Random but Fun

Many times when we travel there are these "must see" places that are just a tradition to visit, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Statue of Liberty in NY and Disney when we go to Orlando. All of these places are great to go and spend time and take loads of pictures, but haven't you ever thought of all the other places that are out there and we have just never given them a chance because we are so caught up with the traditional? Well trust me when I tell you that I am going to convince you to go to some of the most random places you could have ever imagined to visit when traveling to Minnesota.

1. Twine Ball Museum: Darwin, MN.(320) 693-7544. Apparently in 1950 there was this one guy Francis A. Johnson who had nothing to do with his life, or at least not very interesting, that he decided to wrap twine to what became the biggest ball of twine made by a person. He would wrap for 4 hours each day for a total period of 29 years! Now do you understand why I believe he had nothing to do? The product of his creation was a ball with an 11ft diameter and a total weight of 17,400 lbs; that is a total of 70 baby elephants put together on a scale! So now the museum has put the ball in a plexi-glass gazebo for tourists to come and admire the creation. The museum is open all year round including Memorial Day and there is a zero fee for entry.

2. Spam Museum: 1101 North Main Street Austin, MN 55912. (507) 437-5100. Everyone has heard of SPAM before and seen the ridiculous commercials. Now you can come to the museum where you will find over 400 labels of all SPAM and Hormel food products along the companies 117 years of history. You enter the "World of Spam" all you see is SPAM, literally. You even get to pack your favorite canned meat in a 12oz. can. Now let me warn you that when you enter its SPAM all the way, I mean the people that work here are obsessed with it. The website shows that the SPAM museum is the "Center of Civilization" all I mean is that I imagine this place to be a little weird, in a very funny way. Admission to the museum is free.

3. Paul Bunyan Land This Old Farm: 17553 State Highway 18 Brainerd, MN 56401. 218) 764-2524. If you are a fan of the legendary Paul Bunyan or your kids just cant get enough of that bedtime story, then be sure to come here. A 26 ft statue of Paul Bunyan greets you at the entrance of the farm and even greets your children by name. The farm is filled with all types of attractions like roller coasters, maizes and this Halloween it even had a Paul Bunyan haunted house. Reservations can be made for large groups or birthday parties that you want to host at the farm. The prices are nearly all close to $10.95.

4. LARK toys: 171 LARK Lane Kellogg, MN 55945. (507) 767-3387. The LARK shop is a really neat place to bring the kids over. It is a family-run business which offers over 20,000 sq ft of fun and is considered to be one of the largest independently run toy factories in the country. Its open year round except in Easter and Christmas for kids to come and enjoy playing with wood crafted toys. The factory has a cafe with a carousel, an 18-hole mini golf course outside and also for those days that its not too cold kids get to ride a mini train as well. The general admission is free but you do have to pay for the rides. The carousel is$1, the mini golf is $5 adults and $4 children, the train ride is free.

5. Milk Carton Boat Races: Citywide Minneapolis, MN 55414. (612) 338-3807. In 1940 there were some very creative people who decided to start the tradition of collecting their used milk bottles in order to build boats and race them. The idea has become famous and now every year in Minneapolis people come together to race their boats at Lake Calhoun. The winner is the a decision based not only on the speed of the boat but also on the creativity the group has put on building such boat. If you go to the site its actually very funny when you look at the pictures, some of the boats I saw were floating dragons or milking cows and the people who navigate them dress up too! The whole activity consists of 50 events, parades where up to 800,000 people have attended and a night closed off with fireworks. The events start on July 12 and end on July 27.

You have all these ideas now so don't waste any time now planning your trip. Go on and enjoy the randomness!