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Hi, I'm Tamera, a professional wedding, portrait and boudoir photographer in Colorado Springs. But this blog isn't about my professional work; no, it's a daily love note to my beautiful city, where I've lived for most of my life. I love it here and I hope you enjoy seeing Colorado Springs through my eyes and lens!

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15 July 2012

Paul Bunyan, I presume


Who is this giant looming in the landscape? He's Paul Bunyan, of course! (For my non-U.S. readers: Paul Bunyan is an American folk hero -- you can read more about him HERE.) We found him at Bud's Salvage in tiny Aline, Oklahoma during our road trip last month. These 20 foot tall fiberglass figures were produced in the 1960s and '70s as advertising gimmicks and they're generally known as "Muffler Men"; variations include Paul Bunyan, "the noble savage" and "the happy halfwit". Whenever Pat and I go on a road trip, we consult www.roadsideamerica.com and see if there are any Muffler Men to be found on our route. Generally, if it's not too far out of our way, we'll adjust our trip accordingly. This is one of the best ones we've seen!

We arrived at Bud's Salvage only 10 minutes before their closing time. They kindly allowed us to run around back and take pictures of their Paul Bunyan. It was quite a hike, actually, and I was wearing some very adorable and yet very useless shoes, and the temperature was 108 boiling hot degrees. The sun was beating down on us mercilessly. It felt like we were on some kind of crazy endurance test, but it was worth it to get up close and personal to Mr. Bunyan and snap a few pictures of him! Afterward we ran back to the car, and the proprietor was patiently waiting at the gate for us. Thank you, sir!I must say, I think I sweated more in that 10 minutes than I have in my whole life all put together. Hats off to those of you who live in Oklahoma and can endure that kind of heat and humidity! I am, apparently, a wimp.

5 comments:

Lois said...

What fantastic pictures Tamera! I never knew about the term "muffler men" so I learned something new today. This is reminding me of a similar giant Paul Bunyan figure I saw once in Bemidji, Minnesota. By the way, your comment was correct on my blog today.

Randy said...

That's one big boy!

Stefan Jansson said...

Ha, I really like the second photo.

Joel said...

Great post, finally some good pictures of this rarely seen Bunyan. www.americangiants.wordpress.com
Thanks for sharing!

Joel

Tamera said...

Joel I love your blog! I have recently discovered a Muffler Man in Colorado Springs! I'll be photographing it and posting it here soon. It's been fully restored and it looks awesomely cheeky.