| s/y Nine of Cups Roadside Americana - Ontario June 2012 |
| Muddy answer: any re-tail store |
More National Parks and Monuments?
American Odyssey - Part I?
(Las Vegas to Denver)
American Odyssey - Part II?
(Denver to Boston)
More Roadside Americana?
Birds of North America?
Wildflowers of North America?
American Odyssey - Part I?
(Las Vegas to Denver)
American Odyssey - Part II?
(Denver to Boston)
More Roadside Americana?
Birds of North America?
Wildflowers of North America?
| One short day in Ontario and so much "unusual" stuff to see. Nice to know our northern neighbors have a good sense of humor. |
| Lest you think that the United States is the only American country with unusual and quirky stuff, here's a sampling of what we saw in our short side-trip through Ontario, Canada. We entered Canada from Detroit, MI over the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor. |
| In Leamington, we struck it rich immediately with peek at the Big Tomato, the local tourist info center. Leamington is the Tomato Capital of Canada as evidenced by the huge Heinz catsup factory in town. |
| Here's Big Muddy...the world's largest "mudcat" in Dunnville, Ontario. Unveiled in 2009, the Dunnville Mudcat was a three-year effort to bring the town’s mascot to fruition in bigger-than-life form. Muddy is 50- foot long and 27-foot high. Pretty impressive! Muddy Mudcat joke: Where does Muddy go to get a new tail? Give up? see below for answer |
Then, of course, there's a life-size statue
of Jumbo the elephant in St. Thomas,
Ontario.
of Jumbo the elephant in St. Thomas,
Ontario.
| According to Wikipedia... Jumbo (1861–1885) was a large African bush elephant imported to a Paris zoo, transferred to the London Zoo in 1865, and sold in 1882 to P. T. Barnum, for the circus in America. The giant elephant's name has spawned the common word "jumbo", meaning large in size. Jumbo's height, estimated to be 3.25 metres (10.7 ft) in the London Zoo, was claimed to be approximately 4 metres (13.1 ft) by the time of his death. |
| Death of Jumbo |
| Jumbo died at a railway classification yard in Canada at St. Thomas, Ontario, where he was hit and fatally wounded by a locomotive. Barnum afterwards told the story that Jumbo died saving a young circus elephant, Tom Thumb, from being hit by the locomotive, but other witnesses did not support this. (Go figure!). The great elephant's ashes are kept in a 14-ounce Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter jar in the office of the Tufts University athletic director, while his taxidermied tail, removed during earlier renovations, resides in the holdings of the Tufts Digital Collections and Archives. Jumbo's hide remained at Tufts University, where it was displayed at P.T. Barnum Hall for many years; a superstition held that dropping a coin into a nostril of the trunk would bring a good grade on an examination. Although the hide was destroyed, Jumbo remains the mascot of Tufts, and representations of elephants are featured prominently throughout its campus. What a legacy, huh? |
| As a tribute to Jumbo the Railway City Brewing Company introduced Dead Elephant Ale. |