What Bucket List Item Failed to Live Up to Expectations?

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

World Potato Exposition, now the Idaho Potato Museum.  Blackfoot, ID, on the way to Yellowstone.  Used to have billboards along I-15 promoting it and 'world's largest potato chip' and stuff like that.  At the end of the walk through, out-of-staters would get a free baked potato.  

Had I known about the free baked potato I certainly would have stopped there many times! I lived in Gardiner/Mammoth for five years so frequented Idaho on trips to civilization (SLC). 🙂

 

And I'm all in for a baked potato bar!

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, fountain44 said:

Lol with wall drug get that free water,  classic americana tourist trap.  Wall drug much like the alamo is a one time deal, or just one of those if you in the area and not make a special trip for.

 

All sort of worth it but sort of not. 

That is true! I suppose you have to go once, and since I went by on many occasions without stopping, I finally decided to stop. I wasn't really impressed. Now just down the road is a restaurant with some darn good mozzarella sticks and a yummy Indian Taco! I'd pass up the Wall Drug cafe for that place anytime.

[donaldsc]

3 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

That is true! I suppose you have to go once, and since I went by on many occasions without stopping, I finally decided to stop. I wasn't really impressed. Now just down the road is a restaurant with some darn good mozzarella sticks and a yummy Indian Taco! I'd pass up the Wall Drug cafe for that place anytime.

 

I was one of the suckers who got off the interstate to stop at Walls.  The parking lot was packed.  Just proves that advertising works and a whole lot of advertising works even better.  Also proves that you can consistently fool a whole lot of people for a long time. 

 

DON

[fountain44]

1 minute ago, donaldsc said:

 

I was one of the suckers who got off the interstate to stop at Walls.  The parking lot was packed.  Just proves that advertising works and a whole lot of advertising works even better.  Also proves that you can consistently fool a whole lot of people for a long time. 

 

DON

 

I think it just snowballs into its a big joke and people stop because its a joke, and bring their friends into the joke.  Brilliant model to whoever created and owns that place.  

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

That is true! I suppose you have to go once, and since I went by on many occasions without stopping, I finally decided to stop. I wasn't really impressed. Now just down the road is a restaurant with some darn good mozzarella sticks and a yummy Indian Taco! I'd pass up the Wall Drug cafe for that place anytime.

 

They have donuts.  I'm in.  

[wcook]

On 5/11/2022 at 7:11 AM, ontheweb said:

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, it was not worth the effort to see it. I should have believed Rick Steves who called it the most overrated attraction in the world.

Ironically, I want to see it because it’s the most overrated attraction in the world. 

[wcook]

On 5/11/2022 at 12:27 PM, slidergirl said:

I did a "National Lampoon" visit to the Mona Lisa.  

Sorry folks, the Louvre’s closed. Le Moose out front should have told you. 

[wcook]

On 5/13/2022 at 2:57 PM, ldubs said:

I"ve been talking to Mrs Ldubs about one of these days visiting Waterloo because of what happened there.  I suspect it will be pretty disappointing.   But I would still would like to just be where it all happened I guess.

An excuse to sing Abba songs. That alone makes it worthwhile. 

[wcook]

On 6/8/2022 at 12:14 PM, slidergirl said:

Wait!  you can hit up Lee's Discount Liquor at the South end of Las Vegas Blvd

Of all the places in this world I’ve been, this is the one I least expected to turn up on Cruise Critic. 

[ilikeanswers]

On 6/24/2022 at 11:42 PM, cruiseny4life said:

I use this phrase a lot...but honestly, aren't some things just stupid? Shouldn't we just call people out on it? Foam Henge. Really? Wall Drug in SD. The biggest ball of twine, the largest corn whatever...these gimmicks are just plain stupid. If you want to go there, then just do it. But don't get your knickers  in a twist when I say it's stupid. 

 

For those following along - for once I'm not being sarcastic or funny. 

 

In Australia big kitschy things are all the rage😂. It is a gimmick that keeps being added to and it is pretty much obligatory that every road trip must include a visit to at least one "big thing"😜 

A guide to 30 of Australia's iconic Big Things

[ilikeanswers]

3 hours ago, wcook said:

Ironically, I want to see it because it’s the most overrated attraction in the world. 

 

I did pretty much the same thing 😉. I kept reading how overrated it is and I just wanted to see how bad it was. At least it lived up to expectations 😂. 

[wowzz]

9 hours ago, wcook said:

An excuse to sing Abba songs. That alone makes it worthwhile. 

It is just a field  !

In the same way that there are dozens of battlefields in the UK that are now just green fields. Shows that battles such as Naseby or Stamford Bridge,  whilst important,  have little to  show to the modern generation who want to see something physical !

[slidergirl]

On 6/24/2022 at 10:11 AM, ldubs said:

 

With sour cream?   

 

I would rather see the Oscar Mayer wiener mobile.   Which, by the way, I passed on I-5 a couple of months ago.  First time I've seen one in real life.  

 If I remember, yes.  

haven't seen the weiner mobile yet!

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

It is just a field  !

 

 

 

There's far more to Waterloo than just a field.

There's a ruddy great man-made  cone-shaped mound overlooking the site & topped by a ruddy great iron lion.

Plus alongside the mound a circular panorama  of the battle, not dis-similar to the one at Sevastapol. 

Depictions of the battle at the battlefield.

Both in one google street-view

https://goo.gl/maps/hReZkrC4UBKw9Sc37

 

And an underground museum somewhere in the vicinity.

But Hougoumont Farm is just an archaeological site.

And the railway station is 225 miles away. 😉

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by John Bull

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

 If I remember, yes.  

haven't seen the weiner mobile yet!

I saw it a few years ago - worth commenting on, perhaps, but I would not go out of my way to plan on  seeing it. 

 

 Now, Manufacturers Hanover Trust's "FordChevAmChrysVagen" (auto loan promotion of many years ago) -- that was a motor vehicle thing to see!

[cruisemom42]

I liked the Alamo and I can understand, in general wanting to visit the sites of events (like battle) that have historical interest even when there's nothing much there today.

 

I have very much enjoyed visits to Thermopylae and Marathon in Greece, sites of famous battles of classical Greece. Also the valley where the battle of Issus was fought by Alexander the Great. And famous Roman battles including Carthage and Zama in (now) Tunisia, Philippi in (now) northern Greece, Sarmizegetusa in (now) Romania, and Cannae and Lake Trasimene in Italy.

 

Not to mention the site of the mother of all wars, Troy.

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I liked the Alamo and I can understand, in general wanting to visit the sites of events (like battle) that have historical interest even when there's nothing much there today.

 

I have very much enjoyed visits to Thermopylae and Marathon in Greece, sites of famous battles of classical Greece. Also the valley where the battle of Issus was fought by Alexander the Great. And famous Roman battles including Carthage and Zama in (now) Tunisia, Philippi in (now) northern Greece, Sarmizegetusa in (now) Romania, and Cannae and Lake Trasimene in Italy.

 

Not to mention the site of the mother of all wars, Troy.

Agreed - there are some sites where seeing how the terrain played a great part, especially at Thermopylae and Marathon (and the narrow strait at Salamis) , lends a lot to understanding the events.

[wcook]

Not a lot of ships cruise to Gettysburg, but I think you guys would love it. It’s one thing to read about Picketts Charge. But it really comes alive when you stand where the Southern lines were and look up across the open fields towards the defensive Union positions. 

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, wcook said:

Not a lot of ships cruise to Gettysburg, but I think you guys would love it. It’s one thing to read about Picketts Charge. But it really comes alive when you stand where the Southern lines were and look up across the open fields towards the defensive Union positions. 

Or in Fredericksburg, where that stone wall in front of the sunken road at the top of the slope made a perfect defensive fortification enabling a much smaller force repel repeated assaults by the Union Army - one quick view explains a lot.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, wcook said:

Not a lot of ships cruise to Gettysburg, but I think you guys would love it. It’s one thing to read about Picketts Charge. But it really comes alive when you stand where the Southern lines were and look up across the open fields towards the defensive Union positions. 

 

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Or in Fredericksburg, where that stone wall in front of the sunken road at the top of the slope made a perfect defensive fortification enabling a much smaller force repel repeated assaults by the Union Army - one quick view explains a lot.

 

This is true with many historical sites.  

 

And at a time when our Country is so turbulent, one needs to be thankful and appreciative of the excellent job that our National Park Service does in the preservation of these historical sites as well as their excellent interpretation of what caused these sites to be historically significant.  

[Tonopah]

All the talk about battlefields being just fields. But we saw some WW1 battlefields and yes, they were fields, but they were so very heartbreaking. We saw the trenches at Vimy. They were maybe 40 feet apart. There are shell holes everywhere. Maybe because they are only 100 years old instead of 8 or 9, but those fields, man. I cried. 

 

 

[slidergirl]

one more domestic travel experience:  Take a visit to the site of one of the Japanese-American internment camps.  Some have nothing more than a plaque and maybe a drawing of all the buildings that were in he camp, otherwise it's just a field.  Heart Mountain, Manzanar, Topaz, and the other 7.  To see where they are and imagine all the families inprisoned there with very bare facilities.  Not the brightest time for the US.  the National Park Service maintains them. 

[capriccio]

3 hours ago, Tonopah said:

All the talk about battlefields being just fields. But we saw some WW1 battlefields and yes, they were fields, but they were so very heartbreaking. We saw the trenches at Vimy. They were maybe 40 feet apart. There are shell holes everywhere. Maybe because they are only 100 years old instead of 8 or 9, but those fields, man. I cried. 

 

 

We had the same reaction at Ypres in Flanders (Belgium) in the mid 1990s.  What still remains in my mind were similar trenches and the small museum with antique stereographic viewers and a picture of a dead horse up in a tree. I don’t remember any pictures of human victims, just that horse and the enormous destruction all around.  
 

Driving through Flanders there are multiple cemeteries in many towns ranging in size from a dozen gravesites to tens of thousands, with many unknown soldiers sometimes only identified by nationality based on their uniforms.  
 

It was heartbreaking then and now.

[calliopecruiser]

I don't have a bucket list, but I do develop a great desire to see some things once I start researching a place -- for instance, I'll be going to Greece for the first time this November, and I've made up my mind to see at least some of the Metora monasteries.  I'd never heard of them before, and now I MUST see them when I'm there. 

 

My first view of Sagrada Familia (because that's what you do in Barcelona) 6 or7 years ago was so shocking, I said (without even thinking about it) "that's the most butt-ugly church I've ever seen."  It seems Gaudi is not to my taste, though Barcelona did introduce me to Joan Miro, whose work I really like. 

[UPNYGuy]

On 5/12/2022 at 9:32 PM, Tapi said:

Another one for me was Peggy’s Cove. I had visions of this idyllic quiet, sun drenched village, but when we got there, we arrived at the same time as 20 tour buses. The weather was overcast, cold, and rainy so everyone tried to huddle into the one little shop selling hot chocolate. Not fun.

 

this is the exact reason why i told friends that bought property near Bar Harbor to *not* buy in downtown. I also told them to drive up there in the middle of high cruise season (pre covid) when the largest ships were in port. They bitched about how jammed it was. They ended up purchasing just outside Bar Harbor *proper*