Things You'll Need:
- Computer
- Printer
- Car
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Step 1
Plan to start your tour in Pasadena, where you’ll take a tour of The Bunny Museum. This museum showcases over 23,000 bunny items, boasting the world’s largest bunny collection. The museum itself is the home of bunny lovers Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski, who enjoy sharing their incredible collection of everything from toy bunnies to bunny-themed furniture to bunny art with the public.
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Step 2
Make your next stop Los Angeles, where you’ll visit two very different museums. First, head on over the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) to see an incredible collection of neon signs and learn more about the cultural, historical and technical aspects of neon art. Next, stop in at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits to see what Los Angeles was like 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. This museum is home to one of the world’s most famous fossil sites—tar pits that entombed and fossilized animals tens of thousands of years ago.
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Step 3
Plan to head north to Victorville for a tour of the California Route 66 Museum. This fantastic museum preserves a slice of Americana—Route 66—by exhibiting folk art, photographs and artifacts from when Route 66 was in its heyday.
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Step 4
Make the next leg of your trip the San Francisco Bay Area, stopping first in San Jose for a tour of the Winchester Mystery House. This incredible Victorian mansion features stairs that lead to nowhere, a window built into the floor and doors that open to blank walls. While it may not be considered to be a true museum, it’s certainly worth stopping in a talking a guided tour of this bizarre mansion.
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Step 5
Head next to Burlingame for a tour of the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia. This museum is home to the world’s largest Pez, an incredible Pez collection and a plethora of Pez memorabilia. You’ll also enjoy checking out the Classic Toy Museum, which showcases classics like Mr. Potato Head and Lincoln Logs.
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Step 6
Plan to head into San Francisco for a stop at Fisherman’s Wharf, where you’ll find two classic yet unique museums. The Wax Museum features wax models so life-like, you’d swear you were standing next to the real celebrity or historical figure in question. This fantastic museum is over 100 years old and features several themed exhibits, including King Tut, Chamber of Horrors and Sports and Entertainment. Next, head down to Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not Museum for a look into the weird and bizarre, including an 8-foot-long scale model of a San Francisco cable car made out of matchsticks, a shrunken torso and a two-headed calf.
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Step 7
Make the Cartoon Art Museum your last San Francisco stop. This museum is dedicated to creating a greater appreciation of cartoon art, housing over 6,000 unique pieces of art. You’ll find many of your classic favorites, including Snoopy, Dagwood and Zippy.
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Step 8
Make Santa Rose your next stop so you can take in the Charles M. Schulz Museum. If you love Peanuts comics, then this is the place to be! You’ll find Charles Schulz’s studio, Peanuts art and even a Snoopy labyrinth for the kids to explore.
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Step 9
Continue to head north to Chico for a visit at the National Yo-Yo Museum. This fun museum features the world’s largest working yo-yo and hosts the annual National Yo-Yo Contest.
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Step 10
Plan to make Willow Creek your final stop for a trip to the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum, which houses an entire wing dedicated to Bigfoot and Sasquatch research. Here, you’ll find casts of Bigfoot footprints, photos and research materials so you can determine for yourself whether Bigfoot really does exist.
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Step 11
Go online, map out each destination in order, book nearby hotels then hit the road to enjoy your tour of unusual museums in California.
