6 Quirky Midwest Roadside Attractions That Deserve a Detour on Your Next Road Trip
If your idea of a great road trip involves more than just interstates and gas station coffee, the Midwest has you covered. Scattered across the plains — from Kansas to Minnesota to Illinois — are some of the most wonderfully weird roadside stops in the country. The kind of places that make everyone in the car put their phones down.
Here are six worth building a detour around.
Corn Palace — Mitchell, South Dakota
The Corn Palace is exactly what it sounds like: a massive building covered entirely in murals made from real corn, grain and grasses. Established in 1892, the exterior murals are redesigned every year with a new theme, so it looks different each time you visit. They also host an annual festival with food, entertainment and carnival rides — solid timing if your trip lines up with it.
World’s Largest Ball of Twine — Cawker City, Kansas
A farmer named Frank Stoeber started this thing in 1953. He had leftover twine from years of feeding his cows bales of hay and figured rolling it into a giant ball would be a fun activity and good exercise. He was right. The World’s Largest Ball of Twine now weighs over 17,000 lbs and has been a local attraction since it started showing up at the county fair and the city’s Centennial parade.
Here’s the best part: visitors are invited to add to it. Call or email Ball of Twine Caretaker Linda Clover and she will give you a tour, a history lesson and some sisal twine to add to the ball. That’s the kind of hands-on absurdity that makes a road trip memorable.
The Spam Museum — Austin, Minnesota
Yes, it’s a free museum entirely dedicated to the canned pork product. The Spam Museum features interactive exhibits covering the brand’s history, its uses, its popularity during World War II and more. Before you leave, hit the gift shop for quirky Spam merch — the kind of souvenir nobody expects and everybody loves.
Carhenge — Alliance, Nebraska
Imagine Stonehenge, but built entirely out of vintage American cars painted gray. That’s Carhenge. Created by Jim Reinders in 1987 in memory of his late father who used to live on the farmland the sculpture sits on, this full-scale replica is open year-round from dawn to dusk. It sits in the middle of the Nebraska plains, so the photos practically take themselves. There is also a gift shop, open seasonally.
American Gothic House — Eldon, Iowa
The actual farmhouse from Grant Wood’s iconic 1930 painting “American Gothic” is still standing in Eldon, Iowa, and you can visit it. The visitor’s center is open year-round, Wednesday through Sunday — check their events calendar online for any holidays or changes. You can pose in front of the house for photos and even borrow a pitchfork and period costume from the visitor’s center. Even if the center is closed, you can pose in front of the house any time from dawn to dusk.
Gemini Giant — Wilmington, Illinois
A 28-foot fiberglass 1960s “Muffler Man” astronaut holding a silver rocket, the Gemini Giant is named after Project Gemini, NASA’s second human spaceflight program that ran from 1961 to 1966. The statue stood outside a Route 66 diner from 1965 to 2024. In 2024, the Joliet Area Historical Museum acquired it with the goal of preserving it and moved it to Wilmington’s South Island Park. A memory of the Space Age craze — and one of the most photogenic stops on any Midwest drive.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
