The World's Largest Golden Nugget (on Display)

Today, I was on table number 47 in the high limit pit. I'm usually on 50 on Saturdays. Actually, 3 out of 5 days, I'm on 50. It is my home, but today I was on 47 for some reason.

From table 47 you can see down the hallway that leads to the tiny display of the world's largest golden nugget on display. The 4 feet by 4 feet window that looks onto the display actually draws a lot of tourists. Today, I saw a bus-load of tourists being lead by a tour guide with a glowing wand held up in the air. Twenty people or so cram around a small window craning their necks to look around the oblivious idiot that goes up front and makes it impossible to see.

There are other smaller pieces of gold as well and some plaques describing them. Other tidbits are written as well, like when and where the largest nugget was found and how much it weights (61 pounds).

Before I worked there every time I went to look at it, there is someone standing there and just staring or reading the plaques and they don't move. When they do move, someone else just pushes themselves into place. I have since been able to view the display without someone worming their way in front of me. I now know that looking and staring at the world's largest golden nugget is really not the thrill that other people made it out to be. It's a piece of gold, whooopeee! The text isn't very interesting either.

I think that if you put something in a display case, people just like to gawk at it. It's not the object, it's the fact that it is behind glass. Just like I always say, "If you put a frame around it, it's art."

liligan's response:

I KNEW there was always something missing in my life. I need a frame!!!!!!

My response:

Yes, you too can be art!

mkhobson 2004-08-09 01:45 pm (local) (link) Select When I was a kid my mom used to send us to stay with my grandparents in Baker. Now it's called Baker City, which was the original name, but when we went there is was just called Baker. I liked going to Baker, because I really like Eastern Oregon, how desolate and hot and deserted it is. But it was also very boring. There wasn't much to do except play pinochle and watch Lawrence Welk and read old paperback books from the upstairs bedroom. Sometimes we'd go up to the cabin in the Blue Mountains and it would be boring up there too, but we were expected to do stuff like hike which made it even worse. But I liked it up there because I could read a lot, and at night when we went to sleep it was very scary and creepy because it was just the kind of place where serial killers or crazed bears could show up and kack children in the middle of the night. But we never died up there, and we mostly had fun, so the memories are pleasant. But the only reason I'm writing this is because in one of the banks in downtown Baker there was a huge gold nugget under glass. That was one of the things we would "do" when we were stuck in Baker for any length of time. One was going to the cabin. Another was walking downtown to see the big gold nugget. Sometimes we'd go to the In & Out and get ice cream. We used to wish we could go to the Natatorium in downtown Baker (because it sounded cool and old) but I guess it was never open. Oh yes, we used to go to the library too. And to the K-Mart. Boy, those were the days. I feel very nostalgic for it all. MM (Reply to this) (Thread)

tuber_x 2004-08-09 11:37 pm (local) (link) Select You can still go to K-Mart. In fact, you can go anytime you want. Now that you can, it really has lost its appeal, hasn't it? I used to like going there too, just the event of it. I liked the high ceilings and the smells. The Icee dispenser, though I never got the Icee's. That reminds me....I miss Vita-Pups. Do they still have them in Oregon? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mkhobson 2004-08-10 02:03 am (local) (link) Select I actually go to K-Mart a lot. And WalMart, and Ross, and all those other cheap tacky stores for cheap tacky suburban housewives. Someday I aspire to be a regular Target shopper, but I haven't climbed that high yet. What I remember about the K-Marts of my childhood were the popcorn machines. You could smell that popcorn for miles. It always smelled good, and sometimes my dad would buy some for me, but it was always too salty. VIta pups ... you mean Slush Puppies? The kind they used to have at the Dari-Mart? Jeez, I sometimes think of driving down to Eugene just to see if they still have them. There was something perfect about those that I've never found replicated anywhere else. I've tried getting "Mr. Mistees" at Dairy Queen -- not the same thing. Icees are not the same either. Slush Puppies had these little round iceballs that were slushy and mushy at the same time. And you got to mix your own syrup flavors! I remember having an unholy addiction to them. M (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tuber_x 2004-08-10 09:44 pm (local) (link) Select Vita-pups and Slush Puppies are the same thing. The only difference is that they are called Vita-pups when they are served in schools or someplace that make you think they are nutritious. I went to www.slushpuppie.com and request information on where I can get them in Las Vegas. The sight is kind of funny. Well, the description of how they got Polar Purple Freeze as a flavor. I suggest giving it a look. Oh, you can also enter to be their spokesperson. Apparently, they are still selling somewhere.