Land of the world’s largest prairie chicken, birthplace of Spam, and home of the world’s oldest rock, this is Minnesota, where summers are short, winters are long, and back-road wonders abound. This entertaining guide wastes no time with descriptions of scenic lakes, pristine bike trails, or quaint cafés. Instead it directs travelers (and residents) to the spot where Tiny Tim strummed his last notes on the ukulele; to the Cold Spring chapel where two grasshoppers bow down to the Virgin Mary; and to the McLeod County Museum, where the mummy on display could be from Peru or outer space. While ordinary tourists are fighting off mosquitoes in the Boundary Waters, oddball travelers can size up the world’s largest ear of corn and admire the fourth Zamboni ever built. And one last thing: there aren’t 10,000 lakes in Minnesota; there are 14,215. For travelers who are in search of the unusual, there is no better reason to park the bike and hiking boots in the garage, fill up the gas tank, and hit the road to Minnesota, where weirdness awaits. “A jaunty, zestily written guide...frequently laugh-out loud funny. It’s like having a wry, well-traveled, road-tripping friend.” — Foreword “Jerome Pohlen keeps finding amusing and offbeat spots all around the country.” — Associated Press Jerome Pohlen is the author of Oddball Illinois , Oddball Indiana , Oddball Wisconsin , and Oddball Colorado . He has researched 43 states for his Oddball travel series and is a regular travel commentator for 848 on WBEZ, the Chicago affiliate of National Public Radio. He lives in Chicago. Oddball Minnesota A Guide to Some Really Strange Places By Jerome Pohlen Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 2003 Jerome Pohlen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55652-478-3 Contents INTRODUCTION, 1. THE NORTHWEST, Map of Northwest Minnesota, 2. THE NORTHEAST, Map of Northeast Minnesota, 3. THE SOUTHWEST, Map of Southwest Minnesota, 4. THE SOUTHEAST, Map of Southeast Minnesota, 5. THE TWIN CITIES, 6. THE BIG FISH TOUR, EPILOGUE, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, RECOMMENDED SOURCES, INDEX BY CITY NAME, INDEX BY SITE NAME, CHAPTER 1 THE NORTHWEST So where should you start your quest for Minnesota's oddballs? Perhaps at Minnesota's Northwest Angle on the Lake of the Woods. Jutting up above the 49th Parallel, this geographic anomaly is the northernmost point of the continental United States. Unfortunately, it is accessible only through Canada; it might as well be in a foreign country. (Maybe that's why its few residents have threatened to secede from the union.) Still, the northwestern part of the state has plenty of easily accessed weirdness, most of it enormous and hard to miss. This comes in handy if you're not good with maps. The region also has the state's highest concentration of Paul Bunyanalia — red-flanneled statues, oversized artifacts, jilted sweethearts, abandoned logging tools, and toenail clippings. You can even find Bunyan's grave up here. But that's not all that's strange and out of proportion. There must be growth hormones in the water; you'll also find mammoth mallards and otters and prairie chickens and crows and grasshoppers and pelicans and coots — you start to wonder whether this stuff is truly big, or whether you've just shrunk! Akeley Paul Bunyan Town Bangor, Maine, claims to be the birthplace of Paul Bunyan, but it hardly has as valid a claim as Akeley, Minnesota. You see, Paul wasn't so much born as he was conceived — and not as long ago as you might think. The big guy was mostly the invention of William B. Laughead, a PR hack for the Red River Lumber Company, which had its largest sawmill in Akeley. Starting in 1914 — that's right, Paul Bunyan is younger than the airplane — Laughead churned out pulp novels of the hero's exploits for American schoolchildren. Kids adored the oversized, fun-lovin' lumberjack chopping through our nation's forests. Never mind that in reality the woods were being laid to waste by a vast timber conglomerate. Laughead also invented Babe the Blue Ox, Big Ole, Johnny Inkslinger, and Paul's dog Sport. The best place to learn about Paul Bunyan and the history of the Red River Lumber Company is at Paul's Cabin, a museum you enter through a Phillips 66 station on the east side of Akeley. Owner Nels Kramer will likely be there to show you his extensive collection of Red River memorabilia. The museum is shaped like a starfish with exhibits radiating out from a central display area. One wing has an elaborate model of Akeley during the heyday of the Red River lumber mill, circa 1905. Another wing contains a miniature logging camp and Minnesota farm, and the next has a collection of tools and transportation, including a working model train. The best wing, however, is dedicated to Paul Bunyan — the guy in red flannel, the one created by Laughead, the one whose mustache looks almost like a cat's whiskers. Paul's Cabin/Red River Museum, 440 E. Broadway, Akeley, MN 56