Our first night and 'welcome dinner'
at
Ruttgers Birchmont Lodge
I don't know the flowers, but aren't they pretty?
We are in the town that Paul Bunyan made famous
or was it the other way around?)
The Woolen Mills factory was a wonderful tour.
The machinery for all this clothing is incredible.
The buttonhole maker won the Grand Prize at the world's Fair and Exposition held in Paris, France in the year 1900.
This is THE machine, and the Mill owner maintains it and did a demo.
Works those buttonholes in lightning speed with ultra precision.
In case you are interested in this history.
The knitting machine is like nothing you've ever seen--
4 'cakes' of yarn, 9 needles for each cake,
and 36 needles knitting this thin strip of yarn edging!
The braiding machine to make the decorative edges on the clothing.
Next stop - Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.
Legendary loggers of the northwest territory.
Legends include that he could chop down a whole forest with one swipe of his ax.
Another is that he and a friend got in a fight and knocked down all the trees in South Dakota and created the Bad Lands.
Love this one,
shows the size of Paul Bunyan vs car.
Enjoyed the day, sunny and clear (for a change!)
