Missouri Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff

by Josh Young

Overview

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Show-Me State has to offer!
Whether you’re a born-and-raised Missourian, a recent transplant, or just passing through, Missouri Curiosities will have you laughing out loud as Josh Young takes you on a rollicking tour of the strangest sides of the Show-Me State. 
Wander with tigers at the world’s only big cat bed-and-breakfast, browse through America’s only corncob pipe museum, and swim in the world’s largest underground lake.
Meet some crazy catfish-catching noodlers; a wacky-artwork-welding artist; and a pint-size, punch-packing former wrestling champ.
Discover the fun of swinging sausages while you dance, and duel with dinosaurs—you’ll roar with delight!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762765782
Publisher:	Globe Pequot
Publication date:	06/15/2010
Series:	Curiosities Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Josh Young's newspaper column, Dang Near Native, has garnered awards in the humor category from the National Newspaper Association two years running. When not roaming the state enjoying the offbeat, Josh may be found at home at his Long Creek Herb Farm, on the Arkansas border.

Read an Excerpt

(SIDEBAR)
Ozark "Go Get'ers"
In most of America, if you hear someone referred to as "a real go getter," you can be assured he (or she) is a hard working, energetic individual. The same phrase, uttered in the Ozarks, is actually a homonym, with almost the opposite definition. An Ozark "Go Get'er," for generations, has described a fellow whose wife was hired on at the garment factory, the chicken plant, or (many years ago) the tomato canneries. That man might "run" a few cattle on his unfenced land, and certainly he hunted coons with the boys at night, but his main money making activity derived from driving his wife to work in the morning, and "going to get'er" at night.

Table of Contents

Welcome to the Show Me State     ix
St. Louis and the River Heritage Region     1
Mark Twain Region     57
Northern Prairie     75
Around Kansas City     97
Central Lakes     121
Ozark Mountain Heritage Region     163
Index     215
About the Author     220

Editorial Reviews

The Show-Me State deserves to be seen. Missouri is teeming with fascinating characters, offbeat events, and weird destinations off the beaten track. For example, have you ever visited Reeds Springs' Museum of the Unexplained, a little-known repository for UFO memorabilia and debris? Or crossed paths with St. Louis's lovable "Queen of the Crypts," Connie Nisinger? Using his descriptive skills and his apparently insatiable curiosity, author Josh Young introduces us to Missouri's hidden assets, but he doesn't ignore popular tourist spots such as Mansfield's Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum and Mark Twain's boyhood haunts in Hannibal.

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