We have learned over the years is that there is almost always something fun/interesting/memorable to stop and see in between the “big” stops. Even on what seems like the most mundane drive, there are bound to be places that are worth a nice long stop. Here are a few of our favorite surprise stops on a road trip:
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park
We took an unplanned stop here when driving home (to Pittsburgh, PA) from Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky in 2016. It added only about 25 minutes of driving time to our 7-8ish hour day, very manageable. The Wright-Dunbar Visitors Center is in downtown Dayton, Ohio and is free to visit. It showcases the lives and work of Wilbur and Orville Wright, and of the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. It is possible for kids to earn a Junior Ranger pin here, which can be very exciting for elementary school aged kiddos. We learned a great deal about the Wright and Dunbar families. We spent about one hour visiting and wished we had more time to read the excellent exhibits in more detail. The park ranger staffing the front desk was very generous and gave the kids small flying toys. If you have time in your traveling day in western Ohio, this is a real gem. For more info, visit the park website at https://www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/fees.htm .
Marfa, TX
This west-Texas town is very surprising in many ways. We encountered Marfa when driving from Big Bend National Park to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in summer of 2017. It is known for some mysterious “ghost lights” that people view just south of town. It also has a thriving modern art scene with 17 art galleries/spaces. We stopped her for lunch and gas, not at all expecting to encounter such hipness. Marfa Burrito was a delicious place for lunch, be sure to bring cash and all of your Spanish language skills. After our excellent burritos, we made a short visit to Marfa Contemporary, a gallery that is in a restored gas station, http://www.marfacontemporary.org/home/exhibits/archive/jorge-mendez-blake/ . The exhibit included art by Jorge Mendez Blake, who is heavily influenced by literature, especially Kafka. I feel pretty sure that the Respect the Van crowd is not their target audience but the host was gracious and admission is free, so why not stop? We even ran into a former Pittsburgher while walking near the town square! She recognized the image of the three rivers on my tee shirt. For more info about visiting Marfa, check out their website: http://www.visitmarfa.com/
Mabry Mill
This is a known stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway in southern Virginia, about an hour-ish from Roanoke. From the Parkway brochures, we expected to see an old mill building for a few minutes and were very pleasantly surprised to find much more than that. During the summer months, they have living history on site with a working blacksmith, wool-spinning, wool-carding just to name a few. The blacksmith was especially friendly and enjoyed hearing about our travels along the parkway. There is a restaurant, ice cream shop, and small gift shop on premises as well. Our young people enjoyed the ice cream after the afternoon in the hot sun of the outdoor exhibits. Admission is free to this site (and everywhere along the Parkway) so please stop if your travels take you in that direction!
Where have you stopped that pleasantly surprised you?