Unusual Attractions in Minnesota

Spam Museum

• The Hormel company opened this tribute to the popular canned meat in 2002. Strangely enough, it's an improvement on the previous museum, which couldn't accommodate the level of public interest in Spam products. "Spambassadors" offer tours and information, while museum exhibits detail the history of Spam. The gift shop sells all 12 varieties of Spam, plus plenty of Spam-branded products for those wishing to proclaim their brand loyalty.

  The Spam Museum
  1101 N. Main Street
  Austin, Minnesota
  1-800-LUV-SPAM
  spam.com/games/Museum/

Paul Bunyans

• America abounds with statues of Paul Bunyan, the legendary giant whose footprints allegedly carved out Minnesota's multitude of lakes. Accordingly, Minnesota pays tribute to Bunyan with no less than 10 statues. Most feature the man himself; many include his sidekick Babe the Blue Ox; and there is one statue each of Paul's cradle, Paul's sweetheart, Paul's grave and Paul's anchor. The best-known statues are in Bemidji and Brainerd, but if you can't get there, ask the locals if there are any Bunyan tributes in the area.

World's Largest

• Minnesota contains so many "world's largest" statues that they can't all be listed here. Most are animals, such as the World's Largest Booming Prairie Chicken in Rothsay, the Big Otter in Fergus Falls and the World's Largest Codfish in Madison (Lutefisk Capital of the World). Look closely and you might find a World's Largest Turkey, Ear of Corn, Tiger Muskie, Pelican, Floating Loon...and the World's 2nd Largest Hockey Stick. But the king of them all is the World's Largest Twine Ball Rolled By One Man, a 9-ton sphere that took almost 30 years to create.

  World's Largest Twine Ball Rolled By One Man
  1st Street
  Darwin, Minnesota
  Open daily, April-Oct; Oct-Mar, call for appt.
  320-275-3186
  darwintwineball.com

Roadside Leviathans

• Giant roadside statues are common sights in this part of the country. Hermann the German is the America's third-largest copper statue. Big Ole is a Viking created for the 1965 World's Fair. St. Urho is the patron saint of Finland who used his booming voice to chase away all the grasshoppers. And Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur has been standing since 1959, but has never worn pants. The largest and most recognizable of all these leviathans is the Jolly Green Giant, a 55-foot-tall statue that stands over Blue Earth.

  Jolly Green Giant
  1130 Giant Drive
  Blue Earth, MN
  507-526-2916

Mall of America

• Proving that Minnesotans even prefer their shopping malls to be oversized, the Mall of America was built in 1992 and includes a wedding chapel, 5,000 stores and 25 rides and attractions in its on-site theme park. The mall has 4.3 miles of storefronts and 40 million visitors a year (which, it boasts, "is more than the combined populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa...and Canada").

  Mall of America
  60 East Broadway
  Bloomington, Minnesota
  952-883-8800
  mallofamerica.com