One of my favorite things to do when I travel is stop at all the second rate roadside attractions and marvel at the local ingenuity to get tourists to stop and spend money. For my money, the mocking opportunities are well worth the cost of such types of entertainment. I've stopped at The Thing?, Tiny Town, The Fallen Giant, The Wig Wam Motel, the Shoe House, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, and Bread Loaf Rock, among others. I'm still waiting for the chance to see the World's Largest Rubber Band Ball but you gotta leave some living to do when you're old and the kids have moved out of the house, I suppose...

In fact at one time in my life, I had this idea to travel around the United States and take pictures of these little attractions, then write them up and publish a book. Then one day when I was explaining it to someone, she said, "Hey, that sounds kind of familiar." I hate it when people come up with my ideas before I do.

I've inflicted this love of sketchy tourist traps on my husband since we've been married - mostly because he can keep up with me in the mocking department and it waaay more fun to mock with two. Plus our relationship is based on sarcasm.

So last week when we were driving through Southern Virginia and I saw this sign:


I yelled, "Oh we're totally going there!" and whipped the car off the road so fast my family had to cross back over to the other side of the highway to retrieve their clothing.

Foamhenge, a full-scale replica of the prehistoric monument in England, did not disappoint.


The KnaveofHearts and The Dormouse, reluctantly indulging me by posing.

See that marker? Here's what it says:

Thank you for visiting Foamhenge, a full scale replica of the Mystical Stonehenge of England. Please enjoy yourself at this site, but please be gentle, it is foam not stone.

Stonehenge took 1500 years to complete using stones weighing as much as 50 tons. An estimated 600-1000 men dragged the stones from Marlborough Downs, 20 miles north. Perhaps used as a temple, observatory, or tomb.

Foamhenge was completed in six weeks using beaded Styrofoam blocks weighing up to 420 pounds. Delivered on 4 tractor trailer trips from Winchester, VA 100 miles north. It took 4-5 Mexicans and one crazy White man to construct. It's purpose is to educate and entertain.

It was educational too, with two, count them two, theories as to how these giant monoliths were transported and erected:
Theory 1

This Sarsen Stone was dragged inch by agonizing inch over twenty miles of challenging terrain rolled on logs beneath it. It will be stood up on end like the one to your right, using ropes, logs, leverage and lot of blood and sweat. It will be one of three put together to form a trilithon. The 859 workers are now taking lunch in the nearby woods.


Theory 2

This is the Sorcerer Merlin of Arthur's Royal Court. Effortlessly he levitated then flew these huge stones from Ireland to the Salisbury Plane. He is in the process of erecting the stones to become a focal point for those who suffered at the hands of the Saxons. With each stone he is instilling magical properties which will heal those who believe.


I'm just not sure which theory to believe.


Lordy, how I love America.