"World's Largest Walleye"

June 25th, 2011 - Rush City



The sign next to this giant fiberglass fish makes the claim that it is the world's largest walleye. It's not. Not even close. Rush City also makes the claim as the Walleye Capital of the World. According to Roadside America, there are several other cities that make this very claim.

This fish was allegedly caught in Rush Lake by Paul Bunyan. The fish allegedly weighed 1999 pounds and 15.5 ounces, just shy of a ton. Paul allegedly used a 62 foot white pine for a rod, a 3 ton logger's winch for a reel, and a 1 inch manila rope for his line. If you're wondering what kind of bait to use to catch a giant fiberglass walleye, Paul used a 35 pound tiger muskie... allegedly.

Paul Bunyan's Anchor, or The World's Largest Coat Hanger

September 22, 2009 - Ortonville, MN



We were a little disappointed with this one. We were hoping for something a bit more anchory. While I'm sure it's effective, it looks more like a hanger made from a huge slab of granite and some giant chain links.

The legend goes that Paul Bunyan was quite the fisherman and that Big Stone Lake was one of his favorite lakes to fish in. According to the plaque, "Big Stone Lake, visible here to the north-west, and the state's 10th largest, was one of Paul's favorites, not only for the variety and size of its fish, but because here he found a stone heavy enough to anchor his mammoth boat. Squared roughly from the region's famous granite, it weighed 110 tons." It goes on to say that this anchor was (conveniently) rediscovered on the eve of Minnesota's statehood centennial in 1958 and then was hoisted to the hilltop it now resides on as a memento of the state's 100th birthday.

Now this is a lovely story, but it seems to me that it has one Bunyan sized hole in it. Big Stone Lake is a large lake covering 12,610 acres and stretching 26 miles long, but it is a really shallow lake. At it's max, Big Stone Lake is only 16 feet deep. I would think a boat big enough to carry Paul alone would displace enough water that he would be scraping the bottom, if not completely stuck, but then you add a 110 ton rock too. I don't think that boat is going to be able to navigate Big Stone Lake. I wonder what happened to his boat... and boat trailer.

On the plus side. The anchor is next to the county museum. We didn't go in the actual museum, but they had some kind of wild bird exhibit thing in a separate building that was actually very interesting. They had a large and varied collection of taxidermied birds and an informational CD about 10 minutes long to guide you through the collection.

Big Stuff, Small Children

I recently went through some of my parents' old photo albums. One in particular was just of family vacations we took. It seems that Big Stuff is just in my blood. I pulled out a handful of photos and scanned them.





These first two are of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji, MN circa 1984 or 1985 I believe. I'm the really little guy in the Babe photo surrounded by siblings and cousins.



This is me on the Jackalope at Wall Drug in Wall, SD in 1988.





These next two photos are from the same South Dakota trip in 1988. These are from Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD. I'm the guy in the Vikings shirt (front and center with the Brontosaurus and in the back with the Stegosaurus). Those other people are my siblings... except for that guy in the hat with his back to us in the first picture, I don't know him.





Same trip. My siblings and I in front of Mt. Rushmore and Mt. Rockmore, respectively (I know. I mix them up too.). The first pic also has two random women and the second pic has my dad. I'm the guy in the blue shirt.





I'm not sure what year these last two are from. I'm guessing around 1989 or 1990. The first is in front of the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (I'm in the middle with the white Valleyfair shirt.) and the second photo is Iggy the Iguana (I'm in the front.) at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Science Museum has moved since then.

Babe's Completed Makeover

A little while back I posted about renovations being done to Brainerd's Babe the Blue Ox. Recently, Josh Porter of Avalon Studios uploaded a bunch of photos of his work to Flickr. He has a set dedicated to the Babe makeover, which includes the above before and after. It even has a shot from inside Babe. He did some excellent work and this should help keep Babe around for another 50 years... hopefully.

And, just because I didn't post enough links, here's another link.
Slideshow of Babe makeover

Bunyan News

Brainerd's Babe the Blue Ox, at Paul Bunyan Land, is currently undergoing major renovations. The work began on July 21st and is supposed to be completed within 1 month. Josh Porter of Avalon Studios is the artist in charge of the renovation work.

It's sounds to me like Babe is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. He hits his 50's and then starts getting major work done. And I thought he had been aging rather gracefully.


This picture was taken August 3rd.

There's a new Paul in town. This summer a new Paul Bunyan statue was put in place in the Pequot Lakes - Jenkins area. He stands 12'8" tall and was created by Josh Porter. He is located near the intersection of Highway 371 and County Road 16 by the A-Pine Restaurant.

For more information, go here. You can learn about the process for creating Paul here, it includes pictures.

Paul Bunyan Bowl

March 19th, 2008 - Baxter, MN



This was our last stop on this long, wonderful day of Big Stuff that began with a stop in Princeton to see a Happy Chef that has found a new gig. This Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox stand outside of Paul Bunyan Bowl in Baxter, MN. The bowling alley is owned by the same family that used to own the Paul Bunyan Amusement Center, which closed in 2003, but much of it remains in use.



This Paul is a Muffler Man. The defining characteristic of a Muffler Man are the hands, with the right palm up and the left palm down. This type of Muffler Man is usually referred to as a Bunyan or Lumberjack Muffler Man. This Paul was previously in Sullivan, MO, where he clutched an ax. It was purchased, restored, and moved to Baxter sometime in 2003 or 2004 and now holds a bowling ball in his right hand. He also sports a lovely pair of Nike boots. I had no idea Nike made boots, especially in that size. He must have had to special order them. Babe looks to be munching on bowling pins.



Tip: Keep Babe away from your bowling pins.

Babe the Blue Ox

March 19th, 2008 - Brainerd, MN



This Babe used to be part of the Paul Bunyan Center in Baxter, MN. The Paul Bunyan Center opened in 1950. The centerpiece of the Center was a 26-foot tall statue of Paul Bunyan that greeted children by name. In 2003, the Center closed due to the high cost of running the park. A local business, This Old Farm, bought Paul and Babe and many of the rides and moved them out to their property 7 miles east of Brainerd. Soon the amusement park reopened as Paul Bunyan Land.

Now you see, I knew that Paul and Babe had been moved to a farm east of Brainerd. And I knew that the farm was on highway 18 somewhere. What I didn't know, or realize, was that they were still in amusement park form. I had kind of figured that they had been "saved" by somebody and moved out to their property where they would sit, undemolished. I was somewhat right. I could have figured this all out with a little bit of research, but I thought I had it all figured out already.

It turns out that Paul Bunyan Land is only open from Memorial Day through Labor Day and is closed for the winter. I guess it's just not as amusing when you can't feel your fingers. I was a little concerned that this stop on our trip might not work out, but I stand by the trip regardless. Babe stands out in the parking lot to greet visitors, so we were able to get plenty of pictures with Babe. (You can see that he still had lights on him from the holidays.) You have to pay to go inside the park to see Paul. That's fine, I like Babe better anyway.



We tried to see if we could get a peak of something Bunyan from outside the chain-link fence, but, apparently, Paul either hibernates or is a flight risk as he is all caged up in the off season. So we didn't end up getting to see this Paul Bunyan, but we did see Babe and that's a plus. We aren't concerned about it. We can find a way to get out to Brainerd some summer and actually see Paul.

Tip: Try visting in the summer.

World's Largest Fishing Bobber

June 18th, 2006 - Our first stop for the project.

We went to visit my wife's grandfather at his home near Nisswa, which is also very close to Pequot Lakes. In the afternoon we had some time to get away and head into Pequot Lakes. While there we went into a couple gift shoppy type places, got some ice cream, and looked at a big stuff. Ice cream and big stuff is a combination we really like. Pelican Rapids is also a great place for ice cream and big stuff.

The World's Largest Fishing Bobber, or Paul Bunyan's Fishing Bobber as I've also seen it called (I don't know why Paul would write Pequot Lakes on his fishing bobber, but ok.), was the city's water tower until 2000 when it was replaced. The fishing bobber still stands, obviously, but is empty.