Australians have always loved their “Big Things” – the Big Banana, The Big Pineapple etc etc… but the Americans loves theirs too, and we’re certainly seeing a bunch of them on this trip! Last night we were both woken shortly after 4am by the “fishing crowd” getting ready to leave for the final days fishing of the holiday weekend. I got back to sleep but Neil struggled after that poor man. So we were up and away pretty early this morning ready for our drive to the first stop of the day – Black Duck, Minnesotta – where they have not one, not two…but THREE Big Black Ducks!
After the excitement of Black Duck, we continued further south to the sizeable town of Bemidgi, home to the “Original” Paul Bunyan and Babe statues. Overly broad-shouldered and boxy, the 18-foot-tall, 7.5-ton Paul was built of steel and concrete in January 1937 at Cyril Dickinson’s lumber yard, using then-Mayor Earl Bucklen as a model. Companion Babe the Blue Ox, once on wheels, was trucked around to Minnesota carnivals for a few years before joining Paul permanently in 1939. Both were conceived as a tribute to the lumber industry, Bemidji’s principal employer at the time. There were plenty of people stopping to have their picture taken with the famous duo on this rather chilly day – me included!
Bemidgi is also known as being “The First City on the Mississippi” – because it’s very close to the headwaters of the great river. That was our next stop, about 30 minutes down the road we arrived at Itasca State Park , which is a lovely park on a pretty lake but owes it’s main claim to fame as being the location where the Mighty Mississippi River starts it’s journey to the Gulf of Mexico. We passed over the river a couple of times en route to the park, and it really is just a little stream up here in northern Minnesota – a bit hard to recognise as that same “Big Muddy” down south.
The Park was very busy today with all the people enjoying the long weekend and visiting the headwaters. You needed to queue up to get a shot with the famous sign, and there was a tribe of children walking across the rocks that seperate the start of the river from Lake Itasca.
Just down from the rocks was a little log bridge slung across the river so Neil made the perilous journey axross the river…
At the park we also saw the last of the “Great River Road” Signs for this trip… but the very first for the river itself…
After a little shopping in the State Park Gift Shop ( I had to buy my “Headwaters of the Mississippi Christmas decoration!”) we drove on down to one of the picnic areas to have our coffee and muffin snack lunch. It was definitely chillier today, we were glad of our jackets.
However, we couldn’t rest too long as more “Big Things” awaited us! At Erskine Minnesota we stopped to see the Worlds Largest Northern Pike Statue , they’re very proud of it, they even had a sign at the entrance to the town ” Erskine, the home of the Worlds Largest Northern!!”
It was near here thatwe needed to make a brief unplanned stop, I’m sure you’ve been enjoying Neil’s updates about the cornfields on our journey. Well, we’ve missed them a bit on the last few days but he was excited to see one again here in northwest Minnesota. Of course he had to stop and take a picture…😂
Our final big thing…for today… was the World Largest Ox-Cart in Crookston. It looks a little sad, stuck behind it’s fence.
Not far along the road and we crossed the Red River into Grand Forks… and our final “New” state for this trip – North Dakota. This takes our grand tally to 42 states.
We were a little too early to check in to our hotel so we stopped at the Columbia Mall to visit one of my favourite department stores in the USA, J.C. Penney. And Yay!! They had lots of bargains in their Labor Day sales – we walked away with some great bargains. ( and he’ll be the first to admit, Neil has done much better at clothes shopping this trip than me so far!) . Neil’s first pick for his Fathers Day dinner was the Texas Roadhouse, but they were packed to the rafters with a queue out the door, so we went next door to the Olive Garden and enjoyed some lovely pasta. I had to laugh at Neil, he’s gone very American – eating his dinner with his cap on!
Back at the hotel to do some much needed laundry.. although if we keep up the shopping the rate we’re going we could probably manage with what we’ve bought!