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In Frank Livers' second contribution to Slices of America, he takes us to two of Southern Minnesota's most visited spots: Cabela's (The World's Foremorst Outfitters) in Owatonna and Green Giant Park in Blue Earth. |
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First stop Cabela's in Owatonna, MN (about an hour South of Minneapolis). If you've never seen or heard of this retail giant then you're probably thinking "So what!", but this is more than your average sporting goods store. The Nebraska-based company opened its location in Owatonna in 1998, all 150,000 square feet of it! The building itself is made of pine logs and Minnesota fieldstone. In the state, only the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN gets more visitors. Once inside, there's more to see than strictly merchandise: a taxidermy section resembles a museum of the animal kingdom, two African dioramas, a 98-foot-tall mountain with 100 North American game mounts, a 54,000-gallon aquarium, a live bait shop, an archery range, and a restaurant. It's no wonder that families flock to Cabela's to simply walk around inside.
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| The front of Cabela's |
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| The adjacent outlet mall |
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| And the adjacent steakhouse |
Next stop, Green Giant Park in Blue Earth, MN. Here is some background information I retrieved from a Blue Earth web site: "Blue Earth's population is about 4000 and is typical of small town America where you know your neighbors and they know you. Blue Earth gets its name from the Blue Earth River that encompasses the town. The river was given the Indian name 'Mahkota' (meaning Blue Earth) for the blue/black clay found in the high river banks."
"The city is the birthplace of the ice cream sandwich, it's the center of America's longest highway, I-90, and home of Minnesota's first stained glass window. Blue Earth also boasts the world's largest statue of the Jolly Green Giant which overlooks some of the richest farmland in America."
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| Notice the Jolly Green Giant shoes looming above this sign... |
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| 60ft. Jolly Green Giant statue |
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| Also in Green Giant Park, this strange group of plywood cut-outs: The Pillsbury Doughboy (Minnesota is also home to Pillsbury), oddly posed elves, and the Green Giant's sidekick Sprout. |
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| This barn serves as the Green Giant Park Tourist Information Center |
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