# Offbeat Places You'd Like To Visit **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/41 "2009-01-05T20:44:01Z")
Oak Island. I want the treasure. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/42 "2009-01-05T20:48:27Z")
> [@Cyn](#): > > 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? You should wait until summer and go to the Big Dog Parade. Thousands of dogs and their owners march down State Street. Some of the dogs are in costumes or groups of breeds but most just go alone. It’s a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/43 "2009-01-05T20:49:54Z")
Mayor’s Income, Tennessee, just for the name, and St Helena, because it is so far away from anything else. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/44 "2009-01-05T20:57:46Z")
Siberia, to the capitol city, in the summer time… Katmandu, the city - no idea if it’s mud huts or skyscrapers, but people obviously go there… I’m interested in those European countries you never hear much about - Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium… And anywhere in South America - I NEVER hear about anyone going there… And Cuba - someday we’ll be able to visit… Mexico City - I’ve read it’s a beautiful city if you disregard the traffic, crime, and hideous air pollution! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/45 "2009-01-05T20:59:16Z")
I’d like to go to North Korea. I’d like to go to Toronto, Australia. Probably on my way to Coober Pedy. I’d like to ride that train that was featured near the end of the movie _Wanted_. There’s one scene where the train is on a Eiffel-style steel arch bridge in a vertical canyon between two tunnels. It looks like somewhere in the Balkans, but for all I know could be CGI. In which case I’m out of luck. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Nuuk, Greenland. Or any settlement in Greenland. Why? Because I know next to nothing about Greenland, you don’t hear much about it, yet it’s that big landmass taking up half the Mercator projection, so I want to see what there is(n’t) there. I know someone who knows someone who knows Miss Greenland. 🙂 Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to effectively use this information. But it sparked an interest in Greenland for me as well. I was sad when they ended scheduled air service from Iqaluit, Canada, to Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/46 "2009-01-05T21:01:11Z")
I’d also like to go to the area around Chernobyl, but I’m not crazy about radiation exposure. ---
**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 5, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/47 "2009-01-05T21:02:58Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I want to see [Kaskaskia, IL](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskaskia,_IL), for similar reasons. I think **Cecil** even mentioned it in a column. [It’s cursed, too!](http://www.prairieghosts.com/kaskaskia.html) I even started a thread about Kaskaskia once, too. I’d like to visit. It’s still not as odd as Kentucky Bend tho, as you can get to it without leaving Illinois, by air or water. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/48 "2009-01-05T21:05:58Z")
> [@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 as well but the town is in England. If I only travel outside of the US, besides Mexica and Canada, once in my life it will be to there. And an extra bonus for me is that there is a Historical “Surname” House there that gives tours and I will go on that tour and once we are in the house I will demand that all these strangers get the hell outa my house and offa my lawn. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/49 "2009-01-05T21:24:26Z")
I’d love to visit India. Not sure how ‘offbeat’ that is, but compared to my current residence in North Florida, it may as well be a different planet. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/50 "2009-01-05T21:35:08Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I even started a thread about Kaskaskia once, too. I’d like to visit. > > It’s still not as odd as Kentucky Bend tho, as you can get to it without leaving Illinois, by air or water. Google earth has some interesting images on Kentucky Bend, or New Madrid Bend, or Madrid Bend…theRe are some interesting stories about Kentucky bend on the google earth community. If you have google earth check it out. There are farms on that little swatch of land…and roads like Tony Toehead Road. Interesting! Try messing around on Google earth lots of interesting places. ! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/51 "2009-01-05T21:37:40Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’d like to go to Toronto, Australia. Probably on my way to Coober Pedy. I’ve been to Toronto, New South Wales, many times, as well as to the city in Ontario that it was named after. It’s not really on the way to Coober Pedy, and not really all that exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/52 "2009-01-05T21:43:20Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’ve been to Toronto, New South Wales, many times, as well as to the city in Ontario that it was named after. It’s not really on the way to Coober Pedy, and not really all that exciting. I live in Toronto, Ontario. From my viewpoint, Toronto, Australia, _is_ on the way to Coober Pedy. 🙂 Mostly, I’d just like to take a picture of myself in front of the ‘Welcome to Toronto, population 50 000’ (or whatever) sign when visiting Toronto, Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/53 "2009-01-05T21:45:24Z")
‘Everywhere’ isn’t really a valid answer, is it? Umm… I’d like to see the tomb of Jesus in Japan. Whatever lost foreigner managed to scam a whole village into thinking he was some sorta deity deserves props in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/54 "2009-01-05T22:02:54Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > I want to see the Isle of Lewis in - I believe, the Western Isles - of Scotland. I’d like to see the Callanish stones on the summer solstice. Yup, Lewis is one of the Western Isles, more specifically one of the Outer Hebrides. Callanish is a good place to visit - at the solstice it’ll be busy, lots of hippy types, but friendly though. If you do go to Lewis in the summer, head for the Atlantic coast - there are some extraordinary beaches there with white sand and water of the deepest blue. Very Caribbean, except that the water is, well, North Atlantic temperature. Empty too, for the most part. > [@](#): > > Then I’d like to go and see the Orkney Isles, which I read about in The Crow Road and The Once and Future King. I know they have standing stones there too but I don’t recall the names. Prentice McHoan’s home town in _The Crow Road_ isn’t on Orkney, it’s pretty much set in a made-up-west-coast-town in Argyll. Oban is the best real life equivalent, I think. But you must go to Orkney. Someone upthread wanted to go camping on the “tundra” there, but Mainland is actually really quite lush and green, with good farmland and even some trees. Again great beaches. but this time with added enormous cliffs and sea stacks. The best preserved and largest stone circle is The Ring of Brodgar, but you should also see Skara Brae which is a 5000 year old Neolithic settlement and the Italian Chapel which is only sixty-odd years old but is wonderful. There’s masses of other ancient stuff lying around all over the islands. > [@](#): > > Then I want to go and see Nine Stanes - also in Scotland -because I like the pictures I’ve seen of it. I’ve never before heard of these stones (there are many, many stone circles and standing stones), but the photos I’ve just googled show that they are in a really lovely setting. Hope you get to come over some time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/55 "2009-01-05T22:04:31Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I live in Toronto, Ontario. From my viewpoint, Toronto, Australia, _is_ on the way to Coober Pedy. 🙂 > > Mostly, I’d just like to take a picture of myself in front of the ‘Welcome to Toronto, population 50 000’ (or whatever) sign when visiting Toronto, Australia. The population of Toronto is more like 5,000. What you could get as a souvenir is a train ticket from Hamilton, NSW, to Toronto, NSW. They are about 26 km apart, and an off-peak return is just $6.60. (But the last part of the journey is by bus, since the branch railway line to Toronto, off the main Sydney to Newcastle line, closed about 20 years ago). Hamilton is one of the main inner suburbs of Newcastle – it’s where my other home is – as well as being the name of places in Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia (so that Hamilton is the Springfield of Australia). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/56 "2009-01-05T23:39:48Z")
[The](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_0627.JPG%22%5B/url) [Salton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salton_Sea_NewRiver.jpg) [. People used to come here for vacations, and there were hotels, marinas, and cocktail lounges. Film stars would come out from L.A. to enjoy the desert sun and water sports. A couple of the Beach Boys kept boats there. [url="[File:Salton Sea Buildings.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salton_Sea_Buildings.jpg)]How it used to be]([File:Salton Sea Buildings.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salton_Sea_Buildings.jpg)). But now it’s a sort of bizarre, post-apocalyptic wasteland in miniature. A few people still live there, and there are some campgrounds, but the trappings of the old tourist days are long gone. ---
**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, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/57 "2009-01-05T23:40:10Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’ve been to Toronto, New South Wales, many times, as well as to the city in Ontario that it was named after. It’s not really on the way to Coober Pedy, and not really all that exciting. I was there over Christmas. And yes, it’s not really all that exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/58 "2009-01-05T23:40:16Z")
Dachshund Races at Germanfest in Milwaukee, WI. Because how can you go wrong with weiner dog races, especially when one of the catagories is puppy to 1 year. Look at the [6th and 7th pictures](http://www.germanfest.com/gallery/2007galleries/weinerdogs/index.html), from the left. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/59 "2009-01-05T23:43:11Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > > [@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 as well but the town is in England. If I only travel outside of the US, besides Mexica and Canada, once in my life it will be to there. If you haven’t, I strongly advise doing some research first, just in case it’s become something far less interesting than you imagine. Also, if you haven’t, check out [The Road to McCarthy](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-McCarthy-Pete/dp/0340766077/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231198929&sr=8-1). ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@Big\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832/60 "2009-01-06T00:13:11Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > [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. I may be repeating what has been said here, but I’ve been here many times, too. I had family a town or so over and we would drive through Centralia on our way to visit. It is now almost completely gone. Street after street of brick stairs that run from the curb to grass covered, overgrown foundations. Last time I was there, I think I may have seen a couple/three houses remaining. Years ago they had installed tall pipes from the ground to vent the smoke from the fire. These are still there as far as I know. There are places where the ground is hot to the touch. Yes, it is pretty creepy. I like Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. I consider it off beat just because of the history of their name. I do like it there, though I have never spent more than a couple days at a time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-places-youd-like-to-visit/479832.md?page=4)