He had me right in the palm of his hand

It hasn’t been what you would call an exciting week around here.  Other than the blonde turkey, it’s been pretty mundane.  After mowing on Thursday, I worked the VC on Friday and Saturday. 

Had to resort to taking some pics of wildflowers in the newly seeded prairie area outside of the VC.  Haven’t even been ambitious enough to figure out what they are.

                                            I thought this grass had some interesting seed heads.

After two slow days in the VC, I was more than ready to have today off.  I decided to take a little road trip just to change things up a bit.

I took the Lake Country Scenic Byway from the refuge to Walker, MN, with stops in Nevis and Akeley.  None of these towns are what you might consider booming metropolises.  First stop was Nevis.

This is a town with a population of a little over 400, but who wouldn’t want to stop to see the Worlds Largest Tiger Muskie?    Apparently, too many visitors wanted their picture taken with their head inside the muskies mouth, so now there’s a ‘KEEP OUT’ sign there.  There were no signs indicating where I might find this behemoth, so I just drove around the few streets until I found it.  I knew from the Roadside America site, that it was on County Road 2 somewhere.

After that thrill, I made my way to Akeley, but couldn’t find what I was looking for there.  I found the Wood Tick Theater (not sure I’d want to sit inside for a play),  but according to my map the roadside gem I was looking for was a little further down the road.  I struck out, so continued on to Walker.

County Highway 34 is a two lane road running east to west/west to east.  I couldn’t believe the traffic for a Sunday morning.  It seemed like I passed a thousand trailers, 5th wheels, and motorhomes going the opposite direction as I headed for Walker.  That town has a population of 900 something, but has at least three stoplights and traffic was backed up for miles.  It’s right on the edge of Leech Lake, and I’d guess half the population to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) was exiting after a weekend up north.

That’s where I turned around to head back for home.  I didn’t stop there since visiting all the tourist shops on the main street is not my thing.  It seemed they were doing a booming business though.

On my way back through Akeley, I found what I missed earlier on the way through.  How could I not have seen this giant Paul Bunyan on the side of the road?  Akeley claims to be the birthplace of Paul Bunyan, not Bemidji. If you look closely, you can see Paul’s baby cradle next to him.

After I stopped to get a photo, several more cars stopped too.  I asked one of the other visitors to take my picture in Paul’s hand so you can get an idea of his size.  I get a kick out of finding these roadside oddities along my travels.  I hope my brother shares the same passion as we make our way from Minnesota to Arizona this fall.  There must be a lot of Worlds Largest things along the way.

Sorry to say, I had to leave Paul behind and head back to the rig.  I really liked his big blue eyes…

…but then I never was a fan of facial hair. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy