Sunday, January 24, 2010

A Giant Potato

Recently, a reader asked if I had any postcards of jackalopes or giant Idaho potatoes. Here's the potato!

My grandfather and mother used to go to Idaho every fall for fly fishing and duck hunting. Usually, they would send us a giant spud or jackalope postcard. While this card isn't from that time - those cards have long disappeared - the date on the back of this card is 1979, and I'm not really sure who the Carolyn is who sent it to me. But my name and address at the time are on the back, so I know it's mine.

My friend Michelle used to live in the town of Driggs, Idaho. It is just on the other side of the Tetons from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The drive-in in Driggs is called "The Spud", and parked in front of the drive-in is a flat bad truck with a giant potato on it, exactly like the one in the picture above. (If you look at this YouTube video , you can see the truck and the potato.) On Wednesday nights, The Spud charged by the car, not the person. My friend had an old Winnebago, and when we were visiting, probably 10 or 12 of us piled in, and headed to the Spud. It was awesome.

So, faithful reader, this Spud's for you, per your request. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

2 comments:

  1. I bow down to the mighty Spud. I can hardly express my gratitude...would a pound of french fries do...perhaps tater tots? You really hit the mother lode here, because I spent a long time living in Idaho and I understand the sacred nature of the great potato more than any over-sized vegetable. I have eaten an Idaho Spud candy bar more than once (shows true devotion, because they are horrible.) And, when I lived in Idaho I planted a bag of potatoes on the patch of dead grass in front of my boyfriend's house where he had parked his Model T for too long. God smiled on us and it was a good crop. And J.R. Simplot, inventor of the tater tot, lived up the road from us and had the biggest American flag I have ever seen. Ahh, life was good in those days. Thanks for the sentimental reminder.

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