What's the most disappointing landmark you have visited?

[swag]

For me, it was Mt. Rushmore which looked all small and kind of tacky. Not majestic at all.

[mzteris]

1. Plymouth Rock

Small Rock. Lots of litter. :(

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

33. I think the Crazy Horse Memorial

is going to be much more impressive:

[swag]

39. I think so too. We rolled by there when it was a little less finished,

and it was still more impressive than Mount Rushmore.

[Lars39]

85. Thanks for posting that.

There's been a lot of progress since I was there in '68 or so. :)

[pitohui]

120. same here, when i was there back in the day it looked like nothing at all had been done

glad to see some progress on the crazy horse

[graywarrior]

96. Same here

What a let down.

[Pacifist Patriot]

110. Without a doubt. Hardly even the real thing.

Like anyone could find it if they wanted to. Total tourist trap. Though I must say there are decent lobster rolls to be had in the area.

[zanne]

130. You beat me to it.

It's just a boulder surrounded by an iron fence and a couple of guards. I couldn't believe I'd traveled all the way down there to look at a boulder.

[av8rdave]

2. Niagara Falls

It didn't help that every elementary school field trip went there. They are cool to look at for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then you're done, and you're still in Niagara Falls!

[ThomCat]

11. Agreed.

Hanging out on Goat Island for a while is kind of cool. But overall, NF gets very old very quickly.

[driver8]

19. Were you on the US side or the Canada side?

The Canada side is much more impressive than the American side, I have to say.

To me, Niagra falls was absolutely amazing!

[KitchenWitch]

28. I totally agree - the Canada side way trumps the US side.

[LynneSin]

217. Depends on if you're talking about the Falls or the rest of the town

I thought the town of Niagara Falls, in Canada, was abysimmal. Only reason I got a hotel room there was I was exhausted after just flying into Toronto that morning, sampling a few wines from the winery and then checking out the falls.

My hotel was next door to the Wax Museum of Seriel Killers - seriously, can we get any more tacky than that

[tigereye]

50. I like the US side - more natural (at least the Bridal Veil falls part)

but then I'm from there originally.

The Canadian side is more "groomed" with pretty gardens.

[Nickster]

62. Not to mention they have an Elvis museum on the Canadien side. I was blown away!

[av8rdave]

73. Been to both many, many times

THe canadian side stays interesting for about 2 minutes more than the american side.

[devilgrrl]

183. You get a better view on the Canadian side. I like the parks on the US better.

Also, you can get nailed by water better on the Hurricane deck on the US side.

Both have their plus's and minus's.

[jpak]

98. Niagara Falls...slowly I turned...step by step...inch by inch...

:evilgrin:

[fishwax]

124. I've only been there once, but it was winter

I think I liked it better than I would in the summer--I thought the sheer amount of ice and snow was pretty cool :)

[soleft]

3. I'm glad I went there, but I'd have to say Stonehenge

I thought it would feel all mystical and it was just some really big stones.

[muriel_volestrangler]

57. I have to agree

I visited it when I was very young - back when you were still allowed to walk around inside the stones at any time of year. I thought it wasn't bad, but not spectacular - when I later heard of Stonehenge, and people went on about how marvellous it was, it took me a few years to realise that I had already seen it, and not just some smaller imitation. And if a 4 year kid doesn't think a ring of stones is that grand, I can easily see why adults would be disappointed.

There's a much better ancient site in Britain - Skara Brae, in the Orkneys on the Scottish north coast.

"Europe's most complete Neolithic village"

You can't see it and not think of the Flintstones. Everything you need for a comfortable home is there - but made from stones. At 5000 years old, it makes you think.

[soleft]

59. All it needs it a baby elephant vacuum cleaner!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

105. That's what I'd heard, and I decided not to visit it this past summer,

even though I went to Salisbury and saw ads for Stonehenge tours.

[WinkyDink]

108. Oh, my! I was there before it was roped off, and walking around and through was very amazing!

[fizzgig]

197. i loved stonehenge

but i can see where you're coming from

[regnaD kciN]

202. Have you tried the version in Washington state...?

No joke. Some multimillionaire from the early part of the twentieth century (named, and I'm still not kidding, Sam Hill) built a full-sized replica of Stonehenge, as he imagined it to be in its original form, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. It was intended as a memorial to those American soldiers who died in Europe during WWI.

I know at least one group of indie filmmakers in the area who used it as a location for their never-completed (but thoroughly atrocious) low-budget fantasy epic. Imagine some actor with a long white beard dressed up in a druid costume, performing various sacred rites in a "Stonehenge" that's obviously built of textured concrete...priceless!

[SKKY]

4. The Arch in St. Louis...

:yawn:

[AllegroRondo]

6. did you take the elevator to the top?

much more thrilling these days. its broken down 3 times in the last few weeks, people were stranded at the top for hours.

[Connonym]

22. eek!

trapped in the elevator (which I think they modeled after a clothes dryer) or up on top?

[Shell Beau]

44. No joke! That thing is tiny!

I found it fun! But I was also 10 or so!

[AllegroRondo]

60. both!

I'll have to look up the story-
one of the elevators got stuck halfway up, and the people inside had to be rescued by firefighters. At least they have a stairway also.
But about 50 people at the top were stuck there for a couple hours until they could get another elevator working.

[Shell Beau]

70. I'd rather be at the top than in that dinky elevator!!

Talk about claustrophobic.

[AllegroRondo]

78. I once had a fit of gas in that elevator

my wife was not happy.

[Shell Beau]

99. Well I guess she wasn't!

:P

[Frank Cannon]

222. That elevator is a thrill ride of its own

It truly is like being crammed into a clothes dryer with a couple of strangers in your lap.

[Mike Daniels]

56. The engineering alone used to construct the Arch makes it impressive in my book

I made my first visit just a few weeks ago and the thing is incredible from an architectural/engineering POV. What's even more amazing is that not one person died while constructing it.

For years, I had heard my wife talk about the "egg" that takes you to the top. When I asked what she meant by the "egg" she explained the little elevator system and how it ratched up sidewise to get to the top. I think I said something about her being "high" and that she had to be leaving something out.

Well, I found out that she wasn't that far off. You can definitely tell that the thing was built during the 60's. All I could think of as I rode up in that egg-shaped little capsule its white interior and curvy little seats was "Man, if they piped in some lounge music or Sinatra and served drinks in this thing this would be perfect".

That said, I found the view to be slightly disappointing. St. Louis just doesn't have much of a skyline, the side across the river is kind of bland and the spacing/size of the windows just doesn't allow you to get the grand view.

[pokerfan]

152. Do you see that, kids?

That's the St. Louis Arch. The Gateway to the West. It's over six hundred feet tall, and there's an elevator all the way to the top.

Dad, can we go up on it?

No.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

155. Eero Saarinen was a genius.

I've been to the arch and up into the observation deck. I'm no engineer but I've read some about how it was designed and seen a TV show about how it was built. Just amazing, and a lot more interesting than your standard boring phallic obelisk dedicated to some dead white guys who slaughtered lots of natives, after invading and stealing their land.

Hey! Gateway to the West, huh??

But still it is the coolest engineering marvel I've ever seen.

It's not a parabola, it's a catenary arch. That means it's modeled after how a chain would hang.

[Mike Daniels]

181. I was pretty impressed with the Westward Expansion museum inside the arch

The exhibits were pretty informative/detailed and didn't sugarcoat the effect the westward expansion had on the Native American population.

[OzarkDem]

223. Growing up in the St Louis area in the 60's

it was fun watching as it was built. Our grade school was on a hill about 30 miles away, but you could still see it from there. We watched every day as we played baseball (yes, even we girls played back then - Cards were our heroes). Good times - new arch, new stadium (now gone) and the Cards with Stan the Man, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock.

Slideshow

[greendog]

5. In southeastern Arizona I saw a road sign that said "scenic overlook"...

...so I stopped to take a look. It was a strip mine. :eyes:

[Kali]

64. Morenci?

it IS one of the biggest, but yeah, and especially if the little toy ant trucks aren't running.:rofl:

[greendog]

169. Yeah, That's the one.

~

[XemaSab]

74. I thught Morenci was like, SHOCKING

[greendog]

170. Shocking and...

...kind of like the opposite of "scenic".

[dannofoot]

7. The "Great" Salt Lake

Imagine four 18-year olds driving to L.A. from Illinois. One suggests that we take a mighty detour to visit the Great Salt Lake. After all, it looked so cool in our grade school Geography books...I so well remembered the photo of a huge man floating in it with an equally huge smile on his face.

Upon arrival, instead of seeing families and fun, we saw...a hideously gray body of water, completely deserted. I mean totally void of human life, but crawling with millions upon millions of sand fleas. It also smelled somewhat like an open sewer.

The falling-apart concession stand was padlocked, and the restrooms had no running water or paper products. And by the way, this wasn't what should have been considered the "off" season - it was the middle of July.

After that place, though, I'd have to agree that the Arch in St. Louis is pretty damn disappointing as well.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

41. that's pretty bad

it is one boring body of water....

[Zookeeper]

68. My experience was similar. I was shocked by the dismal...

appearance of both the lake and the setting.

I found Mt. Rushmore to be kind of boring. However, the saw the arch at night, and didn't know anything about it before I happened upon it, so I had no expectations. I just thought, "Hmm. Interesting local landmark."

[underpants]

179. I have to agree with you

I was in SLC about 10 years ago doing and audit and we drove out to see it and all we saw was a deserted "fun land" type place and a gray body of water.

[FloridaJudy]

8. The tidal bore in the Bay of Fundy

http://tidal-bore.tripod.com/canada/schubenacadie.html

Well-named. We waited for hours for a tiny wave to wash up the river: I've seen more spectacular water-works at the car wash.

Maybe on a stormy day, or an unusually high tide it would be impressive. As it was, it was a waste of a lovely summer day sitting around before asking "That's it?"

Oh, and the day I visited Old Faithful in Yellowstone, it fizzled. Old Unreliable was more like it.

[SacredCow]

9. I was disappointed by the commercialization of the Grand Canyon...

On the road to the south rim, there's a big ol' campground with a Flintstone's theme.

Don't get me wrong- I like the Flintstone's, but when you're expecting to see the Grand Canyon at any moment and all of a sudden you're faced with a 40-foot statue of Fred....

[SeattleGirl]

201. Fly over it. Yeah, you are in a small private plane, but you really

get to see it up close and personal. It's fabulous.

[dolo amber]

10. I had a fever of 103 when I visited the Grand Canyon

I got out of the RV, walked over and said "Hmmm. Yep. That's a canyon." then walked back and went right back to sleep.

There was no cure, not even more Grand Canyon. :shrug:

[Phillycat]

53. You're hot blooded! Check it and see!

[Arugula Latte]

88. ...

:rofl: You just cracked me the hell up, janesez :hi:

[LaraMN]

12. The world's only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed gas station.

It's in my town.
It's attached to a laundromat.
It is not cool.

[swag]

18. I've got to say that I found his Falling Water house quite disappointing

Of course I was with a civil engineer who was just appalled at Wright's total disregard for engineering principles and the subsequent state of some of his buildings (e.g. the Guggenheim Museum in New York that has to be completely retooled because of Wright's fuck-ups).

[LTR]

127. The main problem with Wright's buildings...

...is that he had rather difficult designs with crappy materials.

In order for some of his stuff to work, the cost would be staggering.

I totally agree with you. His buildings looked nice, but seriously lacked function. Some of his buildings here in Wisconsin are rotting away.

[Zookeeper]

69. Ohhh! I think it's cool. 'Just the whole idea of a Frank Lloyd

Wright *gas station* in the middle of a Northwoods town...AND the fact that the owners keep using it for its intended purpose...well, it's cool.

So, do you and your fellow citizens use the lobby as Wright intended, as a place to drop by and socialize with fellow consumers of gasoline? ;)

[JVS]

72. WOW I GOTTA GAS UP THERE!

[XemaSab]

75. There's a FLW CHURCH in Redding

The roof is metal, and bright turquoise.

It's not on the main track for visitors. :P

[kernelfarmer]

13. Casselton Can Pile

Casselton Can Pile
"World's Largest Tower of Oil Cans"
Casselton, North Dakota

After finding this site with odd roadside attractions, my family was excited about this Can Pile. We stopped on a Sunday and it was located next to some business that had stacked some wood pallets vertically along the sides. We had to move them to get pictures of the kids. But, the price was right(free).

Check out pics at the link below:


http://www.realnd.com/casseltoncanpileindex.htm

[QueenOfCalifornia]

14. That big crater in AZ

Meteor Crater -- I drove there and it was a giant yawn fest ---- (edit to fix evil typo)

Look and see:

[Richardo]

20. I loved that place.

We went there when I was 12 - which is the perfect age for that kinda thing, especially for an astronomy junkie like young Richardo.

[begin_within]

48. I bet it was exciting on the day it happened.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

65. my sentiments exactly

[pokerfan]

118. Some landmarks are better from the air

As a Delta Air Lines jet was flying over Arizona on a clear day, the copilot was providing his passengers with a running commentary about landmarks over the PA system.

"Coming up on the right, you can see the Meteor Crater, which is a major tourist attraction in northern Arizona. It was formed when a lump of nickel and iron, roughly 150 feet in diameter and weighing 300,000 tons, struck the earth at about 40,000 miles an hour, scattering white-hot debris for miles in every direction. The hole measures nearly a mile across and is 570 feet deep."

From the cabin, a passenger was heard to exclaim, "Wow! It just missed the highway!"

[some guy]

147. Wow indeed!

:rofl:

[pitohui]

122. are you serious?

maybe i'm easily amused but i've returned to the meteor crater at least 3 times over the years...

[Jamastiene]

15. The stupid North Carolina light house.

What a boring trip that was. The dumbasses keep having to move it inland every time you turn around, so it's constantly being moved. Not that that would make me EVER want to go back and stare at it. It's like looking at the ocean's hard on. Boring, Sidney...

[Mike Daniels]

86. Which lighthouse? NC only has about a bunch of them

The only lighthouse I can think of that can be called a bona-fide attraction in that people would go out of their way to see it is the Jeffreys Hook Lighthouse in NYC a.k.a. The Little Red Lighthouse from the child's book.

http://www.hudsonlights.com/littlered.htm

NC lighthouses (esp. the Hatteras lighthouse) are known strictly because their territory is/was one of the most hazardous areas in the world as far as shipwrecks were concerned.

[Jamastiene]

92. Cape Hatteras, I think.

It's the one they keep moving. Who knows which one that is? I was bored even as a kid when I saw it. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. All I know is that it made for a crappy "attraction." Talk about boring. I'd put it in the same category as watching paint dry.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

150. Yeah its Cape Hatteras.

Trust me I should know ... I used to draw it all the time in the 4th grade. Never been there but I would like to some day.

If they would have left it where it was I think the lighthouse would have crumbled into the sea.

[Mike Daniels]

182. You actually get a pretty decent view from the top of the Hatteras Light

My favorite of the Outer Banks lighthouses is the Currituck lighthouse. No paint, just red brick exterior which makes it pretty distinctive.

http://www.lighthouseratings.com/Currituck/

[Parche]

16. Oregonians' David Reinhards House Of Cards'

Very dissapointing, it was conservatively built, falls down alot and is fatally flawed.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :hi:
Just kidding

[swag]

17. I'm going to go to the Multnomah County Library in a couple weeks

and gather choice quotes from him from early in the Iraq war, then send them into the editorial board and ask why that guy still has a job.

[Connonym]

21. the Alamo

I always figured it was majestic and out in the middle of nowhere but it's freaking downtown San Antonio or something. Juxtapositioned next to a bunch of modern office buildings it just looks weird.

[XemaSab]

76. It's also small

My friend who live in SA says everyone is disappointed by the size and setting. :P

[jobycom]

112. All the cool stuff is in the basement. nt

[ironflange]

116. Ya-ha! Ya-ha!

We were in San Antonio once, passed by the Alamo. It was disappointing, stuck in the middle of downtown like that. I wanted to go in, just so I could say, "When do we get to see the basement?" but nobody else wanted to stop, they were in too big a hurry to get to Sea World. Since it was Xmas time, the place was closed, and I sure know how Clark Griswold felt. Good thing Fiesta Texas was open.

[jobycom]

134. It's one of those places that is more impressive if you can visualize it in context.

I don't mean the John Wayne battle myth, though that's impressive, too. There are a series of missions in San Antonio, and none are impressive by themselves. One is stuck out in the weeds, and one is just in a retail strip mall area. But if you get into the history of the region, and can visualize the missions as the only structures around, and what they meant to the region in terms of agriculture, economics, religion, government, stability, culture, and even the negatives like imperialism and domination, they gain in stature. The smallest mission, the one stuck out in the weeds south of the city, is the most plain, but it's also the one that looks the most like a frontier outpost. You can still see the irrigation ditches, and how the land was manipulated to increase food. If you know anything about medieval Islamic history, the irrigation system is even more impressive, because you can see the Arabic/Islamic influence in the Spanish irrigation system, and it ties the world's history together visually. My own interpretation is that it's harder to view current history in terms of "us" and "them" when you understand how much of "us" was influenced by our contact with "them."

There's an aquaduct just north of that most southern mission. It's a little thing, not impressive at all to see, until you think about its age, and then when you realize what it must have meant for the settlers and the Native Americans to see such a thing, to see the technology of having water cross a ditch so it could reach fields on the other side.

It's the historian in me, but I think San Antonio is one of the most fascinating places in the world, including the little old Alamo church that stands right across from the Riverwalk.

[Connonym]

161. There's no basement in the Alamo!

Silly Pee-Wee!

[Tektonik]

117. I went to San Antonio last month

and the Alamo wasn't a grand building by any means, but I still enjoyed it

the only landmark in SA that wowed me was the Natural Bridge Caverns

[swimboy]

23. Mystery Spot, Hudson Valley, New York

there had been a fire.

Much more interesting was a short hike to a frozen waterfall. Don't wear bread bags on your feed. No one died.

[SecularMotion]

81. Sounds like the hotel fire at Lake Minnewaska

We used to party and swim at the falls late at night after the bars closed in New Paltz. It's a beautiful spot.

[asthmaticeog]

24. I loved the fake Mt. Rushmore at Wall Drug...

...where you can still get a good five-cent cuppa joe. :patriot:

[skygazer]

29. Wall Drug!

Not THAT'S a landmark! :rofl:

For a hundred miles in either direction, there are huge billboards screaming, "WALL DRUG! LARGEST DRUGSTORE IN THE WORLD!"

Cracked me up - this is what South Dakota is known for?

Just to be perverse, I didn't stop but I couldn't believe the number of "I've Been To Wall Drug!" bumper stickers I saw. :rofl:

[begin_within]

51. Free ice water!

[AllegroRondo]

61. when there nothing else for 200 miles in any direction

you can advertize like that.

[Bzzzz]

83. Gawd...I Was So Sick Of Seeing...

those Wall Drug signs and Corn Palace signs...uggghhh

[Richard Steele]

146. Ah, that brings one to mind- "South of the Border".

I saw SotB bumper stickers and billboards my entire life;
I had imagined it must be some HUGE amusement park or
somesuch.

It isn't. :(

[WildEyedLiberal]

154. I see lots of them

And I live in ILLINOIS.

If I am ever out west I have to see this place, to see if it's worth all the hype!

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

213. Try South of the Border on 95

Pathetic collection of fireworks shops with a strange Mexican theme.

[jonnyblitz]

25. the Mona Lisa in the Louvre seemed tiny. maybe i am being

petty letting it's size taint my view of it. I guess i wanted it bigger. :shrug: the crowd surrounding it was big though. Da Vinci Code madness...

[swimboy]

31. Go down the street and see Whistler's mother

she's fucking enormous.

[Zookeeper]

172. I had the same reaction...

but was probably more put off by the hordes of people standing in front of it. Meanwhile, the paintings on either side ('can't remember now what they were) struck me as being equally impressive and everyone was ignoring them.

(Of course, I was three months pregnant, nauseous, and really, really crabby. :( )

[hunter]

26. The Statue of Liberty. It was really, really creepy.

Land of the free and the brave, my ass. We live in a police state, inhabited by a fearful people who want the government to "protect" them.

The terrorists won, that was obvious. We seem to care more about a metal statue than our freedoms.

[asthmaticeog]

36. You're fucking mental.

Step away from the Jello Biafra record and lighten up, it's a Lounge thread about tourist traps for fuck's sake.

[hunter]

54. ;)

Who's Jello Biafra?

[KitchenWitch]

27. The "London Bridge" at Lake Havasu Arizona

They make such a big deal of advertising that they have the London Bridge, and we go there, and it was like "meh".

[begin_within]

47. Pretty boring, I agree.

[regnaD kciN]

199. That bridge was boring even when I saw it in London back in 1965...

Tower Bridge was spectacular, but London Bridge was just an ordinary garden-variety bridge, probably not all that different from several hundred bridges in the U.S. built in cities with rivers running through the middle of them.

[DS1]

30. GatorLand

somewhere in Floriduh

[AlCzervik]

32. The Alamo, much smaller than i expected.

[Arugula Latte]

90. But did you see the basement?

;)

[Radio_Lady]

140. The Alamo. We stayed at the hotel behind the Alamo.

The windows of the room looked out on this landmark.

The Alamo was completely covered with scaffolding and wasn't open to the public that weekend (1995 or 96.)

Ultimately, we came back to San Antonio and did see this landmark "in the flesh"!

[lost-in-nj]

34. The White House....

I went with my daughters Girl Scout troop.
The rooms were small and tacky. The decor was embarrassing
and it was just plain boring.....
the only real cool thing was the display of China settings picked by each first lady
I forget who the Pres. was when we went... :blush: :blush:

I will have to try and figure out what year it was....

lost

[swag]

35. Oh, good one. When I toured the White House in 1969 as an 8 year-old

I felt the same disappointment.

[Shell Beau]

45. I have to say I was also disappointed. I was only able to see about 4 rooms.

Of course this was after 9-11, but still. Kind of a waste, but I had to do it just to say I did it!

[TZ]

52. I enjoyed my tour of the White House

Of course this was 1978, I was 9 and I also I didn't exactly get the same tour as the public as my Aunt was working there at the time (my group was just my family with my aunt...). We didn't get to go waay off the tour but we certainly saw stuff that most of the public doesn't get to see. I still to this day remember one blue room with gorgeous china, although I can't remember the name of that particular room

[ElizabethDC]

94. Me too. I found the White House very underwhelming.

I guess because I had been to Europe before I ever went to DC, I had seen so many big, beautiful palaces and things - maybe I expected the WH to be a tad more impressive.

[regnaD kciN]

200. I actually liked that the White House was not all that special...

Unlike a European palace, it's the home of a President, not a King. (Of course, the occupant at the time I visited -- Tricky Dick -- as well as the current resident undoubtedly wish that wasn't the case.)

[sanguinivorous]

203. (generic Washington remark lumped in with the others)

I went to Washington, D.C. a few years back and I remember being ticked off that the all the edges of the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial were clogged up with floating mats of algae and the occasional piece of garbage.

[applegrove]

37. Plymouth Rock near boston. Was patched up with cement and had

graphitti on it.

[mwdem]

38. Cadillac Ranch, outside of Amarillo.

The cars were covered with graffiti, and painted blue instead of pink!

[swag]

40. When I went in 1986, they were covered with rust coat primer underneath

the graffiti.

I did very much like it. It was the summer solstice, and I took some video. I should youtube that shit for my own amusement.

Sorry it sucked for you.

[mwdem]

42. This was in 1991.

Apparently, they change them periodically, because they were pink a few years later, still covered with graffiti. I think it was 10 years later. I need another road trip!

[jobycom]

113. They are painted different colors at different times.

Marsh (or whoever paints them) paints them white from time to time, and the graffiti is part of the "artistic statement." The idea is that it's living, interactive art with a cultural statement.

I love the place. I think it's brilliant. I've seen it several times, and for some reason, I wind up staying there for an hour or longer. I met a trucker there once when it was covered in snow who said he'd been stopping there for years, and rarely passed it up. He said it was different every time he saw it--the lighting, the seasons, the graffiti, the crowds, the lack of crowds, the traffic on the Interstate, all made it different, all made a statement.

Some people feel something there, and others, nothing. I guess that's the way most things are.

[mwdem]

178. Don't get me wrong, it is a cool place,

I was disappointed the first time I saw it, not what I expected at all. I still stop there when I'm out that way. I've never seen anyone else there when I've stopped, which made it surreal.

[spinbaby]

43. Gettysburg

About 40 years ago now, our school did a field trip to Gettysburg. Nothing but empty fields and a guide telling us what happened here. I'm sure it's all very interesting, bu there was nothing to look at but fields and a few rocks and trees.

[bikebloke]

46. The Taj Mahal & Jordan River

I always thought they were much bigger.

The Jordan's a creek. Though with all the water siphoned off, I'd be surprised if there was still a trickle.

[begin_within]

49. Worst disappointment of all...

The Salton Sea, in southern California. It's hard to believe this was once a "Hollywood playground." Now it's just a huge, polluted lake with dead fish and a terrible smell. And it's extremely hot there for half of the year. What a disgrace. Supposedly it would cost billions to clean it up and restore it, but nobody seems to want to come up with the money.

[XemaSab]

77. Good call

That place is appalling.

I can't believe I've been there like, 6 or 7 times. :P

[Throd]

55. The Watts Towers

I was expecting them to be much taller. Apparently every photo I had seen was taken in such a way as to exaggerate their height. Still, I gotta respect the guy's effort.

[MikeH]

100. I saw the Watts Towers on the way to a DU gathering

The Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn Station of the Metro Rail LACMTA Blue Line, according to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Towers">Wikipedia article about the Watts Towers.

I took the Amtrak train from San Diego to Los Angeles, and then the LACMTA Blue Line from Los Angeles down to Long Beach to go to a DU gathering in Long Beach last February. I noticed the Watts Towers from the 103rd Street station. It was interesting to notice them, but I was not particularly overawed.

[NewWaveChick1981]

58. Stonehenge, for the simple fact that I thought it would be much, much larger.

I always had it in my head that it was HUGE. Not so. :( It was still incredibly cool to be there, and the Salisbury Plain is gorgeous, but it almost felt like that scene in Spinal Tap where Stonehenge was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. :rofl: Well, not exactly, but that's the image I had. :rofl:

[stuntcat]

162. The crowd had something to do with it maybe

I loved going there because it's one of my favorite places in the whole world! but all the buses nearby and the crowd lined up to walk near it took away from it I think.

[NewWaveChick1981]

164. I think that might have been it.

I loved it too and don't regret going for a second, but the crowds and the loonies out there detracted from the experience. The fact that you can't get anywhere near the stones (ostensibly BECAUSE of the loonies :eyes:) makes it a little less enjoyable as well.

[Jimbo S]

63. Bureau of Engraving and Printing

D.C.

OK, not as sexy of a locale as others listed. Wait in line two hours for a tour to see money being made and all we got was a ten minute walk through the halls and didn't get to see much other than federal employess slacking off at work.

[JTG of the PRB]

66. The Statue of Liberty

Not the entire statue, but rather the view from the top. I went to New York with my family in spring, 2001 during my senior year of high school. One of the days we went to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. My father and I decided to go to the top of the Statue of Liberty, since neither of us had ever done it before.

It took us probably an hour and a half or two hours to get to the top. The staircase inside the statue is pretty much a terrible experience if you're claustrophobic, like me and my father are - though his case is worse than mine. We basically spent most of the time on that narrow, winding stairwell with one hand on the stair on front of us, the other hand on the railing, both feet planted firmly, and faces down toward the stairs, not daring to look around.

Anyway, after the long, tiring, dizzying climb to the top, we got into the head of the Statue o liberty and were greeted by a view of what looked to be... new jersey. I don't know if it's actually New jersey or not, but the view from the top is just pathetic. I'm glad I climbed to the top, but I doubt I'll be doing it again.

Everything else at Liberty Island was great.

[Book Lover]

139. Yeah, and how did you like the swaying to and fro?

I went there on the obligatory third-grade school trip. The swaying terrified me...

[JTG of the PRB]

143. I didn't actually experience any swaying.

Whether that's because there wasn't any swaying, or because I just didn't notice, I can't say. Thankfully, I DIDN'T notice any, or else that climb would have been a LOT worse!

[Kali]

67. Tombstone

Now it IS a hoot and fun to go laugh at, but as a historical site - meh.

My favorite are the stage coach rides, complete with driver to passenger compartment wireless intercom. (so they can tell you who's house you are rolling by)

[Drum]

71. the Great Wall of China

No, don't misunderstand me, I'm completely impressed by the thing itself, but the experience was not so good...

On tour in China, back in the mid '90s...we drove from Beijing. From 1/4 mile out of the "access" point our little bus was beset by hawkers and vendors, practically pushing souvenirs into our windows. This never let up, and when we finally could park and disembark we were mobbed with people selling us things. The entire entry point was full of tacky T-shirt vendors and stands, everyone straining to sell sell sell. The brief walk on the Wall itself was grand, but we just couldn't get beyond the crowds and the merchants. :(

You've gotta go a long looong way to get a view anything like this:


:shrug:

[NewJeffCT]

87. When climbing the Great Wall

I found the amazing thing to be the inconsistency of the steps: Some are very tall, but not at all wide; others are short and wide; some are normal; others are very tall; some are barely steps at all... I would certainly not let a young child climb the wall, or if somebody was afraid of heights.

But, when I went in 2004, they confined the vendors to certain areas of the wall - so, each time there was an area where it leveled off, you had some vendor selling t-shirts and other paraphenalia. The only time I ever remember being mobbed by vendors hawking things was when our tour bus got caught in a thunderstorm and people were all trying to sell us umbrellas. We ended up buying one for $1 and it's actually been the best umbrella I've ever had. It is still intact, and I have really bad luck with umbrellas, otherwise. I've even bought really nice, extra strong ones that seem to fall apart in a stiff breeze in my hands.

[terrya]

79. The White House

The first time I saw it, it looked so...small.

[XemaSab]

80. This is blasphemy, but the Everglades

Buggy, not scenic, very few birds. :(

"Flamingo" which is on the map as a small town looks like a bomb hit it.

You can't really hike around because the mosquitos are in swarming mobs. (And yes, we did Snake Bight and it was a nightmare).

These are the birds we saw in the main part of the park in three days: Great White Heron, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Pine Warbler, Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Snail Kite, Semipalmated Plover, and Wilson's Plover.

I was expecting a big mossy swamp, but no. All the trees are pinner and growing in shitty little clumps.



Sanibel and the Keys beat the crap out of the 'glades hands down.

[pitohui]

123. when did you go?

isn't it a winter destination? "wood stork" suggests you visited at the wrong time

[XemaSab]

135. First week of May

:P

Spring migration was teh epic at the other spots, but not so there.

[pitohui]

191. seems a little late to me

seems like april would be much better but i dunno

so much of catching a good migration is timing

[sarge43]

158. Agree

We have a more impressive swamp in our back yard every spring.

[Bzzzz]

82. Man, Do I Have To Agree With You...

it was a very big disapointment to me. Crazy Horse was awesome, though. We went 3 times while at Sturgis a couple of years ago. The laser light show on the mountain at night was great! I also have to agree with the poster who mentioned Plymouth Rock...not the rock I was expecting to see, but we did enjoy Salem very much. We went in October and they celebrate Halloween all month!!

[NewJeffCT]

89. Stone Mountain in Georgia

I later found out that it was a site used by the KKK in the past... which is curiously absent from tourism brochures - we were looking for a place in Georgia to stop & see on our drive down to Florida. We had stopped at one or two other sites on the way down and were taking a long drive down. I think we had spent like a day & a half in Colonial Williamsburg, VA and then made our way down to Stone Mountain.

[TommyO]

91. I actually thought that Stone Mountain was kinda cool

It's like another world on top of that granite dome.

[RebelOne]

214. The very first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kentucky.

Nothing there but a small building and a big KFC sign.

[av8rdave]

109. I've always thought of Stone Mountain as the world's largest second place trophy

[DrDan]

208. are you comparing it to Mt Rushmore?

if so, the reliefs are larger on Stone Mountain, I believe.

[EstimatedProphet]

84. The Giant Thermometer in Baker CA

If you're driving the Vegas-LA trip, about 1/3 of the way from Vegas you'll start picking up 1 radio station, and every 10 minutes there's a plug for the Giant Thermometer. The ad includes interviews with a stream of people that repeatedly say "It's so big!" when asked to describe it.

Nothing says excitement like a 30 foot high neon thermometer next to a gas station.

[Sequoia]

93. The Morman Tabernacle...smaller than the photos.

Of course I couldn't get in but the city sure is clean and prudy. I took the Amtrack there because I just love American History and that was the place all the wagon trains went through to rest and stock up for the last leg to Calyfornia. The land was brown, grey and bleak and must've been very boring to see it from a slow moving calistoga wagon. The statue of the sea gulls was cool though. I talked to some young Morman ladies about how I discoved the Book of Morman under a rock when I was on a hike and turned the rock over to sit a spell. I dusted it off and took it home and put it on my book shelf where a vistor who saw it told me I oughta get rid of the Devil's book. I just laughed at him. I'm not Morman but I wanted to check it out. Interesting enough I'm reading "Under the Banner of Heaven", by Jon Krakauer which is about the fundlementalist Latter Day Saints. That Jospeh Smith was a sex maniac.

[TZ]

95. Washington Monument

Its hot and cramped with not so big windows that someone who is short like me had trouble looking out. Though the view is nice.

[swag]

97. Oh, good point. I went there when you could still walk up (if you wanted to)

and down (like my family did) the stairs, and all the different sculptures and plaques from the states were fun to look at, though people had vandalized them quite badly, bashing the heads off of all the eagles and stuff.

I think they closed the stairwell access some time in the 1980s.

[Fire Walk With Me]

101. Earth.

[lips]

102. Four Corners (U.S.)

The area of the formerly Spanish/Mexican territories that comprise the Southwest corner of Colorado, the Northwest corner of New Mexico, the Northeast corner of Arizona, and the Southeast corner of Utah.



The area surrounding looked like scene out of Carnivale, with craft booths lining a small courtyard filled with red dust and people made of dust... Maybe not so much disappointing, but it informed a my sense of depression a great deal, even though I was wee at the time.:thumbsdown:

[begin_within]

126. What's more, it's not even in the right location.

The actual spot where the four corners come together is up in the hills nearby, in a hard-to-reach spot. So they just put the marker on the flat, easy-to-reach place where it is. That's according to a TV special I saw about it. When we stopped there in 1968, there was nothing there except the flat platform with the markers on it, and a couple regular highway guardrails around it to preven people from driving over it. Nothing else - no railings, no buildings whatsoever, and no admission fee. Just a few Indian kids hanging around hoping to sell blankets and other crafts. Now it costs $3 per person.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

103. I agree - Mt. Rushmore was most underwhelming

Much ado about, well, not so much.

[GOPisEvil]

104. The freaking Alamo.

Now, Mission National Park in San Antonio is FANTASTIC, but the Alama is sorta...meh...I mean, everyone SHOULD see it, just to say they have, and there is SOME history there, but overall...meh...

[femmocrat]

106. Southernmost Point in Key West.

Kind of a dumb looking marker, and no place to park. And you can't even see Cuba! (j.k. about Cuba)

[WinkyDink]

107. Grand Canyon.

[Zomby Woof]

There are literally countless views

The time of day, the weather, just which specific point on the rim (north or south) you stand on... so many variances and hues and shadows and angles... there is no way to see it the same way twice. On a hazy day, in the brightest of sunlight, its color and depth are compromised a bit, but its overwhelming size and scale still have impact.

Watching the sunset there on the south rim, on a path away from the main tourist areas, was a sublime experience burned in my memory and soul.

[WinkyDink]

129. You make it sound beautiful. Maybe some day I'll get back there. :)

[Duppers]

205. well put, Zwoof

I totally agree with you and should have read your post before sounding off below. :blush:

[KitchenWitch]

142. I was in the Grand Canyon for the first time a month ago

I absolutely loved it.

The strata and colors of the rock face were amazing.

[lips]

190. Honestly????

The Grand Canyon is the ants antennae, yo. Last time I was there we hike out onto this stone bridge that connected the main cliff area and a giant pillar, which created what looked like a dome erroded by water underneath the bridge. Once the tour reached the pillar clouds began to form and near the end of being spoken at by the guide they'd fully condense and it was possible to see small electrical storms swirling around inside the cloud. It was quite fascinating.

[Duppers]

204. were you actually there??

You are only the 2nd person whom I heard ever say that. (the first one was an uppity, one-upmanship bitch who wanted to contradict every thing I said.)

Most people, including myself, were awestruck by THE Canyon. Film cannot capture its magnificent expanse, its hues and nuances of color, its sounds, its depth. It's like some organic painting. Its valley is so varied too. And the river---wow, the river and its tremulous, rocking waves.

It never bored me.

So, I'm puzzled by your admission here.

[Zookeeper]

219. I've seen it a couple of times, even did the mule ride down to...

the bottom.

I still like Zion and Bryce Canyon more.

[Critters2]

111. Salem, Mass

With the exception of the Peabody Museum, a total, tacky tourist trap. And such interesting history, if they hadn't felt the need to muck it up. Huge disappointment.

[jmm]

125. I use to live there and I have to agree.

The saddest part is that there still is some great stuff there but hardly anybody knows about it because only the tacky tourist stuff gets hyped up and promoted.

[Liberal_in_LA]

148. The tourist trap was underwhelming but the town was quaint.

[jobycom]

114. Nothing I remember. I'm amazed by everything.

The whole freaking world is beautiful to me. Growing up, I heard a lot of mockery of big cities and the north. New York was a cesspool, Yankees were rude--all the stuff you hear southerners say (especially during the 70s).

But none of it is like that. I love the freaking world. I love riding on grimy subways in New York, or seeing the big hole in the ground in Arizona, or the great historical monuments that shaped--if not the world--the hearts of humanity. I love the tacky, artificial crap people build all along the highways of the world just to trap tourists into spending a buck. To me it's the human character, the human soul, all laid out in its most vulnerable and glorious beauty.

The world is beautiful, people are amazing, and life is wonderful, and I'm rarely disappointed when I travel.

And the times I have been disappointed, I just barely remember, if at all. I'd rather remember what makes me happy.

[Book Lover]

141. You, sir, are inspirational

[jobycom]

168. Nah. Just happy. nt

[fishwax]

192. that strikes me as rather kerouac-i-an

and I pretty much agree completely :toast:

[american_typeculture]

115. George Washington birthplace.

House is not the real one, it was built in the 1930s or sometime.

[Godhumor]

119. Monticello

For the price I paid I was expecting a bit more...accuracy. Nothing like having a total of 2 shelves of books that were actually Jefferson's.

I will say, watching the tour guide try to play down the whole "Jefferson had a baby with a slave" thing was pretty entertaining.

[Zomby Woof]

121. He gave away most of his books

The Library of Congress was started with his donation. He lost others to fire. Those "two shelves" (they rotate what is on exhibit) are what is remaining of what is safe for public view, and not at the LOC or at the UVA.

I love Monticello. I have been there 4 times since 1980, and it never struck me the same way twice.

[Mad_Dem_X]

173. I loved Monticello

I've been there twice. Of course, I'm a total Thomas J. groupie. :)

[ruiner4u]

128. South of the Border..

around the NC/SC state line...


I was very let down after seeing billboards for it for 200 freaking miles..

[begin_within]

133. It's pretty cheesy,

but if you look at it from that standpoint, and groove on the cheesiness and tackiness of it all, it's kind of fun for an hour. Or just watch the movie "Forces of Nature" with Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock, which has several scenes there.

[sarge43]

157. SotB wasn't disappointing

It was even tackier than I thought it would be. In a way, it's America's Id.

[stuntcat]

166. I grew up there

A few miles away in Lumberton.
All those signs.. they lie.

[uppityperson]

131. Wall. 150 miles to wall, 100 miles to wall, 2 miles to wall, WALL! wtf? nt

[LTR]

132. Wall Drug, Universal Studios and the Petrified Forest

1. Any tacky tourist attraction advertised on a South Dakota billboard, including Wall Drug (good water, though) and the 80 foot dinosaur outside the nearby gas station. We didn't stop for the Elvis museum or the Corn Palace.

2. Universal Studios, Hollywood - Okay, not really a historic landmark, basically an amusement park with really, really boring rides. Only things I recall are seeing the Bates house from "Psycho," the Knight Rider Trans Am and a really, really lame ride based on "Back To The Future." Perhaps the most boring amusement park I've ever been to. Should have gone to Magic Mountain.

3. The Petrified Forest, somewhere in Arizona. Kinda boring. Just a bunch of crystalized logs scattered around a field.

4. The Arena Football Hall of Fame, Des Moines, IA - At the time, it was basically some glass display windows on the outside of the downtown shopping mall. Homeless people were probably the biggest gawkers.

[enigmatic]

136. Wayne Newton

But to be fair, I think it was just an off-night for him...

[NaturalHigh]

137. The Alamo.

I went to see it during a day pass while I was in basic training. It was one of the great disappointments of my life.

[Radio_Lady]

138. The Parthenon in Greece. We went at night for a dinner and light show.

1. It was much colder up there than we thought. I was shivering we hadn't been warned about the temperature. I usually don't mind the cold.

2. The English translation of the story of the Parthenon and Greece was garbled, hard to hear, with the description constructed in Gringlish (Greek translated to English) and ultimately useless.

3. There was some kind of tree which was emitting a very foul odor (I hate to think of what it smelled like -- acrid and evil). I felt like throwing up, but...

4. Our dinner prior to this event took place in Piraeus. It was so bad we ended up having only a few vegetables for dinner. The fish stank to high heaven and was full of bones.

We were so disappointed that we asked for our money back, and they did refund it.

[Drum]

149. I can concur about Athens in general....

I was appalled at how little of "ancient" Greece seemed evident, except for the many faux statuettes that were sold everywhere. Couldn't believe how eager folks there were to claim the heritage and glory of it, yet they had so readily paved over it all. WTF? Thank goodness for the botanical park there...I enjoyed that a lot.

On my first day there, it snowed, heavily. I thought it was really neat and magical looking, and my first hike up to the Parthenon seemed cool to me (and probably cut down on the stinky tree aspect?)

But I hafta say, the Parthenon replica in Nashville seemed in much better shape. ;)

[Radio_Lady]

176. Great comments, nice to hear from you, Drum.

CU@theDU

[Duppers]

209. but Lady

you wrote only of your physical discomforts.

I imagine what you were frustrated about was that the present day Greeks did not care for an important icon of their history, an ancient and magnificent history which had an important influence on modern philosophy, as well as modern science. Not to mention its important architecture--its classical lines.

Some times we have to climb through garbage to view a treasure.

Sorry you were disappointed.

[Ptah]

144. Not quite the same thing, but when I was about 5, we went to the Sweetgrass Hills.

I thought my ma said "Look at the moving cactus."

She actually said "Look at the blooming cactus."

It was a disappointment.

[JCMach1]

145. Tower of London-

It's ugly and was the historical equivalent of Abu Ghraib...

Only cool thing was the Ravens.

[stuntcat]

165. the Ravens

zactly! :headbang: my favorite part too

[Duppers]

207. but that's exactly why it didn't disappoint me

it had been a place of death and I expected the dank ugliness.

[LibDemAlways]

151. Mt. St. Michel in France. What a tourist trap. The guidebook

said to be sure and have a world famous Mt. St. Michel omelet. Geez, the thing looked and tasted like a seat cushion. Total rip-off.

[DarkTirade]

153. The second biggest ball of twine in the world.

... long story.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

156. Then there's the "Tucumcari Tonight!" Billboard in New Mexico.

Like there's something there.

[KatyMan]

159. The Springfield Tire Fire...

I don't know, just wasn't fiery enough, I guess...

[underpants]

180. Vote Quimby!

[KatyMan]

187. :)

[fishwax]

194. next time you're there, skip the tire fire and check out the lemon tree

[Saphire]

160. Rock City.......after hundreds of miles of anticipation.

[stuntcat]

163. the Liberty Bell (?)

it's a cool thing, don't get me wrong!

[dembotoz]

167. alamo

but not for the reasons listed above.
Was at a convention is a big hotel bout a block away.
At these things I would always walk around the area early in the morning looking for a cheaper breakfast than the hotel was offering.
about a block from the alamo the local cops were loading a homeless man who had died on the streets during the night into a meat wagon.
What is my main memory of the alamo?
Death for a homeless person.
That is generally not in the guidebooks

[HERVEPA]

171. the Skinner's Birthplace Monument

[swag]

174. What, you weren't expecting a manger?

[Duppers]

210. hahaaaaaaaaaaa!

good one, very good!

[lost-in-nj]

175. In my post

#34 I said the White House and I was going to find out the year I went
We went in 1995 and Bill Clinton was Pres.


lost

[LibertyLover]

177. Chalice Well

at Glastonbury and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

[Duppers]

211. my mother said the same thing

She had wanted to go to the "Holy Land" for so many years, so she had it really built up in her mind that it would probably glow, glisten, and angels would be swarming around. ;-)

I've not been there, but I wouldn't go either. Not my thing.

[idgiehkt]

184. all of them

I can't stand that kind of thing. Monticello was fascinating but that is a home.

[flvegan]

185. South of the Border. Pedro is a lying sack of shit.

[Arkham House]

186. Disneyland's "Matterhorn"...

...just a fake replica od a mountain...

[mcscajun]

188. Not exactly a landmark, but I visited Dublin last year and saw the Book of Kells

Let's just say I was underwhelmed. :shrug:

Now the Crown Jewels (I saw them in London in 1999) They were something! As was the Capitol Building in D.C., the first time I saw it light against the night sky, the Jefferson Memorial framed by cherry blossoms, and the statue of Lincoln at the Memorial. (I was very young on my first real tour of Washington: senior year in H.S.)

Other landmarks that impressed me: Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon, the Red Rock area near Sedona, AZ, the Golden Gate Bridge, Niagara Falls.

Internationally: The Tower of London, Hampton Court, The Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the Twelve Bens (both in the Connemara).

[Bjornsdotter]

189. The Little Mermaid

....she was a lot smaller than I thought she would be, then again I was a small child. I thought she would sit majestically in the harbor, not so...she just a few feet off shore. It was also very disappointing to see her without her head. I've also seen her with red paint thrown at her.



Scroll down to see how close she is to shore.

http://www.copenhagenpictures.dk/mermaid.html

Cheers

[Hugin]

193. The Geographic Center of The Continental United States of America...

In Kansas.

I fell off the monument while climbing it and skinned up my hands and knees pretty
severely.

Bad case of Road-trip Rash. :o

[XemaSab]

198. Bummer dude.

:P

[Hugin]

215. That's what I get for trying to act out famous scenes from movies...

I didn't see all the gravel up there.

It was like this, "LOOK MA, I'M ON TOP OF THE WOOOORRR... *splat*" :)

[Liberal Veteran]

195. Oro Grande National Forest

[struggle4progress]

196. Don't drive halfway across the country just to see the Gafney peach

[DrDan]

206. abu simbel

You can enter the mountain behind the monument - it is hollow and artificial. It was like DisneyWorld.

A fake mountain.

[seemunkee]

212. Le Manneqin Pis in Belgium

Its a little statue on a dirty street corner in Brussels.

[LynneSin]

216. Niagara Falls....

...mind you, the falls themselves are absolutely stunning and beautiful, but the rest of Niagara Falls (I was on the Canadian Side) was like the worst of Las Vegas and a bad beach town boardwalk combined.

My hotel was next door to the Wax Museum of Seriel Killers

[Hugin]

218. And you wasted your time looking at the falls?

"My hotel was next door to the Wax Museum of Seriel Killers"

:rofl:

[Art_from_Ark]

220. Dodge City, Kansas

especially Boot Hill-- what a disappointment that was.

And Fisherman's Wharf was a let-down. But I liked the way those San Francisco girls liked to bare all in Golden Gate Park :evilgrin:

[Justitia]

221. Hoover Dam. Bits of Art Deco were nice, 'tho. Didn't do the tour. -eom