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Weird Travel: Uncover the Empire State's Oddities with New York Curiosities

September 20, 2008 at 3:56 PM | by | Comments (0)

Journalist Cindy Perman's new book, New York Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff, probably has a lot of area travel writers smacking their foreheads and wishing they'd thought of it first. After all, she got to spend the better part of a year crisscrossing the state and checking out some of the most interesting and unusual people, places, and things it has to offer.

For example, Perman drops by the Kazoo Museum & Factory in Eden, which has produced concert-quality kazoos for more than 90 years. And she pokes her head in what might be the world's smallest church in Oneida, which sits on a man-made island in the middle of a pond and can accommodate a five-person wedding party only if they're skinny and standing up.

For those who can't be bothered to visit Egypt, there's the Great Sphinx of Fontana in Bayport, Long Island, a 20-foot concrete replica of the famous cat that was built a century ago to attract celebrities to a nearby inn.

Off all the weird destinations, we're probably most likely to head to western New York next September for a festival devoted to our favorite junk food. The National Buffalo Wing Festival in, well, Buffalo, features the annual Running of the Chickens (that is, people dressed as chickens), as well as cooking demonstrations, the New York Wing-eating Championship, the Miss Buffalo Wing Pageant, the Celebrity Wing Cook-off, and two different amateur sauce-offs (because you know how one sauce-off always leaves you wanting more).

The latest in a state-by-state series by Globe Pequot Press, New York Curiosities is essential reading for anyone who truly wants to see the Empire State at its weirdest. Flip to a random page and go visit something kooky.

[Photo: Cindy Perman]

Related Stories:
· New York Curiosities [Official Site]
· Travel Guide Coverage [Jaunted]

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