Choke on this!

After having lunch at the Garlic Capital of the World, we headed south to the Artichoke Capital of the World, Castroville...

I swear artichokes are like weeds here. You can buy them dirt cheap, like 10 for $1.00. I love how you can just buy all kinds of fresh produce off the side of the road here in the Central Coast...

So here was our destination. Yes, that is the name. Were we going to eat here?

I wish.

Even though the food crazed blogger in me WANTED to try some deep fried artichokes, we were full from lunch. Plus, TC was asleep in the car.  We had to do this quick.

The restaurant had their own attached produce stand. I wish I had a photo to show you of their vegetable displays because they were shaped like big hollowed out fruits and vegetables...

Speaking of which...can you see it lurking behind that wall?

There ya go...My roadside attraction craving is now satisfied!

According to this article:

"Castroville California is home to the World's Largest Artichoke. Built in 1963 from concrete and rebar, this giant creation was the brainchild of Ray Bei, built as a part of a vegetable stand and restaurant complex along the main thoroughfare. It stands 20 feet tall and 12 feet across."

More on the Giant Artichoke Restaurant here and the fruit and veg stand here (you can see a photo of the fruit displays).

Here's a mom blogger's quick blurb on their food plus a cool picture of the artichoke decorated and a traveler's photos of the giant sculpture.

Don't forget my go-to travel guide to spotting wierd stuff,  Roadside America

Plus a totally random video of a family singing Styx's "Babe" near the Giant Artichoke. You can see some cool fruit/veg stands in their herky jerky video. Enjoy their singing...

Ooooh.....babe! That was actually my favorite song in 5th grade. From the 1970 album, "Cornerstone". Ooh, gotta love Tommy Shaw's pageboy bangs. Ha ha.

Even though we didn't have any deep fried artichokes, Bert and I took our quick pix while TC was sleeping and rushed back to the car so we could continue our journey...