of Pentagon construction in August 1941. He worked six days a week and drove his team relentlessly, at one point employing more than 15,000 workers around the clock.

When the Pentagon was finished in January 1943, Groves was assigned to lead the Manhattan Project, America’s secret program to build the atomic bomb . His deputy, Captain Robert Furman, followed him into the Manhattan Project as chief of foreign intelligence. Together, the men who built the world’s largest office building went on to produce the weapon that ended World War II.

5

Why is it shaped like that?

The Pentagon’s iconic five-sided shape was the consequence of a geographic accident. The original site selected for the building, near Arlington Cemetery, **happened to be bordered on five sides by roads. **Architects designed the structure to fit those boundaries, producing a pentagonal floor plan. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened: worried the massive building would obstruct the view of Washington, D.C. from Arlington, he ordered the site moved to its current location along the Potomac River. But the five-sided design had already been drawn up, and nobody changed it.

6

It was the first desegregated building in Virginia

When the Pentagon was designed in 1941, segregation was the law in Virginia. Original plans called for doubled bathroom facilities: separate ones for Black and white employees, as required by Virginia statute. But President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, prohibiting racial discrimination in federal employment and government contracting.

As a federal building, the Pentagon was exempt from Virginia law. It became the only building in the state where segregation was not enforced. A fully desegregated federal workplace that opened in 1943. The doubled bathrooms were built anyway, as the plans were too far along to revise, but were never used as separately designated spaces.

7

Its construction was surprisingly frugal and incredibly fast

Ground broke on September 11, 1941, and construction finished on January 15, 1943, just 16 months later. More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock. Wartime office shortages were so severe that employees moved into completed wings before the rest of the building was finished. Steel was too scarce to use extensively, so builders relied almost entirely on reinforced concrete. The 689,000 tons of sand and gravel required came directly from the nearby Potomac River, cutting transportation costs. The project was budgeted at $35 million, but the final bill was $63 million, which would translate to over $900 million in today’s dollars.

8

You can walk between its farthest points in only 7 minutes

The Pentagon is the world’s largest low-rise office building: 6.5 million square feet of space, which is three times the total floor area of the Empire State Building. Each of its five outer walls is 921 feet long. It has 7,754 windows and 17.5 miles of corridors. Approximately 26,000 military and civilian employees report for work there every day.

Despite that scale, the building’s concentric ring design is so efficient that it takes only about seven minutes to walk between its two farthest points.

9

The man who secretly lived inside its walls

During construction, Colonel Groves drove his deputy, Captain Robert Furman, so relentlessly that Furman rarely left the building. To cope, Furman had contractors build him a small, windowless apartment hidden inside the walls of the Army’s Ordnance Division. In this private room, he could sleep and shower without leaving the premises.

When construction ended and personnel dispersed, knowledge of the hidden room was never passed on to building management. Months later, when Furman returned to Washington on Manhattan Project intelligence business, he found the apartment undiscovered and exactly as he’d left it.

For over a year, he would slip back to the Pentagon, pop open a wall panel, spend the night, and emerge in the morning with his suitcase. He was finally caught in 1943 and forced to surrender the keys. It was never disclosed whether the secret apartment was maintained or eventually absorbed back into the official floor plans.

10

It houses over 30 restaurants, including everyone's favorite chains

The Pentagon feeds roughly 26,000 people a day, and its dining options read less like a military headquarters and more like a mall food court. The main Concourse Food Court, which opened in September 2009 and seats 875 people, is the largest of several dining areas.

Confirmed chains currently inside the building include McDonald’s, Five Guys, Subway, Popeyes, Starbucks (multiple locations), Dunkin’ (two locations), Panera Bread, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Baskin-Robbins, Potbelly, Jamba Juice, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, among others. The building also houses a CVS pharmacy, a florist, a jeweler, and a dry cleaner. In the summer of 2024, Potbelly became the first restaurant to open in the center courtyard. Yes, the very spot where the legendary Cold War hot dog stand once stood.

1

Woolworth’s

Woolworth’s was the place to buy everything from school supplies and toys to household goods and candy—or even to grab lunch. The first store opened its doors in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1879. It was a five-and-dime shop, and the chain soon became one of America’s most recognizable retail names, with over 3,000 stores nationwide at its peak. So, why did it disappear?

With the steady rise of suburban shopping centers and large discount stores, Woolworth’s couldn’t keep up and began a slow decline in the 1960s that culminated in 1997, when it closed its final stores for good.

2

A&P

A&P used to be the spot to get everyday groceries. It began as a tea and coffee business in 1859 and later evolved into one of America’s biggest supermarkets with more than 16,000 stores in the country at its peak. But despite pioneering high-volume retailing, A&P couldn’t stick around.

Over the decades, newer competitors entered the market, and grocery shopping became more and more competitive. Walmart, Target, Aldi, Whole Foods—A&P failed to adapt and filed for bankruptcy twice, first in 2010 and again in 2015, and finally shut down in November 2015.

3

Blockbuster

Blockbuster was the go-to for movie rentals . It dominated the market with 9,100 stores worldwide by 2004, about $6 billion in revenue, and thousands of movies to choose from—it was hard to imagine Blockbuster ever falling, but it did.

The rapid advancement of technology hit Blockbuster hard, with newer options like DVD-by-mail services, Redbox kiosks, and the final blow: streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and more. All Blockbuster corporate-owned stores closed by January 2014; however, you can still visit one holdout location in Bend, Oregon.

4

Montgomery Ward

Long before Amazon, consumers could buy almost anything from Montgomery Ward from the comfort of their homes , and the company would ship it directly to them. It felt like online shopping before the internet. So why did it vanish?

To adapt to newer shopping habits, Montgomery Ward opened physical stores and started competing with brands like Sears; but once suburban malls and discount stores became widespread in the 1980s, Montgomery Ward couldn’t keep pace and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and again in 2001.

5

Circuit City

Circuit City started in 1949 and quickly became the source for TVs, stereos, VCRs, video games, and just about every kind of electronics , especially during the 1980s. The company continued growing by the early 2000s, expanding to more than 600 stores, though one controversial decision made it trip and fall.

Circuit City was already struggling to compete with Best Buy and Walmart. And in 2007, it replaced its commissioned sales staff with low-paid hourly workers, damaging customer service—often considered one of Circuit City’s biggest strategic mistakes. By March 2009, the chain was gone.

6

Caldor

There was a time when one trip to Caldor could cover almost everything on your shopping list. Founded in 1951, it became a major one-stop discount department store . By the 1990s, it had grown to more than 150 stores across New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, but in 1995 it filed for bankruptcy. What happened in between?

Big box stores like Walmart and Target were expanding rapidly, and Caldor simply fell behind as people moved toward newer retail formats that combined department stores and supermarkets. Plus, the company took on a lot of debt in 1991, which only made things worse. Caldor finally closed for good in 1999.

7

Borders

Borders is a reminder of a time when buying a book was an experience, rather than just clicking a few buttons online. It opened in 1971 and set itself apart from other modern bookstores. At Borders, you could spend an entire afternoon browsing not just books, but music and DVDs or even grabbing a coffee.

Around 2003–2004, Borders had more than 1,200 stores worldwide , but it failed to adapt to an inevitable growing trend: online book sales. Amazon eventually took over, and Borders couldn’t stay in the game, closing its final location in September 2011.

8

G.C. Murphy

Much like Woolworth’s, G.C. Murphy was a five-and-dime store that sold a little bit of everything and had lunch counters or snack bars where people would hang out. The company opened in 1906, and it operated more than 500 stores by 1976.

But once the traditional five-and-dime model came under pressure from discount giants, G.C. Murphy was forced to adapt. The chain did make some efforts and experimented with bigger stores and different formats, but it wasn’t enough, and G.C. Murphy filed for bankruptcy in 1985.

9

Zayre

Zayre entered the market in 1956 as a classic discount department store that looked more like a warehouse . It was a no-frills, self-service shopping experience with massive stores, wide-open interiors, and exposed ceilings where you could find lots of everyday items like clothing, household goods, or appliances at low prices.

While it was pretty successful, especially across the Northeast and Midwest, Zayre struggled to keep up with giants like Target. It tried to reinvent itself by founding TJ Maxx in 1977, but eventually sold the remaining Zayre stores to Ames in 1988, and the Zayre name vanished by 1990.

10

Service Merchandise

Service Merchandise was founded in 1934 and, unlike typical retail stores, it introduced a strange new concept called the " catalog showroom " in 1960, where display floors showcased single working samples of products, and the actual inventory was stored in an adjacent backroom warehouse. Customers would look at a catalog, place an order, and an employee would bring it to them.

The concept proved successful, and Service Merchandise operated more than 400 showrooms by the mid-1990s. But Service Merchandise’s model meant longer waiting times, and traditional discount stores began offering a faster and easier shopping experience. The company tried to modernize by introducing electronic inventory systems, but it didn’t work out. By 2002, Service Merchandise was gone.