# Offbeat Places You'd Like To Visit

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 4, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832 "2009-01-04T18:02:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/1 "2009-01-04T18:02:58Z")

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I want to visit places like Walvis Bay, because it has a cool name.

I also want to visit Clipperton Island, 'cause it’s so far away from everything

What offbeat places, based on absolutely nothing other than a name or idiotic reason would you like to visit 🙂

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### Author: ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/2 "2009-01-04T18:32:35Z")

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3 or 4 years ago, I stumbled on the Poodle Parade webpage. Held in Santa Barbara, CA on the second weekend in July is the French Festival, celebrating all things French. And on that Sunday, the Poodle parade gives poodle fanciers opportunity to bring their costumed poodles and faux poodles to be admired by all.  
Well. Who could say no to that? Yes, it’s hundreds of miles from where I live and no, I don’t have a poodle. I made up my mind to go alone if need be but I never have. Someone always wants to go because how many chances does one get to see poodles on parade?

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### Author: ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/3 "2009-01-04T18:45:40Z")

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There is a city in Australia that is named the same as my surname. I would like to visit there some day.

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### Author: ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/4 "2009-01-04T19:12:56Z")

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I want to go to Scilly and the Channel Islands and the really northern Scottish islands that are really… um, north. Just because I like islands and I like the UK.

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### Author: ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/5 "2009-01-04T19:27:12Z")

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Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Isle Royale, MI

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### Author: ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/6 "2009-01-04T19:33:26Z")

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[Kentucky Bend](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Bend), because it’s Kentucky, but you have to leave the rest of Kentucky to get to it, even by air or water.

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### Author: ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/7 "2009-01-05T01:45:36Z")

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Siberia or Paraguay, or maybe the barbed wire museum in Kansas.

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### Author: ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/8 "2009-01-05T02:51:05Z")

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[Heard Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heard_Island) or [Macquarie Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_island)

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### Author: ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/9 "2009-01-05T03:09:33Z")

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[Centralia, PA](http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm), the ‘ghost town’ where a coal mine fire has been burning underground since 1962. So creepy the town in _Silent Hill_ was based on it.

The Adult Video News Awards, basically the Oscars of the porn world, is held every year in Las Vegas. The thought of sitting in the audience and watching teary-eyed ingenues saying, “I want to thank God and my mom for helping me win Best Anal for 2009” or whatever just cracks me up. I think I will HAVE to go some year.

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### Author: ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/10 "2009-01-05T03:41:28Z")

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> [@drastic\_quench](#):
>
> Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Can I ask why? I grew up near Pt. Reyes and have been there a thousand times.

Pretty much everywhere I want to go is offbeat. I’m going to Colombia in February. Hey, that’s next month! w00t! Anyway, I’ve asked a bunch of my friends if they want to go with me and I’ve had several people seem interested in going to “South America”, but when I specify the country, they all back about. Hrmph. They’ll all be jealous when they see my pictures, though.

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### Author: ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/11 "2009-01-05T03:41:31Z")

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> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> What offbeat places, based on absolutely nothing other than a name or idiotic reason would you like to visit 🙂

Well, it’s not based on nothing, but I’ve always wanted to visit the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. And I can’t remember when I first became aware of them. But it would be very cool to go there, get a hut out on the tundra, as it were, and sleep beneath the stars, and look up at them in awesome wonder.

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### Author: ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/12 "2009-01-05T03:49:06Z")

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> [@ASAKMOTSD](#):
>
> There is a city in Australia that is named the same as my surname. I would like to visit there some day.

Same for me, only in Germany (maiden name). My uncle visited; evidently it’s a one horse town in Bavaria and the residents bought him free beer because of his name.

I was told this when I was a wee youngin’ and have saved a picture ID with my maiden name in hope of free beer when I arrive. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

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### Author: ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/13 "2009-01-05T03:59:41Z")

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Nag’s Head, N.C. Only for the name.

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### Author: ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/14 "2009-01-05T04:02:50Z")

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Ten years or so ago, a friend and I took a road trip to Ashtabula, Ohio, because of a Bob Dylan song. In _You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go_, Dylan sings “I’ll look for you in Honolulu, San Francisco, or Ashtabula.” We thought it was just a name that he made up to rhyme (kind of) with Honolulu; when we found out it was a real place, we decided to go see it for ourselves.

We didn’t find much in Ashtabula. After a couple of hours, we went on to Cleveland and caught an Indians game and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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### Author: ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/15 "2009-01-05T04:08:03Z")

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Heh- my middle name is Annan (grandmother’s maiden name), and when I went with my family to Annan, Scotland, we were the only Annans for miles around (except for the river, of course). 😃

I am not Jewish, but I want to take my kids and stay/work on a kibbutz in Israel for a month or so.

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### Author: ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/16 "2009-01-05T04:10:22Z")

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When I was in college I used to follow the Vladivostok daily online. It had a touching mix of small town news, abject horror, and charmingly failed translation. Since then I’ve wanted to visit.

Well, I might get my chance soon! It’s really not too crazy far.

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### Author: ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/17 "2009-01-05T04:12:30Z")

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Point Roberts, WA - a geographical oddity, being a chunk of US connected by land only to Canada, not unlike a mini Alaska, shorn from CONUS by the 49th parallel. Visiting Point Roberts is on the to do list within the next 8 months.

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### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/18 "2009-01-05T04:12:31Z")

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[Coober Pedy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=446206)

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### Author: ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/19 "2009-01-05T04:12:57Z")

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“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” Of course I’ve heard of San Francisco and Honolulu. But Ashtabula??? Wtf? Of course, Dylan mispronounces Honolulu as Honolula, no doubt so that he could rhyme it with Ashtabula. That ole slyboots!

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### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/20 "2009-01-05T04:14:00Z")

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> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#):
>
> Point Roberts, WA - a geographical oddity, being a chunk of US connected by land only to Canada, not unlike a mini Alaska, shorn from CONUS by the 49th parallel. Visiting Point Roberts is on the to do list within the next 8 months.

That’s a 30-mile drive from my house.

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