Did you know there is a real Santa Claus House at the real-life North Pole? It’s been there since 1952 and has plenty to gawk at: a fifty-foot Santa Claus statue, real reindeer, photo ops with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a gift shop – but of course it does – with a huge selection to choose from.
They also have an online site, where you can get personal letters from Santa. But unless you’re a year-round Christmas fan, making the trek to the North Pole isn’t worth an overpriced gift shop, especially when Santa usually shows up at your local mall.
Times Square is Crowded – Very Crowded
To a lot of people, New York equals Times Square. It's right in the middle of Manhattan and is lined with all kinds of stores and restaurants, features outrageous characters and people dressed in costumes, and huge advertisements that glow twenty-four hours a day.
But there are so. Many. People. It's overwhelming, and not just because of the other tourists – you'll have no peace thanks to entrepreneurs, and flyer-handers, even buskers. Even worse, the stores and restaurants have jacked-up prices, even though the chains are present in every mid-sized town in America.
It's a Corny Place
The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, sees somewhere around half a million visitors every year. It's a museum for corn, it has a huge facility for concerts, sports, exhibits, and more, and it's covered in murals made from corn and other grains.
But – and this is going to be a common theme for the article – there isn't really much to do there if you aren't into corn, or you aren't there for an event the Palace is hosting. You might get some nice photos and memories out of it. Some people have even said you can make your way through it in little more than ten minutes.
Bright Colors Don't Mean Interesting
Cars have been on the road for more than a hundred years, and gas company Shell has been around for almost as long. The Shell Service Station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was made to get people talking, and the bright yellow and red shell-shaped service station is the only remaining one – it's part of the National Register of Historic Places.
You can't gas up here though, and it may be worth a few minutes to stop, but there isn't anything else to do there. It's used as a satellite office for Shell, as well as a museum for Preservation North Carolina.
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston
They're a staple of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, but to people who live in the area, it's a place to avoid. Functioning well as a tourist hub, it's the perfect place to grab food or shop at one of the many surrounding stores.
By now it's little more than fast food and overpriced knick-knacks, with chain stores every mall boasts. It's also terribly crowded and has lines that go from annoying to frustrating pretty quickly.