...bananas around the world

...read how it all began









the original, taken from the top of the cn tower in toronto, who would know what this one picture would lead to...

the same banana, a little dated, looking down onto shoreline drive in chicagoland!

taken from the southernmost point of the continental us, in key west. take note of the drunk harassing the couple standing in front of the monument. after the picture was taken, the lady in the picture asked me - "what's with the banana?"

a few days later, taken in sunny naples, florida.

yes, its the houston astrodome, the picture doesn't show it, but there was a huge sign welcoming all to the rodeo that was going on inside at the time - yeeee ha!

one of the mitten buttes in monument valley. is this taken in utah or arizona? we're still not sure. one thing is for sure, this is a sight that must be seen by all, this picture does no justice - the banana looks ok though.

viva las vegas! taken from the 24th floor of the circus circus. the hotel you see off in the distance is the stardust.

not much to say here - taken in front of the golden gate bridge in beautiful san francisco.

taken in early september from somewhere in northern california - notice the snow on top of mount shasta.

taken in doris, california in front of the tallest flagpole in the united states - had to really back up to get a picture of this one.

taken at crater lake in oregon - a must see!

taken on a cold november day in warner, new hampshire.

a snowy day in lake tahoe, not much to see here besides the lake...

the los angeles skyline from beautiful macarthur park, where the homeless rule and the tourist run...

we sank to a new low for this one. yes, its oj simpson's house. we got lucky, shortly after we pulled up, the doors to one of the gates opened, allowing us to get a great shot of the place...

with this much hype, who could stop at just one shot. this one was taken just as the gates were closing. the crowd panicked as they tried to get in as many shots as they could before the gates closed. the all out frenzy was nothing short of completely comical. its too bad that two people had to die in order to bring all this about.

a banana was hard to come by around the grand canyon, only after an exhaustive search was i able to locate a banana for this shot. in the end, all the panicking was well worth it.

a true piece of history on this one. dealey plaza, the location where President John F. Kennedy was shot. it was difficult to get a good shot on this one, the area was overloaded with tourists hopping on and off tour buses that clicked away while the tour guide tried his best to tell his "story" of what really happened that day in dallas...

another view of the assassination site...

clayton lake, new mexico, almost like jurassic park isn't it? as you can see in this picture you are looking at dinosaur tracks. as you can see the feet of this one weren't nearly as ominous as the banana in the foreground...

bourbon street - what a place. a weekday in june, and still the place is alive with music, drinking, and women... all that was needed to make things complete on this rainy day was a banana of course!

this may take the prize for the cheeziest spot in the us but it had to be done. after taking the tour out came the banana for a spectacular shot of graceland...

ahh paris, how romantic, but the moment just wouldn't be right without a little fruit...

the arch of triumph - we almost caused an accident holding the banana up for this one.

the beauteous swiss alps. "the hills are alive with the sight of bananas..."

venice, italy - at the church of san giorgio maggiore - from the clock tower in san marcos square.

another view from the top of the clock tower looking down on san marcos basillica. notice the crowd below gathering to worship the holy banana.

sunrise over the organ mountains in las cruces, new mexico.

yes, its the firehouse where the real world - boston was filmed, located in the foofooish area of beacon hill. i'm sure the residents in this neighborhood were happy to see the cast of the real world leave. but now they have to live with weirdos walking around taking pictures of bananas...

copley square in boston looking up at the john hancock tower on a beautiful day in july.

ahhh the manhattan skyline in september, wouldn't be the same without a banana...

you'd think she has already seen everything, but... tourists with a banana??? the statue of liberty now wonders if we have pushed our freedom a bit too far...

art deco style... taken from beautiful miami beach.

the steel city... a beautiful view taken from the top of mt. washington. thanks john for this great pic!

paul bunyon never met his match, until now... taken in bangor, maine.

another corner of the us conquered! this one was snapped from the easternmost city in the us - eastport, maine.

we were a little late for this one, a piece of boston history, the boston garden in its last days.

this one is for chihuahua - "yo quiero taco bell!"

holsten gate - lubeck, germany. once the guards at the gate saw what we were holding, they let us thru without question.

front street in hamilton, bermuda - taken just a few days after hurricane fabian. everything looked back to normal, allowing us to take this great shot.

the grand hotel - scene of the classic film 'somewhere in time' - if only christopher reeve had pulled a banana out of his pocket instead of a penny dated 1979...

the leaning tower of pisa - we thought twice about going up into the tower with the banana. we thought it might just lead to its fall...

the beginning of a fruitful journey...

a beautiful view of the pitons of st lucia with the city of soufriere down below.

we looked long and hard for a barrel to send this banana over the falls in, but in the end we had to settle for this shot instead...

de'ja' vu all over again... back to where it all started... the cn tower in toronto.

back up the tower we went, with a distant cousin of the original banana in hand. but this time, we went even higher... this shot was taken from the skypod, 147 floors up to the highest observation deck in the world. once we reached to top, we tried our best to replicate the original shot of the toronto skylikne, which was taken almost ten years before.

play ball! what could be better than some cracker jacks and a banana at the toronto skydome.

there was even a banana on hand to witness the supreme court's recent decision on immigration.

both democrats and republicans agree - banana's are good for the country!

"four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a lovely banana..."

we took this shot just before heading inside for a "banana lives matter" meeting with the president. #BLM

whatever you do, don't ever try and order a banana "wiz wit" at Pat's.

legend has it that the liberty bell's crack was formed when a bell-ringer slipped on a banana peel.

"yo adrian, can i get a banana for my turtles?"

joey chestnut may be able to eat 70 hot dogs, but what about bananas?







...How it all began



The year was 1995. Two brothers, Bob and Bri, along with their close friend Waino (a former Lechmere co-worker) were on a trip west to Chicago with stops along the way at Niagara Falls and Toronto.



While in Toronto they decided to make a trip to the CN Tower, the worlds tallest building. They dined at 360, a revolving restaurant at the top of the tower. They arrived at the restuarant on a Sunday morning, and at the time a breakfast buffet was being served, complete with a large assortment of fruits.



Bri was all excited, he had his new high end Nikon camera, which he had snagged for a real steal at Lechmere, so he clicked away as the restaurant spun around. In an attempt to get some "artsy" shots, Bri took the banana he had grabbed from the buffet, held it in his hand, with the hazy skyline of Toronto behind him, and snapped away.



Next stop... Chicago. There they stayed at the Days Inn on Lake Michigan. The place had a nice view of the Lake Michigan and Navy Pier. Rather than eat the banana back in Toronto, Bri stuck it in his pocket. Well, once again, out came the banana... Click!



A few months later, Bob and Bri, fresh out of college, with no clear future in front of them, decided that they were going to drive cross country and relocate to Mexico(?)... or better yet, the Bay Area. With that in mind Waino announced... "You guys have a great opportunity here... You could take banana pics all across the country"



And the rest is history...



A Side Note: All the banana pictures above came exclusively from Bob and Brian.



So... if you've got any banana shots you were thinking of sending our way, don't!

