April 16, 2001

6:38 PM

Road Cheese Hypertour: WI-MN-IA-IL.One of my favorite Olde Tyme Webe links. Not just because the piece of art I reference in my profile is featured, oh no. We're talking Spam Museum, baby! Anyone seen these things in person? Are they just as frightening, or worse?
posted by hijinx (7 comments total)

Well, I've been to House on the Rock (my mom didn't think Taliesin would be interesting, so we went to this pile of obsessive collections instead) and the Maritime Museum in Duluth. Eh.

I don't remember that Pierre the Voyager statue in Two Harbors having no pants though. That statue is right outside one of those overstock merchandise stores, IIRC.

How could he pass up the Giant Snowman in North St. Paul? It's right off of Highway 36, it's hard to miss. It's the only thing really notable about North St. Paul. The snowman is scary.

Here's more Minnesota roadside oddities.
posted by Electric Elf at 7:39 PM on April 16, 2001

I've seen a number of the attractions listed on this page. Road Cheese is a fairly accurate description. Wisconsin Dells is an unabashed tourist trap that exists only to pry open the wallets of unsuspecting Ill-annoyans who drive by in their giant white Buicks.

I would point out that the giant mouse with the cheese wedge is a fairly common sight throughout the Upper Midwest. The factory that makes this, and other gigantic anthropomorphic fiberglass critters is located nearby in Sparta, WI.
posted by MrBaliHai at 7:40 PM on April 16, 2001

Actually, I was a bit hasty in condemning all of it so blithely. I see that they've got a link to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. This is a "must-see". Fantastic exhibit of quackery , some of which will make the hairs on your neck stand up from sheer horror at the thought of anyone actually using this stuff. Highlights include an actual Orgone chamber and what must surely be the world's largest collection of electric prostate warmers.
posted by MrBaliHai at 7:46 PM on April 16, 2001

Large Canadian Roadside Attractions.
posted by snowmelter at 7:51 PM on April 16, 2001

As a Duluthanite I can assure you all that the Voyager statue is indeed missing pants. He has a tanned leather (fiberglass) shirt that hangs down just far enough and socks pulled up uncomfortably high, but neither of these compensate for the lack of pants. Here's another great Two Harbors attraction.

Why, I even have a cabin in Shell Lake, home to the World's Largest Woodcarving Museum... which I have honestly never been to.

They mentioned it in passing but had no pictures of the giant muskie at the Hayward Fishing Hall of Fame.

Ha. Duluth Mexican could only mean Hacienda del Sol.

They note the big hockey stick of Eveleth, but I think the town's Cafe Delux has a much stronger draw. It appears to have started as a bar, and as the shops surrounding it went out of business they simply bought the vacant spaces and knocked down walls. Poof! Instant restaraunt additions... didn't even bother redecorating. They've got the barroom, the Greco-Roman room, and the under-construction room. Good sausage. Stick some in a pocket for when yer out nordic skiing. Gives ya'a quick warm-up in 20 below weather.

Make fun of our attractions and I break your legs.
posted by Dane at 10:54 PM on April 16, 2001

Man, I miss living in the shadow of a giant metal sculpture (I'd pass the Saamis Teepee everyday on the way to high school. I remember when a chinook broke the top of the teepee. Later, after I had moved to the US, I returned to visit Medicine Hat with my (then) future wife (in order to help her understand my formative years) and we went to visit the teepee (and Pinto MacBean (see below))). I used to make pilgrimages to these things back when I lived on the Canadian prairies . . . especially to the big USS Enterprise (FX6-1995-A) in Vulcan. Of course, Michigan (my current home) has its own roadside attractions, but (alas) nothing like good ol' Pinto MacBean.
posted by iceberg273 at 7:27 AM on April 17, 2001

I've been to the SPAM museum... it is kinda interesting, I guess, but there's no SPAM gift shop and that was really all I wanted. They had a typewritten sign taped to the door with directions to the nearby grocery store where you can stock up on all the square meat you need. You do get to walk in through a giant can of SPAM though, so that's got to count for something, right?

If you go, there's a 150 ft. tall Jolly Green Giant just a few exits down the road...
posted by spilon at 6:16 PM on April 17, 2001