You’ll want to stop and check out these delightful, wacky roadside attractions in Michigan – and as a bonus, many of them are free!

Michigan is an ideal state for a road trip. Not only do we have all kinds of quaint little towns to visit from coast to coast, but we also have lush natural scenery, rolling roads, and plenty of charm to enjoy along the way. But besides great snacks, every road trip has to include a few pit stops along the way, which is why we’ve rounded up some of the most adorable and strange roadside attractions Michigan has to offer.

From places of worship converted into amusement parks to a museum filled with nun dolls to a forest of statues and a two-story outhouse, here are some of the strangest rest stops you can stop at in Michigan.

1. Crazy Taxidermy and Miniature Museum

270 S Huron Ave, Mackinaw City, MI 49701

Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays

(231) 203-4333

Cost: $5/person

If you’re heading to Mackinaw Island, be sure to stop in Mackinaw City and visit what may be the strangest museum in Michigan. Pure Michigan describes the miniature museum as “hilarious, quirky, peculiar and unique,” and reviews on Google have earned the destination 4.9 stars. “An absolutely amazing place to visit! Fun for all ages! For a very reasonable $5 per person, you can see some of the funniest and most awesome taxidermy art ever made that will blow your mind. The patience and whimsy of the people who run this museum are excellent!” raved one of those reviews. “I highly recommend anyone in the area stop by. Bring a camera because your friends won’t believe it when you try to explain the beer or the classroom or the different card games or the dragon fight… The list definitely goes on.” Reviews also mention how delightful the owners are.

2. Christmas, Wed

N7761 Candy Cane Ln, Christmas, MI 49862

The visit is free

Photo courtesy of Porterhse/CC BY-SA 3.0.

I’ll admit that I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life and had no idea that there was a town called Christmas in our state. But apparently there’s an entire Christmas-themed area in the town, which is located between Munising and Au Train. The town has historical roots in Michigan’s iron smelting era and was founded by a man who opened a factory for Christmas-themed products. Although Google reviews say the town may be a little more boring than the name suggests, some of the biggest attractions are the giant roadside Santa Claus that makes for a great photo opportunity, and if you’re willing to travel further into “town,” there’s a historic lighthouse that visitors can climb to get a great view of the town. There’s also a casino if you’re in the mood for a gamble!

3. Sunset Junque Shop

856 Blue Star Highway, South Haven, Michigan

The visit is free

Photo courtesy of Sunset Junque Shop via Facebook.

According to the Sunset shop itself, “If you’re looking for something different, come and look around our yard.” The antique shop has pretty much anything and everything odd you can imagine, from old statues to books and everything in between. Travelers say it’s also a great place to stop and snap some photos on your trip.

4. Marvin’s Wonderful Mechanical Museum

31005 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, MI 48334

Free admission

Photo courtesy of Corey Seeman/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

If you’re on a budget, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum is a wonderful place to visit as admission is completely free. Founded in 1932 by Sam and Fanny Yagoda, the museum started out as a corner drugstore. It went through several business restructurings before becoming the museum and arcade it is today. The museum now features 5,000 square feet of coin-operated animatronic puppets, mechanical games and other oddities. There’s also a fully equipped cafe with free Wi-Fi and if you’re traveling with kids, they can exchange their arcade tickets for prizes at the prize counter when the fun is over for the day.

5. Eden Springs Park

789 M-139 Highway, Benton Harbor, Michigan

$3 per train ride

Photo courtesy of TrainiacFollow.

Take a detour to the unassuming Eden Springs Park, where you can stay overnight, try out rides, or, in the summer, ride the country’s most famous miniature trains. But don’t let the park’s appearance fool you – when you visit, you’re actually entering the site of one of the world’s most notorious cults, the House of David. The cult hasn’t survived beyond a few members, and the park is slowly regaining popularity, still offering some of the attractions that the original cult members used to make money from, like the trains and the ice cream parlor.

6. Nun Doll Museum

7078 M-68

Indian River, Michigan 49749

Free admission

Whenever we travel north to Mackinaw, our family always stops at the Cross in the Woods. It’s a wonderful place to have a picnic, walk in the woods, and pray or meditate if that’s your preference. Catholics will appreciate the walking Stations of the Cross you can follow through the woods, as well as the many beautiful side chapels and, of course, the giant crucifix, the largest in the woods, where Mass is often celebrated outdoors. But anyone can also pay a visit to the Doll Museum, located in the basement of the church and building—admission is free, and after visiting with my kids, I can attest that it’s delightfully weird. Although it displays 525 dolls from around the world—all with religious themes—the museum somehow isn’t scary, but it’s a stop you won’t soon forget.

7. Fantasy forests

922-970 W Michigan Ave, Battle Creek, MI 49037

Free admission

What happens when 100-year-old ash trees are unfortunately killed by the Asian ash beetle? Well, apparently when you’re in Michigan, they just turn these beloved trees into fresh, new works of art. Local artists sculpted 25 mythical creatures from the once-thriving trees, creating works of art such as wizards, castles, and dragons. Anyone can visit the tree sculptures, and admission is completely free. The park also offers other fun attractions such as disc golf, an urban farm, a museum, and a kaleidoscope garden.

8. Dinosaur Gardens

11160 US 23 South, Ossineke, MI 49766

From 10 USD

Walk a half-mile among the dinosaurs that founder and Great Depression businessman Paul Domke saw roaming the earth when he built the park in 1936. Domke was very interested in dinosaurs and invested a lot of research and money into creating what he believed to be the most lifelike and accurate replicas of dinosaurs at the time. Today, Dinosaur Gardens also contains replicas of other animals, as well as a miniature golf course and an ice cream parlor. One of the park’s most famous oddities is the Three Kings and Jesus Christ himself – in a Brontosaurus, of course. Try to find them!

9. Two-storey outbuilding

7620 N Academy Rd, Cedar Lake, MI 48812

Free

There is no official website for the infamous two-story outdoor outhouse in Michigan, but one alleged story behind it is that it was built by general store owner William Nelson, who had seven daughters. The concerned father lived above his store and did not want his daughters to have to share an outdoor outhouse with the grown men who often visited the store and lived nearby as lumberjacks. As a solution, he connected the upper part of the outdoor outhouse to his house, so his daughters would have privacy on their own floor and the lumberjacks would have access to the lower floor, which was connected to the store. There are four seats on each floor and the structure you see today is an updated version of the original. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, apparently the seats on the upper and lower floors are separated and a piece of wood was added as a precautionary measure as a splash guard.

10. Giant Carrots of the Food Collectors

1 Carrot Path, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105

Free

This attraction may require you to drive off the highway a bit, but if you’ve ever wanted to take a photo of your family in a field of giant carrots, it’ll be worth the drive. 10-foot-tall carrots “grow” out of the ground in front of the warehouse of the Food Gatherers, a food distribution and food rescue organization. It’s free to stop, walk by, and take a photo, but the organization just asks that you don’t block the driveway where workers, volunteers, and customers may be.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.