Javascript is not enabled.

Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.

Skip to content
Content starts here
CLOSE ×
Search
CLOSE ×
Search
Leaving AARP.org Website

You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

How to Enjoy America’s Biggest Things

There's no need to think small when you’re shopping or dining out

spinner image the world's largest rocking chair in casey illinois
The World's Largest Rocking Chair in Casey, Illinois - a community known for 'Big Things in a Small Town' – holds multiple Guinness World Records.
Courtesy: Big Things in A Small Town

When I think of the mall, I imagine spending five minutes circling a parking lot for a spot, then walking 10 or 15 minutes to get to Cinnabon or The Gap. It turns out I have rather pedestrian ideas of how colossal a shopping destination can be.

The largest mall in America is called—naturally enough—the Mall of America. You can find it in Bloomington, Minneapolis. Comprising more than 520 shops and restaurants, it draws 40 million visitors a year and occupies more than 5.6 million square feet.

spinner image Image Alt Attribute

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. 

Join Now

As well as retail, the Mall of America’s attractions include a Nickelodeon Universe theme park, Crayola Experience, a flight simulator and an aquarium.

 As our search for all things “big” in America continues, you could go to a yard sale that stretches from Addison, Michigan, to Gadsden, Alabama, stretching 690 miles across six states and drawing hundreds of thousands of vendors and shoppers. It’s held on the first Thursday to Sunday of August and is named the 127 Yard Sale because it stretches along Highway 127.

spinner image tents and booths at the world's largest yard sale which stretches across six states
The 127 Yard Sale, which stretches along six states and 690 miles of highway from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama, is the World's Longest Yard Sale.
Courtesy: 127 Yard Sale

Another option is Casey, Illinois, which sells itself as the place of “Big Things in a Small Town.” Located on Interstate 70, midway between St. Louis and Indianapolis, this unexpected tourist attraction has become a tribute to the large and mundane thanks to local resident Jim Bolin.

Casey boasts dozens of fantastically large items – from a 450-pound piggy bank outside the butcher shop to the world’s largest pitchfork (60 feet, 1,940 pounds) and swivel spoon (11 feet, 8.5 inches tall).

spinner image the worlds biggest pitchfork in casey illinois
The World's Largest Pitchfork was created to be placed at Richards Farm Restaurant, located in Casey, Illinois.
Courtesy: Big Things in A Small Town

And you mustn’t forget the world's largest rocking chair, which is a colossal 56.5 feet tall and was completed in 2015. It weighs over 46,000 pounds and is made from recycled materials.

Casey’s big stuff has attracted so much attention that neighboring Martinsville has gotten into the act with a giant horseshoe and anvil (5,530 pounds).

There’s a 30-foot pistachio statue in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Built in 2008 as a memorial to the founder of PistachioLand, the towering monument needed 135 cubic feet of concrete and 35 gallons of paint for its construction. Visitors with nut allergies will be pleased to know that PistachioLand also contains a winery, with tours and tastings beginning at 10:00 a.m. each day.

spinner image a view of the worlds biggest pistachio in new mexico
Tim McGinn, owner of the pistachio ranch, says he built a statue dubbed the World's Largest Pistachio in Alamogordo, New Mexico, as a tribute to his father.
Courtesy: PistachioLand

You can find America's largest hotdog (it weighs just over seven pounds) in Chicago. The world’s largest commercially available burger is on the menu at Mallie’s Sports Grill and Bar in Detroit. It weighs 2,000 pounds. You might want to order ahead of time and plan for some haggling—it is listed as “price negotiable.”

Travel

Holland America Line

Up to $200 onboard credit on select cruises

See more Travel offers >

Not everything that is enormous needs to pose a potentially serious risk to your health (joking aside, we do not recommend overeating). Words, too, can be oversized. if you suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia—a fear of long words—brace yourself.

The “longest word” is a hotly contested topic among wordsmiths worldwide. Many languages use different alphabets or are character-based and may offer a construct of ideas in one word. But even within any one language, controversies simmer. In English, do compound words or prefixes count toward the length of a word? (Think how far you can run with writing about your great-great-great-great-grandma.)

The longest word in a major English language dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word describing a lung disease caused by inhaling fine silica particles. Some wordsmiths, however, insist that the longest word in English is a technical term for a chemical composition, clocking in at 189,819 letters and taking three hours to pronounce. True lexicographers don’t count the term as an actual word because it doesn’t appear in any dictionary.

The roughly 2.4 million speakers of Sanskrit may know its longest word. Clocking in at 195 characters, the word averages 428 letters when translated into a Latin alphabet. The term describes a place in India and appeared in a 16th-century work written by the queen of Vijayanagara.

If you are an Ojibwe speaker, you may know its longest word is miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibadagwiingweshiganibakwezhigan (66 letters), meaning "blueberry pie.” Quite a mouthful.

Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition

Join AARP to Continue

Already a Member?

AARP Travel Center

Or Call: 1-800-675-4318

Enter a valid departing date

Enter a valid returning date

Age of children:

Child under 2 must either sit in laps or in seats:

Enter a valid departing date

Age of children:

Child under 2 must either sit in laps or in seats:

Enter a valid departing date

Age of children:

Child under 2 must either sit in laps or in seats:

Flight 2

Enter a valid departing date

Flight 3

Enter a valid departing date

Flight 4

Enter a valid departing date

Flight 5

Enter a valid departing date

+ Add Another Flight

Enter a valid checking in date

Enter a valid checking out date


Occupants of Room 1:



Occupants of Room 2:



Occupants of Room 3:



Occupants of Room 4:



Occupants of Room 5:



Occupants of Room 6:



Occupants of Room 7:



Occupants of Room 8:


Enter a valid departing date

Enter a valid returning date

Age of children:

Occupants of Room 1:

Age of children:


Occupants of Room 2:

Age of children:


Occupants of Room 3:

Age of children:


Occupants of Room 4:

Age of children:


Occupants of Room 5:

Age of children:

Age of children:

Child under 2 must either sit in laps or in seats:

Enter a valid start date

Please select a Pick Up Time from the list

Enter a valid drop off date

Please select Drop Off Time from the list

Select a valid to location

Select a month

Enter a valid from date

Enter a valid to date