I’m Lovin’ It
Posted by: Isabel in 2008 USA Road Trip, tags: big macs, pennsylvania, self-referentialismSo we were innocently driving along the Pennsylvania Turnpike today when we decided to exit to take a break for nature. We stopped at the first place off the toll plaza that seemed promising… the omnipresent McDonald’s. Sure, it seemed normal enough:
But… what is that in the window?
Could it be… A GIANT BIG MAC?!?!?!
YES!! It turns out this is no ordinary McDonald’s. In fact, it’s the Big Mac Museum Restaurant. Score!
In addition to the World’s Largest Big Mac, the Big Mac Museum also boasts a wide array of Big Mac paraphernalia (collectible Happy Meal toys, old packaging from Big Macs of bygone days) on display as well as souvenirs available for purchase, such as these glorious Big Mac Christmas tree ornaments:
You can also learn all about Jim Delligatti, the creator of the Big Mac:
…and the legendary (!) sandwich’s journey through time all the way up to the present day:
Nice. This is why I love a road trip. We didn’t intentionally go to the Big Mac Museum, but it was such an awesomely lucky find and we were both thrilled to stumble upon it. I have to confess that while I’m generally fairly anti-corporate in most of my leanings, there’s something I love about insanely self-referential corporate shrines (such as the New World of Coke in Atlanta… so awesome), even for companies I’m not particularly fond of (I cannot believe how much I was into this McDonald’s, but what can I say?). I also love factory tours! So perhaps I enjoy quirkiness and company pride, or maybe I’m just morbidly fascinated with wretched excess. Either way, I can’t get enough! Bring it on, America!
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How many Big Mac ornaments did you buy?
*I* love that they’ve literally put the BigMac on a pedestal. Self-love is sort of amazing, isn’t it?
I can’t believe that isn’t advertised such that you didn’t know about it already from planning out your route. They need to get on that…
Oh, goody. Did they have copies of “Supersize Me” for sale? Sure they’re big fans.
Haha. We bought ZERO Big Mac ornaments! I felt the photo of Brian next to the giant Big Mac was souvenir enough.
I agree re advertising!
No Supersize Me, but they did have t-shirts with very tough-looking type on them advertising the WORLD’S LARGEST BIG MAC!! They also had a lot of customers who looked really confused when we took photos. I guess they just think all McDonald’s restaurants double as museums?
Wow! You guys are having much more fun than I am.
If you love factory tours then you MUST check out the Jelly Belly Factory, (I can provide exact location details if needed) and the Dryers Ice Cream Factory both in California. You can buy “belly flops” which are all the jelly bean mistakes, at a discount and try all the Harry Potter flavors. At Dryers, they take you into the freezer warehouse which literally felt like the warehouse at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie, ice cream containers in every direction that went on forever.
Awesome. Great suggestions! We were going to go to the Jelly Belly factory in Wisconsin, but we decided it wasn’t worth going 8 hours out of our way.
I will look those up, but if you have the info at hand, please send it along!