Andrew Harper at Yahoo!’s travel site has published a list of U.S. tourist destinations that aren’t worth the time it would take to tromple* through them on your way to the gift shop. We’re disappointed he left Seattle’s Pike Place off the list, but the rest are pretty spot on.

Here are a few of them:

• Petrified Forest National Park in Holbrook, Arizona, which Harper describes as a dull detour with little to see: “Then you drive back up to Interstate 40 and continue on your way, an hour closer to the grave.”
• The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, which is mostly no longer there, although he says they do have “an exceedingly well-provisioned gift shop.”
• RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, which Harper describes as a Ramada Inn crossed with a rusty old ship.

To be fair, the Alamo’s basement is pretty cool, but it’s difficult to get in as it’s not open to the public. As for the rest, save your tourist dollars and time and look for more interesting spots on your next trip.

“U.S.’s Most Over-Rated Tourist Attractions” [Yahoo! Travel]
(Photo: Andrew Currie)

Update: So now I’m curious: what are the tourist destinations that are worth visiting? The place where either it’s worth the price of admission several times over, or it’s cool because it’s free and filled with awesomeness? My nerd vote for 2009 goes to the Central Library in Seattle (because I was just there). You can spend a couple of hours on a self-guided tour and just marvel at the architecture. Or complain about it, that’s fun too.

* It is too a word! It’s the type of mindless clomping tourists do as they move through a tourist trap.

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