Some of you wanted to know what in the heck this building could be. Well, my SISTER-in-law, also known as MacGyver, did a little research and found out that this giant 35 foot fork is only a couple blocks away from her in Springfield and can you believe... she's never went to check it out! It used to be in front of a restaurant out on Glenstone, but now lives happily buried in the cement at Noble & Associates, a Springfield ad agency. Noble does a lot of work for the food service and retail industry, so the fork makes sense! A plaque proclaims it as "The World's Largest Fork," which may or may not be true!
I used my GPS to navigate the trip this week, good thing since I am "map challenged." Before TomTom came into our lives, getting lost on vacation was a given. I always packed a cooler with drinks and some type of nourishment because I knew we WERE going to get lost and it might take some time until we found the right road.
We've been lost in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., oh...and Arkansas. It's not pretty either, there is finger pointing!
There are some things in Springfield that you might just miss if you didn't know about them. I'm sure you're writing down the World's Biggest Fork" on you Bucket List. Don't miss the Seeburg Muffler Car, it sets in front of their business on Campbell and catches your eye!
When I was a kid, this was a landmark out on Glenstone... the old Lily-Tulip Company had a cup complete with straw that was just too cool! The plant was built in 1952 and in 1989 it sold to Sweetheart Company who makes Solo cups. Unfortunately it is now closed, according to MacGyver...
One more...this is the World's Longest Footbridge for Trainspotting, really! Built in 1902 the walking bridge was built for people to watch trains from! It's 562 ft. long, crosses 13 sets of train tracks!
These two whirling dervishes were so busy talking that they forgot to tell me where to turn when we were sightseeing. That seems to run in our family... the whirling dervish part!
I don't know why my eye is attracted to the weird. The restaurant where we ate the other day, the one that served the giant Sancho...well the bathroom door was the skinniest door I've ever seen! We spent a big part of the meal discussing that skinny door and what if we couldn't fit into there after eating the giant Sancho!
I love animal weirdness. This Razorback hog is something that we actually have here in the Ozarks. Missouri and several other states have open season year round on the overpopulation of feral pigs. I know if I ran into this guy in the woods it would scare me to death!
These guys were hanging out at Bass Pro Shop. One soft shelled turtle and another cute little box turtle having an up close and personal conversation on the log. I heard what they were saying...
"Why did the turtle cross the road?"
"To get to the SHELL station, silly!"
A fun post with some interesting sights...
ReplyDeleteWow, love the unique places! That muffler car is awesome!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Lorilee
What do you think the turtles were saying???
ReplyDeleteWe got a GPS for the same reason but found out that sometimes in certain areas it does not work :( so we still got lost...until it started working again at least.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is great with maps and directions. (usually) I'm the one that's challenged. My son teases that I didn't need a GPS to get to the corner store. His stab that I rarely leave the house.
ReplyDeleteThe way those turtles are looking toward you, I think they were hoping for their shot at fame, on your blog!
What variety!
ReplyDeleteLoved it all.
Glad you are having such a good time.
Ok, so Casper's is on my Springfield bucket list along with the giant fork and the Seeburg car. I'd like to see the train bridge too but only from the ground. Maybe my husband would climb it and take a few photos of the trains for me.
ReplyDeleteWe used to get lost a LOT - pre GPS. Back in 1982 we took our kids to DisneyWorld. The ONLY place we got lost that trip was in Broken Arrow, OK if you can believe it. We could see the highway we needed to be on - we just couldn't manage to get to it. We always refer to those side trips as "the scenic routes."
I failed to give directions to the train bridge...I-44 exit 80A. Drive south, cross Route 66 and the train tracks, then turn right) onto E. Commercial St. Drive about a mile and you'll see the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge entrance and parking lot on the right!
ReplyDeleteIt was such a treat to come across the picture of the Lily Cup plant. When I was a child and we drove to Springfield to visit relatives, it was one of my favorite landmarks.
ReplyDelete