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Short Trips Reveal Attraction Gaps

May 13, 2008

Pundits and the media tell us that gas prices will tie a leash to our vacation wanderlust. “Researchers say they’ve noticed that Americans are booking shorter trips for the summer,” says the Wall Street Journal. “This may be a good year to consider shorter trips,” hints the Earth Times. “We may see shorter trips and there might not be a lot of senior bus tours,” adds a newspaper in sleepy Canada.

Short trips are not calamities, despite the ominous tone of the press. Driveworthy attractions are close to pretty much everywhere in the U.S. But there are always exceptions, and this made us wonder: who in America would have to travel the furthest to see a roadside attraction? Using our state maps and our Map-a-City tool, we found a few empty spots:

• Citizens of Ramey, Kentucky, would have to drive 49 miles to their nearest attraction, the town of Utopia in Ohio.
• The population of Moose River, Maine, would have to travel 53 miles to see a bilingual magnetic hill in Canada.
• Jordan Valley, Oregon, is 61 miles from its nearest fun spot, a two-headed calf in Boise, Idaho.
• Owyhee, Nevada, is a dead zone. There’s nothing within 75 miles.

Don’t feel too bad. People who live in these communities probably have to drive a distance to get anywhere. Their long trips may not seem long at all to them. Still, everyone should at least have the chance to drive somewhere fun within an hour. So if you know of something worth seeing in these areas, let us know. Even if we can’t fill up our tanks, we can at least fill in the map.

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