Fuel Road Trip Dreams with AMERICAN ROAD

This issue of American Road strives to return to the lanes of gumdrops and lollipops. It finds its toys in hideaways—crackerjack stops that have long encouraged play. First, we head to Rock City Gardens atop Georgia’s Lookout Mountain, a flowered Shangri-La that has always offered tourists more than a pocketful of posies. Our focus is its gnomes—fuzzy-faced fellows who hail from further away than Idaho—and the fluorescent, underground wonderland that is Fairyland Caverns. Have you ever hoped to see Jack with his miraculous beanstalk sprouting deep within the earth? Or Rip van Winkle bowling nine pins with his elfin gang from the Catskills? You’ll find them here, forever glowing in the dark.

An old poem describes how Wynken, Blynken, and Nod sailed the stars one night riding a wooden shoe. In the 1920s, Chicago sculptor Mabel Landrum Torrey chose the three and their cosmic clog as subjects for a sculpture. She completed an acclaimed model that was translated into two fountains and a library bronze. Here’s the kicker:Those artworks are all installed on US 6. We tell you where to find them and recount their histories, to boot.

A trip to Peter Pan Mini-Golf shows us what can be done with a putter and a hook. Bryce Canyon dazzles with hoodoos. We check into the Heidi Motel and check out the original Winnie-the-Pooh at the New York Public Library. Our “Extra Mile” takes us to Texas and the town of Abilene, where we sign off with the Three Bears, Charlotte and Wilbur, and Stuart Little paddling a canoe shaped like the state of Florida.