Browse the best Illinois roadside attractions, tourist traps, road food, and more at Silly America. Plan your next road trip through Illinois and find all the most iconic (and silliest) sites along the way!
Even though they did lose last night, the Blackhawks are certainly the team of the moment here in the Windy City. And yesterday I showed you the Picasso to prove it. But, believe it or not, there was a time where our baseball teams were actually doing well as well…and at the time...
I am sure that this is well within Picasso’s original artistic vision… There are many statues in many cities that locals decorate for different locations (such as Waiting for the Interurban in Seattle), but I will never get over the fact that the Chicago Picasso is often donning a hat for...
Being a Chicagoan has many advantages…one of those most definitely being that we have some of the best hot dog choices the country has to offer. Whether you love Portillo’s or Hot Doug’s, Gene and Judes or The Wiener’s Circle, there is definitely one place that...
Muffler men are tall fiberglass sculptures created by International Fiberglass in Venice, California, that were once popular advertising icons on the roads of America. There were many types of this roadside attraction produced — classic, Bunyan, cowboy, Indian — and they are found holding...
Fiberglass Muffler Man number two this week has stood in the parking lot outside Lauterbach Tire & Auto Service in Springfield, Illinois since 1978. While the Lauterbach Tire Muffler Man (also known as the Lauterbach Giant) looked perfectly fine when I met him in 2007 (as pictured...
When you think of the word “Muffler Man” what do you think? Is it a guy who fixes your car? Or is it a person made from car mufflers? If you’re like me, you think differently, and think of something like this Muffler Man holding a hot dog in Atlanta, Illinois. A muffler...
Oh have you seen the muffler man, The muffler man, the muffler man? Oh have you seen the muffler man, That lives out on the lane? Oh yes I’ve seen the muffler man, The muffler man, the muffler man! Oh yes I’ve seen the muffler man, That lives out on the lane! Last week I...
The Gemini Giant is a 28-foot tall muffler man who stands on Route 66 outside the Launching Pad restaurant in Wilmington, Illinois. He weighs in at a whopping 438 pounds: not counting his base of the giant 80-foot rocket he holds in his hands! This space man is one of many muffler men...
ROAD TRIP! Over the weekend I took a mini road trip and drove around to check out a few roadside attractions in Illinois. I’ve already seen all of these oddities before, but they were all worth a second look. It was a short day-long excursion, proving you don’t have to go...
It’s kind of sort of freezing here in Chicago. And snowy. Very snowy. I’m itching to get away (in fact, I spontaneously decided to plan a road trip to Texas in a few months!) but for now I just am wrapping myself in my Snuggie (don’t judge, my mom gave it to me for my...
