EGGCELLENT Towns to Visit in the US! (US's Largest Eggs)

Four giant eggs. Four towns with big pride. One very specific kind of road trip that only makes sense once you’ve done it. We’re leaning into Easter season the way we know best: skipping the usual bunny-and-church talk and hunting down oversized egg landmarks across the USA, then using each stop to uncover the local history that made it possible in the first place. 

We start in Wilson, Kansas with the World’s Largest Czech Egg, a towering, hand-painted tribute to Czech heritage that turns the whole town into a mini egg walk. From there we head to Winlock, Washington, where the town’s egg farming past still shows up loud and proud in the Winlock Egg and the annual Egg Days Festival. If you’re planning Pacific Northwest travel, this one lands nicely between Seattle and Portland and makes a fun geocaching-adjacent detour. 

Next up is Mentone, Indiana, home of a 10-foot concrete egg built to promote a classic small-town egg festival and keep the community on the map. We wrap in Lorain, Ohio with the giant Easter basket in Lakeview Park on Lake Erie, a Depression-era joy project that’s still a perfect photo spot today and somehow has a geocaching-sized gap nearby that needs fixing. 

We also share a clear update about our upcoming podcast break and how we’ll keep patrons in the loop with golden nuggets while we regroup. If you enjoy quirky roadside attractions, small-town travel, geocaching, and festival culture, hit subscribe, share this with your road trip buddy, and leave a review so more travelers can find us.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:00

They throw them out at people. They're throwing ramen at people as well, Josh. Raman noodles? Ramen noodles in the pack still, so people can grab That's really random.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

That's weird.

Welcome And The Egg Theme

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Out Town. It's the podcast that explores unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching. Join us as we venture into some of the most country, most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

On today's episode, Josh, because of Easter and because of my current situation as well, we're going to visit some egg silent places. And I'll tell you now, Josh, some of these places we're going to visit in regards to these egg stuff, they could have been in March Madness last episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

This is true. This is true. So we are approaching Easter, which is a worldwide holiday. People from all over the world celebrate it. And we're thinking, you know, like what uh are we going to do the best churches to visit? Nah. Are we going to do uh stuff about bunnies? No. But we love the eggs. I love eggs. Oh, yeah. I love I love to eat them. You now love to collect them. And eat them. And eat them. Eggs, man. Eggs are great. So today we're going to visit four towns with four eggs on this excellent adventure.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Absolutely. And believe it or not, Josh, this is probably it's not even an upgrade for me, this one here. It's just my natural daily habit now. Um, I've got one of uh one or two of my new ladies laying and they're laying double yolks, Josh. They're laying big eggs and they're double yolks, too. And delicious. Laying twins. They're laying twins, absolutely laying twins. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So that's so cool. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yeah, very cool indeed.

Delays Upgrades And Tech Crash

SPEAKER_03 2:00

But meanwhile, do you want to just jump in straight away to the delays and upgrades?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yes. So I'll just say this, Greg. I really struggled to come up with a delay.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Really?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I struggled. Yeah, the weather's getting nicer here, although we don't talk about the weather on this podcast. But the weather, it was 70 degrees yesterday here. It was so lovely. I'm and my I'm just going right into my upgrade. And I'm tomorrow, I'm heading to Des Moines, Iowa for Moga Moga, Moga. Are you going to moga?

SPEAKER_03 2:29

I thought you may be going to moga. I wasn't actually 100% sure, but I thought to myself, maybe, maybe Josh is doing the venturing down to uh to Des Moines, Iowa for Moga.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yes. Well, this will be the closest mega event to my house. So I don't think I can miss it, especially since I will be somewhere else for many of the other uh uh mega events. That's all I'll say, not that. My brain got locked up for a second. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Well, I I'll jump straight into my delay and upgrade because I've got both and they are related to one another. First and foremost, my upgrade, Josh. This week just gone. I spent two days overnight trip. I went to Hatterburg in Mississippi. Why? Because there's a geo tour there. Have you done that geo tour, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I have not, but I'm so jealous. We've talked about it.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

We talked about the Tinker Town, not the Tinker Town, what was it? The alleyway. The alleyway with the little cute things in it. The museum.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

The uh the pocket museum, it's called the Pocket Museum. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Did you see the Pocket Museum again?

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Absolutely saw it again. This time took a lot longer seeing the Pocket Museum because Josh, believe it or not, you know me, I I I haven't done a video for a while, especially a jerkishing one since Bamarama. Bamarama was my last video that I did. That was a few, a month or two ago. So I thought to myself, I am going to do a video of this Hattersburg Geo Tour. And I filmed a video of this Hattersburg GeoTour. I come back home and I thought, you know, I was excited that, you know, I'm going to chuck this video on, I'm going to get it out this weekend as well. Uh, Josh, I spent three hours doing this video, and then my software decided to crash. Final Cut Pro crashed after I finished the edit of the video, and it's not uh not recoverable at this point in time.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Oh, it didn't save the edit.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

It did not save the edit at all. And makes it even worse. I can't get back in now to the software. I've I've turned it off and back on again. I've uh deleted the app, I've reinstalled the app, I've done this, I've done that, and uh yeah. So uh lucky enough, it's not a it's not a hard edit, but uh when I actually get it back back up and running, I will have to do that edit straight away.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So that's three hours of life of your life that you'll never get back.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Exactly right. See, that's the the chicken, my chickens would have enjoyed those three hours of my time, but yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I've had that happen to me too. Have you ever had done this where you do the edit and the edit's already, but you don't render the video, you don't finalize the video, and then you accidentally delete clips that were a part of it, and then there's like gaps and spaces, and you can't get them back.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, I've done that.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

That's horrible.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Luckily for me, the way I work it out as well with Final Cut Pro, because my software is just slightly different to yours, um, is that it auto-renders. So as I every time I change things, it actually auto-renders for me as well. So it does it that way. It's a higher-end software program. I will say that it takes a lot more RAM. Um, it's uh you know, it takes a lot more computer power, so to speak, um, to make it work. But you know, it's it's worth it in the end until it crashes.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

So I'm sorry to hear that. That's that's all right.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

And this is the new this is the new upgrade as well. So they've actually up updated the uh the the app um to uh version 12.0. It was at 11.9 before, now it's a 12.0 and it's just gone. So I'm gonna have to go back to the uh the 11.9. I did I did uh you know save that um app. So I did save the previous previous before the upgrade, so I can go back into that app and then start again. So I can do it that way.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

That's a lot of tech talk. I can just hear Minnesota boy on the other side of this podcast saying, okay, guys, get on with it. Get on with the eggs. I want to hear about the eggs. Don't worry about this. I want to hear about the eggs. Get to the eggs, get to the eggs, get to the eggs.

Patron Bracket Winner And Bathroom Strategy

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Speaking of eggs, uh, Josh, we made an announcement. Uh if you're not a patron, um, that's okay, but you wouldn't have known that uh we did have a a uh competition for our patrons recently in regards to March Madness. Tell tell everyone who's not a patron, Josh, what we did with the patrons for March Madness.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, so last episode we did Roadside Attraction March Madness. And before we published the episode, we gave our patrons the bracket for them to fill out. And the person that got the most points on that bracket was gonna win a golden nugget, one of the golden nuggets from our friend Nezmuk. Also a patron who also participated and did not win his own golden nugget back. Sorry to hear that. You can pray that one of himself. This is true. But in a landslide victory, our winner from the geocaching podcast, a podcast that you do, is none other than Scott Burks. Absolutely. Congratulations. Well done. He guessed three of the four final four.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

He guessed the top two, and he guessed the winner. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

And and I will say, even though uh I'm a I'm on the podcast, the Geo Cushion podcast with Scott Burks as well. I had nothing to do with it. He's uh I wouldn't even say he's a friend of mine, but anyway, that's it. He did uh Josh, he did this week. I was on the show with him this week as well, and he brought up Tresses of our town. He brought up the fact that he won as well on the podcast, but he said that he had some beef with you because you use one of his terms about the inner circle for our patron.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So uh it's uh what is that? Uh uh imitation is the best flattery or something like that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

And you don't gave him credit too, I do believe. So you did give him credit for it too. So absolutely, but no, congratulations, Scott Burks, for uh for winning the uh the March Madness. Do you know how he did it, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 8:07

How did he do it? Did he ask, did he ask AI?

SPEAKER_03 8:10

No, he didn't ask AI. What he did was on the Sunday, which is the last day for it to be done and to be submitted, he went to the bathroom, sat on the bathroom, uh, and and thought to himself, what am I gonna do? And so he started jumping on his phone, then he thought, oh, that's right, there's an email there from the G the Treasury of our town patron. So he left at the email, he goes, Oh, I'll download this and I'll quickly do this. So he sat there for five to ten minutes, contemplating, concentrating, enjoying his time. And uh, so really he pulled it out of somewhere where he shouldn't have.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

But anyway, well, that might be a good tip for you if you want to win for future years. Uh that's right.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Do it on the toilet.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

I'm guessing he's been to, he's pretty well traveled. I'm guessing he's been to qu quite a few of those places too. I think I think that helps if you have first hand knowledge of a lot of those places. And I think I did hear him say he did have to look a few of them up.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

He did, he did. But uh I will say as well, spoiler alert to let you know now, I'm about to say the winner that it was. So if you want didn't know, want to know the winner, uh pause this episode, go back and listen to Marsh Banders and then come back to this one now. Um, and that is that he he got down to the final two, and the final two being the uh the clown museum and also then the the letterbox. And he thought to himself, oh, he loved the clown museum. He wanted the clown museum to beat the letterbox. Oh, he did. He did, but he thought to himself, it can't beat the letterbox. The the the team would not allow the letterbox to actually get taken over by the uh clown museum, and that's the reason why he came out to terms. And he said the same thing as you, Josh, and that is you can't beat a place like that that's that big, that large, it's actually, you know, where you can mail a letter as well. It's movable where the the front comes down and the flag goes up when you mail something. So he said all those things for him ticked, all those little uh, you know, weird and wonderful and quirky boxes, and that's why he's he picked that over the clown museum.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah, and there's a theme kind of because the first year it was the largest ball of paint, which was kind of similar to interactive. You get to be a part of it, you get a certificate for uh for being the world record holder. That's amazing. Um, and then the field of dreams, a little bit different, cool spot, not interactive. Well, you can throw no, I shouldn't say that. You could have a catch, have a catch with your dad or your ghost dad.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

Or parent, exactly, or uh or grandmother like you did on your yeah, oh yeah, my grandmother going into the corn.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Into the corn, that's right. So there you go.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Well done to Scott Books.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Before

Break Announcement And Patron Plans

SPEAKER_01 10:45

we talk about an excellent cities that have eggs in them, giant eggs.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

We've got a little we've got an extreme, we've got an extreme announcement.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yes, a little bit of an extreme announcement. So here's what I'm just gonna lay it out. And here's the thing, guys. I don't love it when I have a podcast that I listen to and they're like, hey guys, see you next week. And then all of a sudden you go next week and you're like, Where's the podcast? And then you go another week, and you're like, Where's the podcast? And the podcasters ghost their listeners. I hate that. Yeah, we've built a relationship, we have friendships. We know a lot of these people that listen to our podcast, especially our patrons, we know them personally. Um, so we are gonna get ahead of things, and we're just gonna let you know that we in in about a month here, we're gonna take a little bit of a break from the podcast. Now, don't fear the podcast is still here, it's still gonna go. And that's part of the reason why we're gonna take the break because we want to continue to keep this fresh and strong. And I'll just say this, Craig, we've been going strong with this podcast pretty much every other week for three and a half years.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

I know, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

That's pretty amazing considering that I didn't even want to start a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

No, you didn't, and you just got a market find the mile, and you went, okay, it looks like I am.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

But I'm a creature of habit, you know, similar to uh wanting to put out a geocaching video every week for 15 years. I I can't I can't stop. And by the way, geocaching vlogger watchers, that will continue. Don't worry. Uh but um we're gonna take a little bit of a break to regroup. Um, myself personally, there's some other things I need to focus on in my life right now. Things are getting a little bit overwhelming, and you know, just like anybody, they need to, you know, to prioritize what's what's important and what's most important. So there's a few things I need to take care of for the next few months here, but our promise to you is that we will come back strong. And um, and again, I have a commitment to I'm gonna continue my YouTube channel. That's a part of it too. Like that's all always been a big priority for me. Um, and another reason, Craig, is I have something really cool planned for the month of May that would simply make it not really very feasible to continue recording the podcast during that thing in May. And I'm saving that announcement for our patrons at some other point.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

We could record, we could actually do it, but the quality would not be there. You wouldn't be able to have the you know these microphones and this quality of sound. So we don't want to ruin it that way either. I mean, we you know what we're like as well when it comes to the quality we've had at the Geo Woodstocks over the time frames as well. And and we that's pained us terribly. So we like our quality. So that's another reason why we can't do it in May because of quality control, Josh.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yep. And so I have a little cool thing I want to say for the patrons, but Greg, do you want to just talk a little bit about some of the stuff that you're gonna be focused on during our little break?

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Absolutely, Josh. And that is you probably heard me already in regards to what I've done, setting down roots here in Alabama as well. So I'll be focusing more on the homesteading process as well. Um, I've been extremely busy as it is, you know, setting up, maintaining animals, plants, gardens, all that in order to be more self-sufficient, Josh. I'm going down that route now as well. I did the van life for the you know the 18 months, you know, you know, traveling around permanently by myself for the 18 months. But setting up some sort of literally routes now down here in Alabama, it's it's one of those things. At the same time, I've I've got an interest back in a vlog style. Uh but this one being more in regards to uh you know the homesteading vlog style. So it won't be on my geocaching channel. My geocaching channel is still gonna be for geocaching, it's still gonna be there every now and then there'll be a video pumping out when I fix this one up in Hattersburg. It'll be out. I'll just say I'm hoping that's gonna be up before this episode, but we'll soon see. Um, but these vlog styles are gonna be on my other channel, which is an Aussie in America YouTube channel, and uh, I'll I'll be starting that in April. Um, and but Josh, we I still want to I still want to do stuff for the patrons, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yes, yes. So here's what's kind of cool about this. We are not going to go silent for the patrons. No. Um, we realize that the patrons support us, they help us continue to make this content. I'll just say this, Craig. We completely understand if we're gonna take a break, we completely understand if people want to take a break from supporting us. Like that's totally we would totally understand. We would not be offended, any of that stuff. That's completely reasonable. However, Craig, however, we're going to make a commitment to our patrons to continue providing some little fun golden nuggets and updates during our break. So this actually, Craig, might be a good time to actually jump on board as a patron instead of saying, guys, I'm not supporting you while you're on a break.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Maybe, maybe. And I'll say this as well, and I'll say this as well that I will be supplying some golden nuggets to our patrons as well in regards to what I'm up to on a daily basis, etc. Like like a memory, maybe like mini vlog sort of style, Josh. You know, so if you're interested in in what I've got to do and and you're interested in my chickens and ducks and you know, possibility of goats coming along soon as well. So there's a new one, Josh. You haven't discussed that one yes, goats. I know. I've got some I've got some new uh fencing fencing done up. I'm doing some new uh shelterers for goat shelters and stuff as well. So wow, yeah, things like that. Things like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

We'll send soon. That's cool. So here's the deal that this is the deets, okay? This episode is publishing on May 29th. Um, we are going to have another episode published April 13th. See, we're giving you we're giving you a little runway. Nice little runway. We could have just said this is the last one. It's not. We're gonna have another one on April 13th, two weeks from now. And then we will be back on July 13th. So see you this summer, which also means Craig. Another little sad thing. I don't think we've said shared this yet. We are not gonna be doing Treasures Virtual podcast at Geo Woodstock this year.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Oh, this is true. This is true, unfortunately not. And and uh our good friend Ryan Semmel, he's in charge of Geo Woodstock uh this year as well. We've already spoken to him about it too, and he understands it. So uh even though he was uh disappointed in it as well, but he understands as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

So they wanted us to, they didn't get it, they didn't kick us off. They didn't kick us off.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

I just want to make that clear. Ryan Ryan said, like, are you guys coming? He tried hard, he tried his darnest. But uh mainly due to Josh's little thing, uh the month of the month.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Which isn't so little, actually. It's a pretty it's a pretty big thing.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

I'll say it's a little thing, so yeah, not to you know shed any any light on it at all at this point in time. So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

So thank you, listeners, thank you for understanding, thank you, patrons. Um, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna come back better, stronger than the other. And that's another thing, Craig. Um, this will give us a little bit more time to maybe plan some guests, get ahead of our schedule, and actually make our podcast even better. Yeah. Um, so um, you know, when TV shows have seasons, they have breaks in between seasons, they don't just go forever.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

No, no, not at all. Although, although my other podcast, Josh, like the Munsey, official Munsey podcast has been going three and a half years straight as well. That's weekly. That is weekly. Although uh I did I have lost my uh my co-host twice now in the in the last couple of months, and uh I've got another co-host on as well, Minnesota Boy, Minnesota boy, Minnesota boy. Um but uh but yeah, and then obviously with the the um what do you call it the the GCPC, the geocaching podcast. We've had a few weeks off with that as well. So you know it happens, it happens here and there.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

So yes. So if you want to continue to keep up with us, become patrons or keep being patrons, uh, check out Craig's YouTube channels, of course, his geocaching one, but his also Aussie in America. Of course, I'm the geocaching vlogger. I'm gonna continue to post there. And Craig is if you want to if you want to hear Craig's sweet voice without his face, the geocaching podcast and the Munzie Podcast, which are both weekly. You want to hear that awesome Aussie accent, tune into those. We'll soon see. I don't know if it's that uh excellent, but anyway.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Speaking of excellent, Josh, are we gonna talk about

Four Giant Eggs Road Trip Begins

SPEAKER_03 19:08

excellent places?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

All right, believe it or not, yeah. Uh the our beautiful country of the good old USA of A has not one, not two, not three, but four. We found four large eggs in the US. In the US, in four different communities. Yeah. So we're gonna be talking about these four different communities. We're of course gonna be talking about the egg, or I'll say eggs, in each of these communities, and a little bit of like why they're there and and and all that, but then also we can talk a little bit about the actual city too. After all, this is a travel podcast. I mean, if you're gonna go to see the world's largest whatever, you should probably check out the town too, because there's a reason why that thing is there.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Exactly. And I will say, uh, Josh, and that is uh yeah, a few of these itself I've I looked at, they could have even been one of the uh contestants in the recent March Madness, or the the years gone by. So it's a possibility that one or one or two of these may end up on uh 2027 March Madness.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

I believe the first one that we're gonna talk about was in the first two.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

It was in the first one. So we have talked about this first one, yeah, yeah. And you have been to two of these. I've been to two out of the four. Have you been to any of them at all, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Zero, Craig. Oh, no, Craig. I know I'm it's bad. It's bad. But I have good working knowledge of each of them. I've done my research. That's fair enough. I've done it for the one.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

We're gonna

Wilson Kansas And The Czech Egg

SPEAKER_03 20:43

start with number one. We're going to start with you. Kansas. Kansas. In Kansas, Wilson, Kansas of all places. Well, it's the world's largest Czech egg. As in Czech egg, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

As in the country, Czechoslovakia.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Czechoslovakia egg, exactly. It is 22 feet long and it is standing end on end, so it's actually 22 feet tall. Um, hand-painted in a traditional Czech sort of style. But this is where you said before, Josh, as well, whereby check out the town around it, because the town is really encompassed, because the town is predominantly Czech town, hence the reason why they've got the Czech egg in that town. That's uh one of the locations in regards to as well. So it's got a very big Czech heritage, but around the town, there's actually smaller sized decorative eggs all around the town. Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

That's very geocaching like it is, it is. You can do adventure labs there or something. Like you find all the little eggs, you can have an egg hunt through the whole town. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Exactly. You can check them off as you go around. But anyway, it started already. I can't believe it. Um, but honestly, Josh, like this is the reason of what we do. You know what I mean? Like uh, you know, this this this large check egg. It is a beautiful check egg, too, I must say. It is well kept up, well maintained. It's not one of those ones where, you know, 10, 15. Years ago, this thing was in pristine condition and it's just gone to ruins now. No, it is still kept in absolutely pristine condition. You can do the Czech egg walk in regards to the rest of the town as well. But the best part about it is that they have a harvest Czech festival too every July. So, you know, they do the polka, the food, costumes, the whole identity of the Czech is uh is in town. Uh Wilson Opera House is also there too, which is a restored historic building. Um and it's got a small time small town time capsule in there as well. So that's really cool. I know. Um, one of the parts would, as I said, I've done this one. Um, I did this one because there nearby to this is a virtual cache in regards to the jails. And you know what I'm like, Josh. Uh you know, I love virtual caches. The virtuals are probably my number one cache if I'm driving around. And so last year it was when I was a full-time van lifer. Um, I was going through Kansas because I was going to um Mingo, Mingo Madness up there as well. So I was going through Kansas and I saw the virtual, so I pulled off, and as I pulled off, I saw the egg in the distance, Josh. So I didn't even know it was there. It's a true roadside attraction, though. That's a true roadside attraction. I didn't even know it was there. Even though we'd actually featured it as well, but it's madness. I didn't actually know it was there. So I pulled up. Uh, there is an actual cache there as well. Um, GC939MC is the cache, monster egg, it's called. And I found it, as I said, last year. I did take a photo with it as well, and I put uh I put on there, check this out. So uh largest and and in Snapchat too, Josh. There's actually the pin, the location pin. It actually says largest check egg in the world. Is it a location pin for it? So the okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna say this. I think it's this is the most beautiful of the four eggs we're gonna be talking about. It is because it you you're right, because it has its own little like like covering, like they protect that sucker. Absolutely, um, which is really cool. And here's the thing here's a geocaching thing. You've mentioned a couple geocaching things. Geo Woodstock is in Hutchinson, Kansas. I looked it up, it's an hour and 20 minutes north of uh so if you're coming down or if you want to see it, you're gonna get if you're going to Geo Woodstock, you're gonna get close to it. Yeah, hour and 20 minutes away, yeah. North of Hutchinson, northwest. So there's a little tip for you, you geocachers.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

But other than that, Josh, I will say the town was quite small and quaint. Like there wasn't much else in the town. I'll say that as well. Like there was the the virtual cache in regards to the jail. Um, and then this one here is a traditional cache, and that was pretty much it in the whole town.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

So there's a traditional cache at the egg.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

Uh the traditional just behind the egg. There's a traditional eye. That's cool. Yeah, I like those. That's cool. That's right. So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

All right. There we go. Wilson, Kansas. Now where are we going,

Winlock Washington Egg Days Stop

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Craig?

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Now we're going to Winlock in Washington. Not Washington, DC, Washington State. Winlock. It's the Winlock Egg. This one here was built to honor the town's egg farming history, once claimed as the world's largest egg, but no longer. Um, and it is home to the annual Egg Days Festival as well. I have been here to this one. I have done this. Um, I found this one in 2018 when I was traveling across the uh US for the very first time. And uh I I popped in and I I you can even see, Josh, I put a photo there of uh my my log photo from 2018. That's a good one. It's the less gray hairs on the beard, you know what I mean? Like I look slimmer than what I am now, and even like no buttons on my hat, buttons on my phone. No pins, no pins on my hat. Like, what the where who is this guy?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

You know, so that was that was like you that that face you're making, that picture is like, wow, I just met the geocaching vlogger 20 days ago.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

No, that face is my face, that's what that is. I know, I know. Uh, what else is there to do in and around Windlock? Well, as I said before, Winlock egg days, they do a parade, they do egg tosses. It's very classic. Of course they do. Very classic Americana sort of stuff as well, because you know, you Americans love your parades. You know, down down here and in in Mobile, Alabama, and stuff as well, where the home of uh Mardi Gras. You've been to a Mardi Gras parade, haven't you, Josh, at all? Where they chuck everything at you like I've never been.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

I actually never been. I've seen them, but I've never been. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Wow, they chuck everything at you here. You know, we're talking, we're talking not just the beads, the plastic beads, but now they're chucking moon pies. You know those moon pies in plastic wraps?

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Are they just like uh a pie?

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Yeah, yeah. The moon you know the American moon pies. They're the they're the the chocolate sort of um marshmallowy sort of yes, yes. You put it, you put them in the microwave, they taste better, you know. Yes. They throw them out at people. They're throwing ramen at people as well, Josh. Like ramen noodles in the pack still, so people can grab that's really random.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

That's weird.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

It is, it's become uh you know a bit weird down here in Mobile, even to the point, Josh, where the last um the last parade down here in Mobile as well, one person got arrested that was throwing too hard and aggressively. So boy. I know, I know. Anyway, I'm digressing. I'm going down.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yeah, we're yeah, we're talking about Washington, not Alabama.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

Washington, the Winlock Egg Day. So that's what we're talking about in regards to the parades they do as well. But the best one of the best parts of the world is you can wander around all the local antique shops. Uh this you know, you know, Josh, I know you. You love an antique shop. You love a second hand place.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

I love a good antique.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

You and I, when we were in Texas last year, Josh, you remember that uh the second hand place you we were Finder's Keepers.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Finders keepers. I remember the name.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

You got yourself an actual VCR of uh Back to the Future, didn't you? Yeah, I got a VHS tape of VHS.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

McDonald's one McDonald's VHS tape of Back to the Future. It was slightly rare, slightly rare, yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

You also had a phone call with your brother to say, you know, you find some sort of game, baseball game thing, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Starting lineup, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Start it, whatever it might have been. And then I held on to that. I held on to that in the van for months ready for you to come and pick it up. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

I wonder how much extra gas that you had to pay to just lug that thing around.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

No, nothing really. Compared to compared to my big butt inside the van, nothing really. Uh so yeah, the antique shops as well, uh in and around the town. Uh, explore the surrounding Lewis County countryside, quiet, green, very Pacific Northwest. And you, I know how much you love the Pacific Northwest. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Oh yes. And and here's another thing. If you're if you're a geocacher, this is almost directly between Seattle and Portland. So people that are doing want to go to Seattle to go to HQ and then go down to Portland to the original stash plaque. Like this is on the way. Yeah, it's right. So don't miss the huge egg.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Yeah, it's not the biggest egg in the world anymore. It used to be used to be. Used to be used to be.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

But uh, you gotta get there. You gotta get there. And oh, Mount St. Helens, too, right? Yeah, Mount St. Helens.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

And if you want to take a little detour, it's it's close by. It's close by as well. But uh it still says on it the world's largest egg, but it's no longer the world's largest egg.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

So yeah, there you go. They're an egg town, and you know what? And they're proud of it, they're damn proud of their town, and that is a rare thing these days.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Wow, look at you getting in nice and early. Very cool. It was in the notes at that time. Yeah. Oh, that's what it is. But yeah, there is a virtual when it comes to geocaching as well. It is an actual virtual, so one good egg. GC71EB, so it's an older virtual, but it's a virtual, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Okay. Next is yours, Josh.

Mentone Indiana Concrete Egg History

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah, we're going to we're going to the great Midwest here. We're going to Mentone, Indiana. Mentone. And if you're thinking, where is Mentone? I'm just looking on the map here. We're looking, ooh, this is pretty close to Chicago. So we're looking northern Indiana, uh, south of South Bend, Indiana. And Mentone, Indiana is known for a giant concrete egg. Okay. So we talked about this on the last podcast in March Madness. Back in the late 1940s, Mentone was trying to be quirky and trying to survive, you know, as a small town and stand out. And just like the previous one, the town had strong ties to poultry farming. Wouldn't you know it? Of course it does. And the eggs were a real part of their economy. So the community leaders got together, they got to meet. I can just imagine the meeting. What are we known for? I know. We're eggs, we're eggplys. How's your chickens going, Barry? Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Yeah, I got good. Yeah, they're lying real good.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

So they wanted to put on the map. So this egg is is kind of old. I mean, 1948.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yep. Um, and then they created an egg festival around it in 1948. So um, and they made it their claim to fame is that we are the egg basket of the Midwest. However, this egg is not actually in a basket.

unknown 31:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

We'll get to that later.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Too big. It's too big for the basket, Josh. Looking at the photo, it it does have the uh uh menatone on the egg itself as well. It does say that it is made of concrete, weighs 3,000 pounds. Yes, it's 3,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

It's probably the heaviest of all these eggs that we're talking about. And it's 10 feet tall.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

10 feet tall, exactly. And yeah, as you said before, originally constructed in 1946 to advertise the local egg festival.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

So there you go. And it's not the biggest, it's not the biggest in the world. They don't claim it to be the biggest.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

It's a heavy egg, Josh. A heavy egg.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

But geocachers, we're looking out for you. Guess what? This isn't a virtual, but not only is it a virtual, it's an old virtual. Yeah, 2002. Oh, yeah. If you're playing along, it's G C H R2P.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

Wow, that is an older one too. So and uh by the looks of Josh parking right alongside because it's located in a bank parking lot. So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Oh, funny.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

They have an egg festival every June. They have a lovely little downtown, sounds very similar to these other locations. Oh, yeah. There's a lake, there's a downtown, there's a lake, there's nature, and um, it's a conversation starter. This this concrete egg. So there it is. Mentone, Indiana.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Mentone, Indiana. All right, Josh, moving along to number four, the last one we have.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Last one.

Lorain Ohio Giant Basket Mystery

SPEAKER_01 32:52

I think this might be my favorite, even though I haven't visited all of them. Lorraine, Ohio. Oh Lorraine, Ohio, it's not just an egg, but it's a giant Easter basket filled with eggs. Okay. So back in 1937, during the end of the Great Depression, a local resident named Anthony de Garsa de Garza De Grassa? De Grassa. He decided to build something for his community, not for tourism, not for recognition, just to create something joyful, Craig. He built a giant Easter basket filled with oversized eggs and played placed it in their park, which get this, is right off of Lake Erie. Okay. So it is a beautiful spot. Yeah. If you look at the pictures, people like go there and they get pictures, but it's like awesome sunset pictures. It's it's really it's really nice. Um, the basket, it's a woman style basket. I don't know what it's made out of. It's probably not made out of wicker. That probably wouldn't last all those all these years because this thing's getting to be almost 100 years old.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

Yeah, you know, and it snows there as well. So when in wintertime and stuff, too, you it's got a it's it's out in the elements, so it wouldn't be wicker.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Yeah, I do think they take care of it because it's filled with brightly colored oversized eggs. They must paint this sucker and keep it nice.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

They do that, they do that at Easter time. So yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

So here's the thing that's surprising though about it. I couldn't believe this. I had to look at the geocaching map because I was like, surely, Craig, this is a virtual. Surely there's an adventure lab there. Yeah, surely in that park, the Lakeview Park, surely there's a cache there.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Nothing. Nothing. No cache in that park right off of Lake Erie.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

So people, if you're anywhere near Lorraine, Ohio, and you have a virtual credit, I got an idea for you. The world's largest Easter basket. I mean, this this park is a beach, it has a it has a lighthouse. It's like this sounds like the most beautiful spot of all four of these.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Yeah. No, I do, I do, I do, I do like it, Josh, too. Um as I said before, it does have I'm looking at photos as well. And so some people said, like, you know, they've they've they've put tips in it as well. Some people say, you know, I just visited the basket. Although the rabbit and Easter eggs are no longer inside because it's got snow all over it, it's obviously winter time. The basket still is fun to look at as well. So um another one uh here says the big Easter basket has been repainted, not as brightly colored at the moment, but still sight to see as well. So they do upkeep this uh this basket. And this one here does have the little cute bunny uh sticking out from it, and larger eggs as well inside, all different colored eggs, like Easter eggs. So the uh the theme for this particular episode, Josh, I do say. Yes, yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

This is a place that that I would go to at any part of the year, and I would shoot a video and then I'd release it Easter morning. Yeah, I would have that discipline, like we did with uh our Christmas episode at the Christmas story house or uh or the Halloween episode at the haunted library. So maybe someday I will make it to this Easter basket and uh make a video because it sounds like a great spot for a video. But there needs to be a cache there. I wonder if there's a munsey. There's better be a munsie there.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

I haven't even looked. I mean, I'm looking at Lorraine now, and there's a few caches around, and in Elmwood Park, there's a few caches in there, and there's a few caches along the it looks like a river way, Black River, it's called. Um, a couple of caches along there, but nothing really town per se. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

So the closest geocache to the basket, I looked it up, is a guardrail.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

That's too funny. That is too funny. Um have a look now. Yeah, there's some munsies around there. So uh let me just check to see though, uh, if there's an actual munsey for that particular purpose, though.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

I'm not sure if there is you should put you should put the roadside attraction munsey on it, the POI. Oh you have the you have the power, you have the powers to do that, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:58

You do I do actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Absolutely, I do. I like a change. Yeah, I actually do. Uh I have godlike powers in Munzie.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Let's see. Lorraine, Ohio. Um uh actually, no, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Yeah. I mean, if there's no geocache, if there's no geocache in that park, surely it's not gonna be that many munsies.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah, no, no, no, uh, no munsies either. So oh, stand by. Oh no, that's a lighthouse one. I can see it's actually on the map saying Easter basket is on the myself and I'll drop it right there. I'll drop it uh a POI right there.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

So well, there you go, friends. Eggs.

Wrap Up Break Dates And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 37:44

What an excellent podcast. A little shorter. That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

That's okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Shorts but you know, if there were more eggs, we'd talk more about eggs. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

So uh listeners, if you ever get a chance to go to one of these places, especially patrons, post a picture, send it to us.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

I would love, I would love to see pictures of uh the Easter basket, especially on Easter. So that'd be cool. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Yes, Josh. Um, otherwise, though, we just said before we're gonna take a break um for uh not not this episode, not the next one. We'll still be back for the next one as well, but uh in the month of April slash May, predominantly May. Um we won't be uh on air and June and June.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

And so coming back, we're coming back June 13th.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

June 13th, so yeah. I'm sorry, July, July 13th, July 13th. So May, May, June. Um, but if you want to keep up to date with what Josh and I are doing, as we said before, we're still gonna be chucking in some golden nuggets there, even if there are there are personal golden nuggets where Josh and I aren't actually together. We're not actually speaking, not that you know we're not in fighting, um, but we're not doing it together, we're not doing the nuggets together, but we're just uh showing everyone, and I'll say this as well, Josh. I think that you're gonna have some quality, quality golden nuggets up your sleeve.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Oh, I think I will. I think I will. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Hopefully. I really think you will. And if you want to get the behind the scenes or the BTS of what the GCV is up to, um, yeah, join us on uh on Patreon, Josh. So how do they go ahead and uh do that?

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah, it you know, if you're thinking, if you're not a patron right now, you're thinking, oh my gosh, I'm gonna miss these guys. Well, you don't have to miss us because you can join our Patreon and you can get golden nuggets. And not only are you gonna get golden nuggets, you're gonna support this podcast to keep it going as we come back in July. We're gonna have one more episode in two weeks, but as we come back in July. So consider joining us at patreon.com backslash treasures of our town.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Uh otherwise, Josh Hack and other people contact us if they yeah, if they go to these one of these eggs that we spoke about and they take their selfie, etc. as well. Uh how do they how do they contact us? How do they get that information to us?

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Or if they're mad at us for taking a break, they can they could message us and just tell us, get their anger out. Uh, feel free to reach out to us at treasures of our town podcast at gmail.com. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or our BuzzRoud site.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

So that's it for our nice show today. Nice and short. Please subscribe, rate review on your favorite podcast gap.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

And as always, Josh, we have traveled to all the most unexpected, amazing, excellent places around the country and the world. See you next time and happy Easter.