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Nova Scotia BIG STUFF: A 6-pack

March 13th, 2012

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Lisa-and-Garry-Go-Round

There’s nothing like a roadside attraction to liven up a road trip and Big Things are one of our favourites.

Unexpectedly, they appear on the horizon in all shapes and sizes. There is the Big Nickel in Sudbury, Ontario, the Bigfoot further west in Vermillion Bay and that giant Goose overlooking the Trans Canada Highway in Wawa. What about the massive Mountie on Saskatchewan’s Red Coat Trail? It’s not far from sizable Sara the Camel in Glenboro, Manitoba. Then there’s the lovely prodigious Pysanka, also known as a Ukrainian Easter Egg, in Vegreville, Alberta.

In our travels we have seen giant apples, sausages, lobsters, an axe and even the world’s largest paper clip. These things bring a smile, cheer you up and make you wonder just how or why they ended up where they are.

No matter. Big things are here to stay and are one of the good things in life. A little silliness along that endless road.

Nova Scotia has its share of Big Things and here is a six-pack of our favourites. No abs or beer involved.

1. Supersized Strawberry. Hey! Where did it go? It moved from Glenholme down Highway 2 toward Great Village. It’s cheery bright red and makes you smile no matter your mood or the driving conditions.

2. Great Big Blueberry. In Oxford, the wild blueberry capital of Canada, the cute blue guy is about 2.5 metres tall and over three metres wide.

3. Gargantuan Glooscap. In Parrsboro, home of the biggest fossil find in North America, stands a six-metre high statue of Glooscap, the Mi’kmaq warrior that ruled the area we know as Nova Scotia. He had many run-ins with Giant Beaver. They always seemed to be throwing things at each other, thus creating Five Islands and the Fundy Tides (speaking of Big Things!). Although our favourite statue is the one in Parrsboro, the one at the Glooscap Heritage Centre in the Truro Power Centre, twice as tall, is pretty awesome, too.

4. Massive Mastodon. In Stewiacke, there’s a lifesize replica of the prehistoric juvenile mastodon whose bones and teeth were found nearby in 1991. The mastodon lived here about 79,000 years ago. You can’t miss the statue as you’re driving on Highway 102 between Halifax and Truro. There’s a museum there, plus a toy store and countless other places to spend your money.

5. Full-size Fiddle. In Sydney, Cape Breton. Where else would you find a statue of a fiddle? How big is that thing? It has strings! Does it make music?

6. Largest Lobster Trap – in Auld’s Cove at Pettipas Market, where an onslaught of kitsch and corniness await but then there’s the chowder. Mmmm. Chowder.

We know there are more out there. If you’ve got a favourite Nova Scotia or Canadian ‘Big Thing’ along our highways and byways, email (odyssey@eastlink.ca) or tweet us: @FrontLady @DrivenMind99 and we’ll post a few in our next blog, Friday 16 March.

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