Danger's a Poppin'!

What's the most reckless way to spend your spare time: going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, vacationing downstream from a dam maintained by lazy rich people, or firing an atomic mortar with a deadly blast radius exceeding its flight range?

It's a question we considered after our visits to the Niagara Falls Daredevil Exhibit, the Johnstown Flood National Memorial, and the West Point Museum (which displays the atomic mortar).

Nearly-no-win options make us feel much better about our enthusiasm and/or borderline insanity for roadside-style road trips. Hey, danger can pop up anywhere, so enjoy your precious free time while you can, fearlessly, on the highway! "The people in Johnstown stayed home and look where it got them."

America's Most Delicious Presidents

George, Jeff, Abe, and Teddy like you've never seen them before. Choco-Rushmore is only one of many sweetly spectacular sculptures at the Chocolate Museum.

The Smallest Hero of World War II

Smoky was small as a football, but her heroism was large with the island-hopping Americans of the Pacific. She was also undeniably cute, which makes for a unique war dog memorial.

Rock Beats Scissors: Mandela vs. Churchill

A statue of Winston "V-for-Victory" Churchill has a new neighbor across the street: fist-raising Nelson Mandela. Anti-colonialists point out with barely contained relish that Rock beats Scissors.

The Orgy Statue

Okay, that's not really its name -- but that's what its critics labeled this provocative piece of small town public art only hours after someone yanked the tarp away. It's definitely blue.

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Spotted by Tipsters

Spongeworthy: Opening a new light-hearted comedy chapter in funereal artistry, Gloria Z. sent photographic proof of the SpongeBob SquarePants Tombstones.

String Section: Big Balls of String don't get the media love of their big brother Twine Balls, but they're just as obsessive. We were glad when tipster Vince spotted a previously unreported string-orb.

Population: 1 (still): Mindy visited the self-proclaimed Smallest Town In America and reports that after a sale of the town property, it has reopened for business, still displaying its "Pop 1" sign.

Colonel Crackers: Beth D. found the World's Largest Floating Goldfish Cracker, made by students from the same college responsible for creating the floating duck, Sgt. Quackers.

Howdy Man: Disproving the theory that you can't build something cheerful out of a big, black pile of tires, Christy D. introduced us to Howdy Man.

Check out many more discoveries in the very Latest Tips

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Time Travel to Yesterday's Roads

The latest addition to our Yesteryear Travel film clip series is from Seeing Green (1937), which makes it clear just how messed up traffic lights were in the early days of car travel.

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Selfie-Guidance for Tip Submissions

The popularity of selfies presents a quandary: we see lots of happy faces (good), but perhaps too many faces crowding out the attractions that are supposed to be the focus of the picture (bad). We attempt to map out some boundaries....

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Latest News on Roadside America

It's dangerous even to blink in the fast-track world of America's changing attractions. If you drive to the Corn Palace or Pasaquan, you'll be disappointed; they're undergoing repairs. Ditto disappointment for the World's Crookedest Street, which has become too popular for its own good. On the plus side, Harry Mahoney's Erotic Museum has reopened, as has the Coney Island Museum, and facelifts have made Kaiser Paul and the Grants Pass Caveman more handsome than ever. And if you've planned a road trip to break the world record at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, you're probably out of luck; Molly Schuyler ate two of the 72-ounce steaks in under 10 minutes!

Keep pace with all our attraction updates on the Roadside America Twitter feed.

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Use the rest of your free time as you see fit!
The RoadsideAmerica.com Team