Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Wednesday Post



The Northern Prairies Today!
Home of the World's Largest Viking


...in which we find out what's happening these days at the sites of last week's boring postcards!  Short version: Everything's still there.


St. Joseph's Cathedral, Sioux Falls, S.D.



Saint Joseph's Cathedral, an undeniably handsome building, is Still There. Most photographs you see of it are either taken from directly alongside the low berm it is situated on, making it look absolutely ginormous, or framed so as to not show, for some reason, the parish school and office building next door.





HEADWATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
ITASCA STATE PARK, MINN.


The official source of the Mississippi is Still There.  Those people have got off of the rocks, though.




RUNESTONE MUSEUM
Alexandria, Minnesota


The Runestone Museum is Still There.  It houses the Kensington Runestone, a well-executed late nineteeth century practical joke that has convinced generations of the gullible that Swedes and Norwegians were knocking around in Minnesota in 1362.  I was skeptical about the "World's Largest Viking," but it turns out that he is probably the real deal.



CAPITOL BUILDING AND SOLDIERS' & SAILORS' MONUMENT
DES MOINES, IOWA


The Monument is Still There.  The Iowa capital grounds are apparently quite nice.  Here's one especially bullish assessment:
The Des Moines Capital Building and surrounding gardens and monuments are a must see with architecture much like what you would see in Europe and it's a day trip from Kansas City.
Of the several statues on the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, internet photography gravitates to "Mother Iowa offering nourishment to her children," because there bronze breasts involved.



PIONEER MOTHER STATUE,
KANSAS CITY, MO.


Yep.  The Pioneer Mother Statue is Still There.  And it's a day trip from Des Moines.



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