Way Off the Beaten Path

These are fantastic ideas! I love the last comment: "If not exactly an upbeat family holiday, it's a reminder that things could be worse." So true. Some of these destinations may seem drab compared to Disneyland but you're still on vacation or at least out doing things. Some people don't even have that luxury. I'm all for going back to a simpler time where entertainment didn't have to mean moving pictures and flashing lights and non-stop attention-getting antics. I would love to see the Irish Famine Museum.

If people know the importance of water "recycling", the return of what comes in as sewage and goes out into our rivers and streams as return effluent; they wouldnt put so much CRAP down the drains and toilets and turds are the least of the concerns. they just blow up with the force of gravity or forcemains and jole'-fertilizer

Reminds me of field trips to the TWA Airport and the 7UP Bottling Plant when I was in grade school.

There are a lot of free parks (or with a small parking charge) in the State of California that are off the beaten path and have just amazing scenery. I would encourage anyone to vist. I am sure there are amazing parks in other states also that are free or just a little parking charge. If you are willing to pack a cooler and have an natural adventure you will be in for a nice, pleasant surprise that is very inexpensive.

There's little mystery why this is happening. TV shows like "Dirty Jobs" are going to these places every week and showing the viewers at home that weird, stinky, unusual, and strange places are actually interesting and some are even essential parts of our everyday lives even if we don't see them. Most of these places are also free or cheap when compared to front-line tourist traps, and free stuff matters a lot right now. Why go to pay museum and look at paintings that just sit there when instead you can take a free factory tour and watch cars being built or food being made.

In caliifornia, waste water treatment operators are required to give tours. It's a great idea. I've been to 3 of them. The guides are always enthusiastic about their work. And the associated biology is fascinating.

In Salizore, tourists shown sewage system. Is trench at end of village. Also is shown trash removal system. Is goat.

Hmmm. I've been to a sewage treatment plant in the course of taking my Earth Systems class in college...interesting trip, but I'm not sure it was vacation material. The smell was not the most fragrant thing I've experienced.