The Eighth Wonder of the World

Just an hour from the Twin Cities lies a site that is definitely cooler than the Colossus, more magnificent than the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (who’s heard of that anyway?), and nearly as charged with New Age Energy as the Great Pyramid.  Plus it is toddler-friendly, has pink picnic tables, and is totally entirely FREE.

See for yourself:

The Refrigerator
The Refrigerator

At first glance this mid-size, older model fridge might not appear to be in the same class as the Hanging Gardens, but look more closely:

The Sign
The Sign

Are you kidding me?  In post-Jerry-Garcia America there’s an unlocked, unattended refrigerator filled with Freezee Pops and a “Suggested Donation” sign?  Even after wandering the rest of this amazing, soul-salving site, I think this fridge did the most to reaffirm my faith in humanity.

Ok, enough shenanigans.  It’s taken me a while to post the pics, but earlier this month we drove out to the Franconia Sculpture Park with Griffin and had a fabulous day.  For those of you not in the know, it’s a 20-acre site in the middle of nowhere (by urban standards—cornfields all ’round), filled with incredible, humongous modern sculpture.  Places like this make Minnesota oh-so-easy to fall in love with.

Here are some of our favorite pictures.  Click on any of them to jump to the full album.

20110803_114622_059
Alas, we didn't write down the names of these things. But isn't this cool?
20110803_113026_024a
Griffin was SO excited!
20110803_114844_065a
Wind socks! (Griffin loves some wind socks.)
20110803_115958_083a
Metal thing
20110803_115342_071a
Not tornado safe.
20110803_112534_012a
Most Amazing Thing Ever
20110803_125100_120a
From another angle.
20110803_131128_158a
Lots of happy play on the Most Amazing Thing Ever