I'll readily admit I'm a city boy, and like most city boys who like to pretend they're hardy outdoor types I shop at REI. There's not a bike, snowboard or kayak I haven't bought full of good intentions and then stored lovingly in the garage. I like to think of it as 'reverse Dorian Gray' syndrome. In Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", a painting of Dorian ages horribly while he remains as youthful as the day it was painted. For me the reverse is true, I'm aging horribly while all my outdoor gear remains youthful and untouched by time, or gravel, or snow :-)
Cabela's knows my type and probably doesn't care for it much, and I don't blame them. Cabela's is for real outdoorsy people... and red-necks... and I love it! The first sign that something special was about to happen was outside the front door: a giant fire truck painted up with the stars & stripes and a few eagles. Sensational! At first I thought Stephen Colbert was in town till I realized it was for real. But this hardly prepared us for what lay inside...
As you can see from the top picture, which only shows about 1/4 of the store, Cabela's is about 3 times the size of any REI I've ever been in, and has diorama's of real stuffed and mounted animals everywhere. There was mountains covered in real animals and for some reason, a real plane? There was lowlands where elephants watch over lions killing zebras, while nearby cougars chased gazelles. Then they had animal shooting games that dads could play with their kids, 'cause you know, killing Bambi is fun for the kids! Finally they had the biggest selection of guns & rifles I've ever seen in my now obviously very sheltered existence. It was truly a red-neck Disneyland and I was impressed.
In case you were thinking that I'm obviously too principled to shop at a place like this, well I'm probably going to disappoint you. They had some very cool (& cheap) sit on top kayaks, just perfect for tooling around on a lake during the endless summers here... and I think we have the perfect spot for it... in the garage ;-)
