A second visit to Casey, Illinois revealed a few Big Things we missed on the first trip. Here is a Big Wooden Token (nickel) in front of the Casey Statek. There must be a lot of traffic since they had signs at the entrance to the parking lot directing visitors to parking locations to view the token. Actually, it wasn’t such a big deal. Just a sign for the bank.
Casey Bank Token
During our last visit in October we drove right past this yardstick a couple of times. I don’t know how we missed it. Probably since we were looking for the World’s Largest Windchime. Funny how you can miss a Big Thing. By the way, since we visited in September, the Guinness Book sent a representative to Casey to verify their claims to World’s Largest wind chime, rocking chair, pitchfork and maybe some other things.
Casey Yardstick
Here’s the Big Mailbox that we captured on our visit in September. At the time it was still at the metal fabricator. Now it mounted on a post in downtown Casey. The area around the mailbox still needs some landscaping but I’m sure this will happen. I really like this town and their mission. They even have a website www.BigThingsSmallTowns.com for you to visit.
Casey Mailbox Update
I got this tip from Dan Mitchell who knows the Indianapolis area as well as anyone I know. It’s on East 65th street just west of Binford Blvd. in front of the Collegiate Housing Services office. I don’t know if the pencil was formed from a unused telephone pole or how it came to be there.
Dan’s Big Pencil
On the way home from St. Louis the Chief Photographer spotted some small signs on the roadside promoting the “World Largest Chimes.” Well, there was no way to pass this up. We exited at Casey, IL to see the Wind Chimes and to see additional signs for the “World Largest Golf Tee.” Another find. We found the wind chimes, the first of many Big Things in this town.
Caesy IL Wind Chime
This Big Golf Tee at the Casey Country Club is another find in Casey, Illinois. I don’t know when I ran into this many Big Things in a single town. With a population of 2,716 and 8 Big Things, this is probably the most Big Thing concentrated place in the United States.
Casey Country Club Golf Tee
There seems to be no end to Big Things in Casey, case Illinois. I wonder what it is like to live in this town. People stopping in all day long to see all the Big Things. Someone has a vision to attract visitors.
Casey IL Pitchfork
Right near the Wind Chimes and Rocking Chair in downtown Casey, IL is this Big Pencil. This is much bigger (33 feet) than the Big Pencil that I received from Andy. See below.
Big PenciL, Casey IL
Sunday afternoon and the store was closed but the Big Knitting Needles and Big Crochet Hook were on display in the store window of The Yarn Store. I prefer not to take photos through a window since I like to get inside and try to get the backstory. One time I got a photo of a giant popcorn ball behind glass in Sac City, Iowa (see Food and Drink Archives: July, 2011) but there was signage about the object.
Big Needles
Our last stop leaving Casey was to visit a Big Thing as a work in progress. We were told about this Big Mailbox, knowing it was not complete. It will end up a block away from the Big Pencil, near downtown. The mailbox is missing the door and mail indicator flag. It may also get painted. There was no one around at the fabrication site since it was late Sunday afternoon.
Big Mailbox
Found this Big Flip Flop at the Savvy store on State Street in Santa Barbara while looking for some lightweight shoes. Nice surprise, and I did purchase some shoes too!
Santa Barbara Flip Flop
Another fork in the road. This one in Pasadena, California. Here is some info from Bird Dog Andy.
“I got some more intel on that fork in Pasadena from Jacob and Meghana yesterday. It apparently was very controversial when they put it in since it was installed by the artist without any permission. There was a years long fight about it but was eventually allowed.”
In the concrete in the base is inscribed, “Peace, Love and Harmony.”
Fork in the Road
You never know where Big Things will appear. We had just left the Moretz cabin on the Juniata River in Pennsylvania when we drove past the Shade Gap Elementary School. I didn’t see these Big Crayons but the Chief Photographer did and called for a quick U-turn. This photo is the result.
Shade Gap Elementary
I can’t imagine how big the houses must be to rate a For Sale Sign this big. This signed was spotted on the way into south Ocean City, NJ where we spent a few days after Christmas with the family.
Big Sign to sell Big Houses
While we were in Cincinnati for the Brain Tumor walk we visited the Cincinnati Art Museum. While walking through some of the galleries we spotted this Big Pipe. Turns out it was a sign in front of the Keyer Pipe House Shop which was on Main Street between 12 and 13th. The sign was installed in 1917 and lasted thee until 1983 when the shop closed.
Keyer Pipe Shop Sign
My Uncle Ed lives in St. Johns, Michigan and when we stop to see him we generally stop at Andy T’s market. They have a lot of landscaping plants, (we purchased some) and a small market with a lot of home made goods like pastries, jelly, etc. Always a good stop. In the past there was a Big Chair in the field nearby. This time, well hello! This big Radio Flyer was next to the parking lot. Wow, what an unexpected find.
Andy T’s Radio Flyer
Well, we were up in Michigan to visit my Uncle Ed. While there we spent some time and drove through St. Johns, and we noticed this Big Anvil atop the Hammer in Hand Custom Cycles building. I visited briefly but it’s taken me some time to get this image up on the site. This is my first Big Anvil, who knew it would be in St. Johns.
Hammer in Hand Anvil
On the way home from the LA trip we changed planes in the Minneapolis airport. On the way to the commuter terminal I found this bookstore with a couple big pile of books and some oversize newspapers decorating the front of the store. Now, I traveled through MSP for years and never spotted these big things.
Minneapolis Airport Bookstore
On the way from Ventura we spotted this Big Fork on Main Street in Santa Monica. Grabbed a parking spot around the corner (not the easiest thing to do in Santa Monica) to get this image. This, I found out is the symbol/logo for the Fork in the Road Restaurant, a “New American Restaurant.” What ever that means. It was mid-afternoon and were headed for a great dinner at “The Lobster,” at the base of the Santa Monica Pier so we didn’t stop in for a nosh.
Santa Monica Fork in the Road
We had a visitor’s choice day according to Julia’s trip schedule during our Spring Break Trip to Los Angeles. It was a fine Tuesday morning and after visiting the magnificent rose garden in the park out front we visited the California Science Center. What a great museum! Lot’s of school groups present and the museum has lots of interactive displays which keep their attention. The museum is also the home to the retired Space Shuttle Endeavor. A good presentation on space travel and videos of the arrival of the space shuttle, both the fly-overs as well as the surface movement of the shuttle onto the museum grounds. I was even happier when we spotted this big gyroscope mounted outside the ExploraStore.
California Science Center Gyroscope
