Guidebooks are annoying. Just because some editor who doesn’t know me tells me which restaurant is the best or what attraction is a must-see doesn’t make it a must-see attraction. Sightseers’ Delight is dedicated to the weird, the quirky and the fun. After all, traveling is fun.
If it’s not, you’re doing it wrong.
All of the places highlighted in this ever-growing database are great. Sightseers’ Delight has visited them all. We think you should make a point to see every one of them. But, this is not a guidebook. Just a webpage to help you plan your next adventure.
From the late 1960s until he died in the 1980s, John Milkovisch covered his house on Malone Street with crushed been cans. The house — today affectionately know as the Beer Can House — opened in 2008 as a folk art museum. For a small fee, visitors can tour the house and learn more about more about Milkovisch’s passion. From the late 1960s until he died in the 1980s, John Milkovisch covered his house on Malone Street with crushed been cans. The house — today affectionately know as the Beer Can House — opened in 2008 as a folk art museum. For a small fee, visitors can tour the house and learn more about more about Milkovisch’s passion. “They say every man should leave something to be remembered by. At least I accomplished that goal,” one Milkovisch quote painted on an interior wall reads.
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Sculptor David Adickes placed giant busts of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Sam Houston, and Stephen Austin along Interstate 10. If nothing else, the sculptures – adorned with “A Tribute to American Statesmanship” across their base — provide commuters a distraction during their rush hour drives. The park is officially named American Statesmanship Park.
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A legacy of the philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, the Menil Collection opened in 1987. The museum presents regular rotations of artworks from its growing permanent collection, organizes special exhibitions and programs throughout the year, publishes scholarly books, and conducts research into the conservation of modern and contemporary art. The Menil Collection’s main museum building, the first building in the United States designed by Renzo Piano, anchors a park-like 30-acre campus, which also includes the Cy Twombly Gallery, a site- specific Dan Flavin installation, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel — now a venue for long-term installations by contemporary artists — and outdoor sculpture.
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Established in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is one of the 10 largest art museums. The museum is home to an encyclopedic collection of more than 65,000 works dating from antiquity to the present. The main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, designed by Rafael Moneo and opened in 2000; the Caroline Wiess Law Building, originally designed by William Ward Watkin, with extensions by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe completed in 1958 and 1974; and the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi and opened in 1986. Additional spaces include a repertory cinema, two libraries, public archives, and facilities for conservation and storage.
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The Houston Police Department museum is located in the lobby of HPD headquarters at 1200 Travis. The museum features displays and a memorial wall honoring the officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. Displays include artifacts from the Honor Guard, SWAT, Mounted Patrol, badges, uniforms and other equipment police used over the years.
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The Waco Suspension Bridge opened to traffic in January 1870, making it roughly 13 years older than the more famous Brooklyn Bridge. The 475-foot-long bridge forever changed travel in the area. Built at an estimated cost of roughly $141,000 (estimates vary) and designed by Thomas M. Griffith, the bridge was the first major suspension bridge in the state of Texas.
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The Dr Pepper Museum in downtown Waco is dedicated to telling not just the story of Dr Pepper, but the story of the entire soft drink industry. Charles Alderton who developed a unique combination of flavors in 1885 in Dr. Wade Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store. The soft drink — which, according to legend, Morrison named after the father of a girl he once loved — quickly became known as a “Waco.” The museum is located in the former Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building. Completed in 1906, the structure was the first building built specifically to bottle Dr Pepper and remained in use until the 1960s when operations moved to a facility with more room for canning. The building remained vacant for roughly two decades until 1985 — the centennial of Dr Pepper — when work started to convert the building into a museum. The museum officially opened to the public on May 11, 1991.
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According to a marker, “Built during the Great Depression, the Roanoke Water Tower was the town’s primary water source. Hugh H. Jenkins, Roanoke’s first Mayor, advocated for the well and water system to help the newly-incorporated community grow. In 1934, he consolidated Roanoke’s water system under the city and applied for public works administration funding, which was granted and used for the tower’s 1936 construction. Approximately 150 feet tall, the tower contains a 100,000 gallon capacity steel tank and stands on four steel legs. Though no longer in use, the tower was a vital part of Roanoke’s growth and remains a local landmark.”
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Fort Worth is often considered to be “where the West begins,” and the Fort Worth Stockyards was once the epicenter of the cattle industry. While still in active use for cattle sales, the historic stockyards attract thousands of tourists looking to climb atop a longhorn for a photo op, watch the twice-daily cattle drives or catch a glimpse of the unabated wild west. The Stockyards are home to a number of museums, including the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Stockyards Museum. And, of course, the Grapevine Vintage Railroad.
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Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park is famous as the final resting place of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who allegedly killed President John F. Kennedy. Oswald, 24 years old at the time of his death, ended up here because no other funeral home wanted his body. Within months of his burial, thousands of visitors stopped by his grave to catch a glimpse of the final resting place of the alleged presidential assassin.
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