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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM

Americana

Some Interesting Stuff Seen Around the U.S.

Often when traveling we see things that are unusual or interesting or representative of what is called Americana - things uniquely American. Sometimes I find things that I’d like to take a picture of but, due to the circumstances - driving in traffic or any number of other reasons, it is just not convenient to stop and take the picture.

These are a small sample of some of the things that we’ve seen on our travels that I did manage to get pictures of which can be viewed in the photo gallery.

Start of Route 66 - Illinois

Chicago, Illinois is the start of historic Route 66. This was ‘the’ road from Chicago to Santa Monica, California covering 2448 miles. It was one of the original U.S. Highways and was established in 1926.

The World’s Craziest Lawn Ornament - Indiana

Seen just outside of Indiana Dunes National Park it appears that a garden gnome just wouldn’t do for this person. One can only wonder what other treats lie in this house.

Mickey Mantle Watertower - Oklahoma

Commerce, Oklahoma pays tribute to the legendary New York Yankee centerfielder, Mickey Mantle, who spent his boyhood here. He was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, about 50 miles away. Commerce is just a few miles off interstate 44 between Tulsa, OK and Joplin, MO. There’s a statue of him by the local ballpark and the main highway is Mickey Mantle boulevard. His boyhood home at 319 South Quincy street is still standing along with the deteriorating barn where his father and uncle pitched to him lefty and righty to teach him to switch hit.

Open pit mine - Utah

I spotted this huge open pit mine flying into the Salt Lake City, Utah airport. The scale is difficult in this hastily snapped photo out of the airplane window but just to the right of center there is a white line with some small black dots on it. Those dots are giant dump trucks with wheels that dwarf any man.

Unusual Stop Sign - New York City

Grand Central Station. I photographed this because it just looked funny to me. What else can the train do? Behind the stop sign is a wall and the sign is rather small!

Tree of Shame - North Carolina

The Tail of the Dragon road, straddling North Carolina and Tennessee just outside of Great Smokey Mountains National Park, has 318 curves in 11 miles on the side of a mountain. It attracts lots of people who want to take it at speed, both in cars and motorcycles, and it seems that this is encouraged. There are photographers at some curves who photograph all cars coming by and post them on a website, Killboy.com (an interesting name), where you can purchase a picture your car coming around a curve. I didn’t - my vehicle didn’t look very exciting but I could see that some shots of guys on motorcycles could be. I could also see how the tree of shame got its ‘leaves and branches’.

Upside Down House - Tennessee

Wonderworks in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. An eye-catching oddity. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are two more or less side-by-side towns just outside of Great Smokey Mountains National Park which contain many odd attractions along U.S. Highway 441.

Pigeon Forge - Tennessee

The Hollywood Wax Museum’s King Kong and the Mount Rushmore-like images of John Wayne, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin was another eye-catcher that I had to stop and take a picture of.

Murders Road - Arkansas

Encountered this just north of Hot Spring National Park on Arkansas highway 7. There is a house behind the sign which would have a Murders Road address. I suppose it could have been someone’s name but it is a strange enough street name to stop and photograph it – all the more so because, when I looked the other way, there was a church across the street from it.

U.S Highway 1 - Key West, Florida

Start of U.S. Highway 1. Another famous road which stretches from Key West to the northernmost tip of Maine at the border with Canada. Until the advent of the interstate highway system it was the main route to Florida hugging the Atlantic coastline and passing through far too many towns along the way.

Mackinac Bridge - Michigan

A parade of 1500 tractors on the Mackinac Bridge spanning the Mackinac Straights. We spent a night here traveling between Isle Royale National Park and Detroit. When we arrived in St. Ignace, on the northern end of the bridge, we found that lodging was sold out in some places due to this event. The parking lots were full of trailers for carrying tractors from, apparently, many, many, farms in Michigan and I would imagine lots of other states. The parade started the next morning at the south end of the bridge and ended in St. Ignace so we pulled over and watched for a while. Eventually we had to leave for Detroit so we drove over the bridge where I photographed the parade traveling north.

U.S. Highway 50 - Nevada

The ‘loneliest road in America’. I purposely routed my trip from Zion to Lake Tahoe to take this road. It crosses a rather desolate part of northern Nevada for over 300 miles between Ely and Carson City with only a very few small towns along the way. I can’t say the road was scenic or exciting - it just lived up to its name. The ‘I Survived Hwy 50’ certificate follows the ‘loneliest road’ sign along with the ‘I Survived’ pin that they also send you.

Jimmy Stewart Room - Nevada

Located in the historic Hotel Nevada in Ely, Nevada. In Hollywood’s ‘golden age’ stars traveling to ski in Sun Valley, Idaho took U.S. Highway 50 east to Ely, NV and then headed north on U.S. highway 93. The Hotel Nevada is a historic hotel with rooms named for and with themes for some of those stars who stayed here. We stayed in this room.

Tombstone - Arizona

Having been raised on stories of the gunfight at the OK corral and the ‘town too tough to die’, I had to make a side trip out of Tucson, after visiting Saguaro National Park, to see this legendary town. I thought it would be a hokey version of a theme park but we really enjoyed our day there. Boot Hill is a must see. The most famous graves are those of the cowboys who died in that famous gunfight with the Earp’s and Doc Holliday but there are lots of interesting graves and inscriptions that I photographed with these two favorites. Rook’s grave for its simplicity and Lester Moore’s grave for the humor.

Jesse Jame’s gun - Oklahoma

The J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma has 14,000 guns on display of every conceivable type. J.M. Davis collected 50,000 guns. On display were guns from Wild Bill Hickok, John Wesley Hardin and other notorious cowboys as well as some guns from 1930’s era gangsters like Alvin Karpis and a 1928 Thompson sub-machine gun favored by those gangsters and seen weekly on The Untouchables TV show.

Statue of Pegasus and Dragon - Florida

Located at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida it was built at a cost of $30 million this is the second tallest statue in the U.S. exceeded only by the Statue of Liberty. The first picture clearly shows the intended effect. The second makes it look like Pegasus is attacking something entirely different and makes one wonder if anyone looked at the statue from across the street!

Highway 19 - Big Island, Hawaii

Psychotic State Racing adopted a stretch of this highway. That’s all I know about this group and maybe all I need to know.

Pedal Tavern - Tennessee

In Nashville, Tennessee this may be a good, or maybe not so good, way to work off those calories as you pile them on.

Jim Morrison’s Cub Scout Uniform - Ohio

In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. As a big fan of the rock group The Doors I found it interesting, and perhaps a bit ironic, to see this in the display window for this great hard rock group. It is amazing that someone saved it and donated it!

Americana Photo Gallery

Other Resources

Historic Route 66

Hotel Nevada - History - Wikipedia

Mackinac Bridge - Wikipedia

Pegasus And Dragon - Wikipedia

National Parks Zone

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