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 The Wonderful Wizard I left the Vinegar Museum around 3 p.m. and drove down to Webster, where I got a cheeseburger and root beer at the A&W, then I said goodbye to this friendly town, which had been my home base for the past two weeks. I got on U.S. Highway 12 and headed west to Aberdeen, the largest town in northeastern South Dakota and, according to a sign on the edge of town, the home of the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle. I've always like Tom so I had an instant affinity for Aberdeen, too.
I had camped for the past two weeks, so I decided to splurge that night on a three-star motel, The AmericInn, on the outskirts of town. I checked in at the front desk, walked into my room, then immediately decided that I liked three-star motels. In fact, I've decided not to stay in any more cheap motels with smoky rooms and thin walls. From now on, I'm either staying in a nice motel or a campground. I like camping and I like staying in nice motels but don't much like what's in between.
As I drove out of the motel parking lot the next morning, I decided to make a quick drive through Aberdeen. If you know anything about my trips, you know that my "quick drives" can sometimes take several hours and, as it turned out, this would be no exception. I discovered that Aberdeen has a charming downtown with lots of old, brick buildings on either side of Main Street, which I loved, then I stumbled across a theme park north of town called "Storybook Land." The park seemed to be free, so I went in and soon found myself walking down the Yellow Brick Road on my way, apparently, to see the wizard.
I learned at the park that, for a few years in the late 1800s, Aberdeen had been the home of L. Frank Baum, author of the book, The Wizard of Oz. In 1939, many years after he died, his book, of course, was made into a famous movie.
L (or "Frank" as his friends probably called him) was born in New York but moved to Aberdeen, a primitive town in the Dakota Territory, in 1888 and started a newspaper here. The paper failed, however, so in 1891 he moved to Chicago but continued writing, and in 1900 he published a children's fantasy book called The Wizard of Oz. Though he was living in Chicago at the time, he had based his book on his experiences of living in Aberdeen in the 1880s which, as you know, was a period of drought, tornadoes, and flying monkeys.
To commemorate Baum's one-time residence here, the city of Aberdeen created a cute park a few years ago called "Storybook Land," with lots of characters from The Wizard of Oz and other storybook characters. I never saw the wizard but after strolling past countless Cats Playing the Fiddles and Cows Jumping over the Moon, I walked into the official Storybook Land Visitor Center and proudly told the nice woman there that I'd recently visited Mother Goose's actual grave in Boston (see News: July 22, 2001). I'm not sure if she was impressed but, with typical Midwestern friendliness, she tried to appear so.
Admittedly, Storybook Land isn't Disneyworld. But it was free and I figured that a park like this would charge at least $15 for admission if it were in California or Florida. Quaint, homespun places like this are one reason I love the Midwest.
Above left: Here's the cast, with a rather benevolent-looking witch. Above center: Pensive looks on the faces of Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. According to the sign in the background, Aunt Em is sponsored by Wal-Mart. Above right: Babe the Blue Ox with Paul Bunyan who, I thought, bore a striking resemblance to Tom Selleck.
Above left: Is this a cute park or what? Above right: A knight in shining (well, sort of) armor with Rapunzel in the background.
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