Little America

In the middle of nowhere along the side of a dusty highway, a Williamsburg-esque Neoclassical set of buildings emerge out of the rocky landscape. And a green dinosaur. And all the hospitality you can imagine.

“Little America,” as it’s known, is a lot of things. Quaint community. Roadside attraction. Tourist trap.

But one thing seems agreed upon by the locals: The prefab community is home to a diner that serves what is hands-down the best pecan pie West of the Mississippi, delivered on old-timey china plates with crystal goblets. You know–the sort of thing you’re not used to encountering off an interstate exit ramp.

And the quirks go beyond that. In the aforementioned Little America diner, visitors are often bemused to find “Captain LeStadt’s Penguin”, a taxidermied little guy in a glass case near the exit. Without much fanfare, strange objects like these (a sculpture of a dinosaur inhabits the parking lot) give visitors a little of the nostalgia of classic roadside attractions.