Wow, That’s Big!

Years ago, we watched CBS Sunday Morning and they featured a small town in Illinois. The town of Casey was disappearing, as small midwestern towns sometimes do. A young man in the town came up with the idea of making giant things. 

He started with a giant wind chime by his wife’s restaurant, as a way to drawn people into town. What followed was a rocking chair, mailbox, wind chimes, pencil, golf tee, etc. Watch Papa ring the wind chimes. 

The quirky, Guinness World Record items have become a tourist attraction breathing new life into this community. When we watched the story, I remember saying to Papa that someday we needed to see that.

According to the website, that was August of 2017. Like so many stops on this trip, we finally made it happen. We were able to see these enormous creations up-close-and-personal. How fun! What was more impressive, on a Friday in October, which isn’t peak tourism time, the streets and business were full of people admiring the size-able creations.  

To re-cap the day, we started in Indiana. After our daily coffee fortification at Hopscotch Coffee, we headed for our hike at Cataract Falls. There are Upper and Lower Falls. In the village of Cataract, we saw a sign that said “Indiana’s Niagara: Cataract Falls” (video) The park around the falls has picnic spots, trails and even an old covered bridge converted to a pedestrian bridge and picnic spot. The Upper and Lower Falls are about a mile or so apart. It is worth seeing both!
This is in a very rural area of Indiana. In fact, the narrow roads mean pulling off to the side to allow oncoming traffic to pass. The little village was just teaming with people. Tents covering wares like German toasted nuts and various crafts were pitched along the road. We stopped to ask what was happening. Why it was Bean Dinner Day! “Just go down by the church and get yourself some.” We politely declined and explained our hike plans. The gal was very kind to give us directions and not charge us $4 for pulling into her lot. 
By the way. It took me a bit to register Bean Dinner Day. It was noon. Then I remembered growing up on a farm in a small community. Meals were breakfast, lunch/sandwich mid-morning, dinner at noon, lunch mid-afternoon and supper after evening chores. Of course it was Bean Dinner Day, certainly not Bean Supper!
Despite the beautiful blue sky in pictures, weather turned to rain, wind and cold. Travel has been fun but we are beginning to long for our days of heat and sunshine.