The Worst Tourist Attraction in Michigan
We've all seen them. Some of us have even stopped and visited these places. On our road trips -- what are the worst tourist attractions?
Instagram's @mattsurelee's followers helped him put together a map of the Worst Attraction in Every State...
I was surprised at some of the results. Many of the places listed are pretty big tourist attractions in their state, like Arizona's Grand Canyon, California's Hollywood, Florida's Disney, Minnesota's Mall of America, New York's Times Square, or Wisconsin's Wisconsin Dells.
I don't look at the title of the "worst" attraction to be something negative. It just makes me want to check out these places even more if I haven't already been there!
Here in the state of Michigan, our worst tourist attraction is Mystery Spot in St. Ignace.
As a kid, sitting in the back of the family station wagon as we drove by the billboards on our family vacations. I used to beg for Dad to stop and let us check out the place. It never happened.
It wasn't until I was an adult -- and into my 40s -- that I made my first visit to Mystery Spot.
According to the official Mystery Spot of St. Ignace website, "In the early 1950’s, 3 surveyors named Clarence, Fred and McCray came from California to explore the Upper Peninsula. They stumbled across an area of land where their surveying equipment didn’t seem to work properly. For instance, no matter how many times they tried to level their tripod, through the use of a plum-bob or level, the plum-bob would always be drawn far to the east, even as the level was reading level. As they continued their research of this land, they noticed a constant feeling of being light-headed. Later, realizing their queasiness and problems with the surveying equipment only occurred in an area about 300 feet in diameter, they felt they had discovered a 'Mystery Spot'!"
Over the years, the attraction has added more to their location than just the gravity defying building. They now have two great Ziplines, a Human Maze, and a custom designed 18-hole putt putt golf course. The website says 2 million visitors return year after year.
There are a few places on the map I do need to check out. I need to plan a road trip to visit places like the Potato Museum in Idaho, the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet in Vermont, and the Gum Wall in the state of Washington.
I was also surprised at how many of these "worst" tourist attractions I have been to! I counted 18 different attractions that I have visited over the years...including Carhenge in Nebraska, the Field of Dreams in Iowa, and the world's only Corn Palace in South Dakota.
Happy Road Tripping!