I love a quirky roadside attraction and found one in North Dakota.

Places like Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas and the Big Merino in Goulburn, NSW, Australia make for a fun respite from highway driving, as well as great photo opportunities. 

                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

On our end-of-summer road trip to North Dakota last month, I encountered an amazing series of roadside sculptures that should be on your “must see” list. If you are looking for roadside attractions, this is for you.

Seven gigantic metal sculptures, plus a whirligig in town, make up The Enchanted Highway, which spans just over 30 miles from exit 72 on Interstate 94 outside of Gladstone, North Dakota to the town of Regent.

We drove east on Interstate 94 from the town of Medora, ND, where we had visited Theodore Roosevelt National park. We got to the highway exit and turned off on the geese-lined drive to view Geese in Flight. After driving past almost 100 metal geese on posts, we came to a large parking area with an informational kiosk and the sculpture.  Plaques on the kiosk explain when it was made and who helped with the construction.  The Guinness Book of World Records states that this is the world’s largest outdoor scrap metal sculpture. The kiosk also has signs for the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop and Enchanted Castle Motel in Regent.

We crossed back over the interstate and headed south on the small farm road towards Gladstone. We stopped at each successive sculpture, spaced three to five miles apart. The most traffic we encountered were three or four giant farm machines and a few fellow sculpture-seekers.

Each sculpture has a turn off to a parking lot where you can walk around and view the sculptures up close. There are also places for the kids to play and the informational kiosk. I saw posts with signs for a cell phone tour but I didn’t take advantage of that.  The sculptures are massive and each one is different.

The Enchanted Highway is the brainchild of Gary Greff who wanted to attract more visitors to this quiet part of North Dakota. He conceives, designs and builds each of the installations with whatever materials he has sourced. He hopes to complete ten sculptures and is working on numbers eight and nine back in town.

 Don’t pass up the “Maze of Enchantment” or a chance to ride a giant grasshopper along the way.

In Regent, stop at the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop and Cafe. Outside, you can push the button and make the whirligig whirl. Inside the shop Gary himself might be serving up sandwiches and ice cream while you browse for “Enchanted Highway” branded souvenirs and t-shirts.

He will happily tell you about his next project: a knight and a dragon, in progress outside of the motel at the end of town. I donated $25 to the project, with Gary assuring me that he will put my name on the Donors plaque.

This is such an interesting piece of Americana and an amazing story of someone’s vision and perseverance.  It is well worth taking a detour to experience it.

I found out about these sculptures from these sites:

North Dakota Tourism:

https://www.ndtourism.com/regent/attractions/enchanted-highway

Roadside America:  https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2155

Atlas Obscura:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-highway

You can also see a CBS Morning New Story here:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/enchanted-highway-north-dakota-gary-greff-creates-roadside-sculpture-gallery-to-attract-tourists/

Contact me to start planning your heirloom-worthy vacation!