We all talked about the common attractions in Minnesota. Whether you like them, or think they are actually tourist attractions or not, others (people from other states/countries) think that they are.  We are talking about the Mall of America (I think it's a little weird that people think of a giant mall as a tourist attraction) and places like Valleyfair or events like the Ren Fest or the Minnesota State Fair.

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We do, however, according to Minnesota Monthly, have some strange attractions that are a little lesser known.  Check out these things:

SOUDAN UNDERGROUND MINE STATE PARK

Let's all go underground and check out what happened there way back when.  Definitely adds a bit of intrigue and mystery,  I love a good cave, and a mine is just as good in my book.  It's located in Northern Minnesota, Lake Vermillion State Park which is almost 4 hours from St. Cloud.  But a great weekend getaway.  Also- fun fact- there are more bats there that hibernate in the winter in this mine than anywhere else in the state - more than 15,000 of the things.  WOWZA!

LARGEST BALL OF TWINE

Yep, people come from far and wide to see the largest ball of twine which is located in Darwin, Minnesota. This thing has a cool story behind it too.

Francis A. Johnson was 45 years old when he started rolling scraps of twine from his family's farm into a ball. Twelve years later, when the ball weighed two tons, a reporter from the Minneapolis Tribune asked him why. "My mother taught me not to waste anything," Francis said.

Apparently there is a bigger one in Kansas, but that one has been added to by people who come to visit the attraction.

SALT LAKE

My first thought is "we have a salt lake in Minnesota"?  Up to now, the only salt lake I had heard of was in Utah.  But this thing is located on the Minnesota/South Dakota border.  From Wikipedia:

Salt Lake received its name due to the naturally occurring salt at the lake shore, a by-product of the alkaline soils which surround the lake.[3][4] It is the only alkaline lake in Minnesota and its water is approximately one-third the salinity of sea water.[1] Salt grasses grow along the shore and in the lake's water.

THE QUIETEST PLACE ON EARTH

We've talked about this place before.  It's so quiet that a person who is in the chamber for too long can start to hallucinate.  It's located in the Orfield Laboratories.  Here is the story when we have mentioned this unique chamber before. I do think it would be worth it to check out, at least find out how long you can stand to be in the room before you absolutely want out.

 WHY NOT DRIVE A TANK

There is this cool place located in Kasota, Minnesota.  This is just about 2 hours from St. Cloud south of the twin cities.  I'm thinking it's like a childhood dream come true.  Maybe a bachelor party - like instead of golfing first, everyone goes to drive a tank.  How fun!  Everything you need to know to get this thing rolling is on their website. 

These are some of the "not so ordinary" attractions in Minnesota.  Try some of them out this year.

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