Museums conjure up visions of ancient artifacts, dead-serious displays and sober exhibits on serious subject matter.
If you are lucky, you might get a replica Tyrannosaurus Rex thrown your way.
Not at America's vast array of odd museums, though. These crazy collections run the gamut from bizarre to straight-up nuts and always make for a fun visit.
International Banana Museum (Mecca, California)
Home to more than 20,000 "banana-related items" (there's a phrase we never thought we'd see), the museum claims to be the world's largest collection devoted to any one fruit. Inside, you will find everything from banana-themed staplers, harmonicas and ashtrays to squirt guns, slippers and even a record player.
The museum also serves up a menu of shakes, floats and chocolate-covered bananas.
Museum of Bad Art (Boston, Massachusetts)
This museum has been on a mission to display the planet's worst pieces of art since 1994.
You will find everything from pathetic portraits to lopsided landscapes spread out over three galleries. If you don't get enough bad art during your visit, the museum sells plenty of merchandise you can take home and cherish forever.
National Museum of Roller Skating (Lincoln, Nebraska)
According to their website, this museum is dedicated to the eccentric history (definitely) and promising future (perhaps) of roller skating.
You will find an array of antique roller skates, trophies, medals and photographs here in addition to in-depth displays on the history of roller hockey and roller derby. The crown jewel is the personal roller skate supply of James Plimpton Jr., the "father of modern roller skating".
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Museum of PEZ Memorabilia (Burlingame, California)
The PEZ museum is the pill-shaped candy fan's dream come true. Here you will find an example of every PEZ dispenser ever sold, vintage PEZ ad posters and the world's largest PEZ dispenser-coming in at seven feet, ten inches.
There is also a small on-site museum dedicated to banned toys, so after you have popped some PEZ you can lust after a set of lawn darts.
Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas)
Barney Smith may sound unassuming enough, but this Texan has only gone and created the biggest stockpile of toilet seat art in the world.
All U.S. states and Canadian provinces have a toilet seat dedicated to them, in addition to myriad celebrities and pop culture icons. There's even one that features PEZ dispensers-no word what the people at the PEZ museum think about this.
Barbed Wire Museums (McLean, Texas & La Crosse, Kansas)
Some people aren't aware of the fascinating history of barbed wire and how it helped re-shape the American West. Those people haven't visited either of our fine nation's barbed wire museums.
The Devil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum sits on Route 66 in Texas and offers both fascinating insights into this invention and the opportunity to take some home for yourself.
At the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, you will find more than 2,000 styles of barbed wire, an exhibit that illustrates the history of the stuff and a life-size replica of a cowboy repairing a barbed wire fence.
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The Moist Towelette Museum (East Lansing, Michigan)
You'll feel refreshed after a visit to this small museum dedicated to wet wipes. Located inside the planetarium on the campus of Michigan State University, you will spot everything from moist toilettes branded with the logo of airlines and fast food joints to some advertising television stations.
Why not warm up for the trip with a slab of ribs and bowl of chicken wings?
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