Monday, August 23, 2010

World's Largest Sculpture





When I was pastoring the church at Emerado, North Dakota, I served mostly the military community that existed at Grand Forks Air Force Base. People came here from all parts of the country and it definitely was a little melting pot. Many of the servicemen and servicewomen who resided there said to me that they "didn't even know there was a North Dakota." They had to find a USA map and find out where it was. They likened it to Abraham being "on the backside of the desert."

Indeed, most have never been to North Dakota and the population of that state is a little over 750,000, which is about one-fourth the size of the Denver metro area. The reason there are so few people there is that they have all moved out. It can't be because they are not reproducing.... my wife is one of 10 kids, but only three of them stayed on North Dakota. They move out for college, jobs, and, well warmer climate. Winter in North Dakota is brutal. Your tears freeze in your eyes and your snot freezes in your nose. Your fingers freeze in your mittens and your toes in your boots.

Can you think of anyone famous who came from North Dakota? Probably not, but there are a few. Ever heard of Lawrence Welk, Angie Dickinson, Bobby Vinton, Roger Maris, and that Laker's coach, what's his name. Shucks, his name eludes me, but he coached the Chicago Bulls before that.... like when Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were on the team.

But there are other things that come out of North Dakota, too. Things like grain, sunflower seeds, canola oil, snow melt, and interstate 94. But there are also some interesting things in North Dakota as well, like the world's largest cow and the world's largest scrap metal sculpture. The largest cow is along interstate 94 as is the sculpture. I didn't slow down for the cow but I did for the sculpture. Geese in flight is the beginning of the "Enchanted Highway" which runs south from I94 to Regent, ND. As you travel south there are also other huge scrap metal sculptures such as a grasshopper, fish, pheasants, tin man family and deer jumping over a fence. These sculptures are enormous in size.

My wife and I and my grand daughter took this road to Regent. There we met the guy who actually makes all these sculptures. He also runs a little gift shop. I have posted a couple of pics to pique your interest.

No comments:

Post a Comment