Our Grizwold Family Outing

We are the Grizwold family. Up until this point in our travels, the comparisons have been ignored. Our family, like theirs, is driving across this great country of ours. We departed Chicago. Drove through St. Louis. Worked our way across Kansas. Eventually we're heading to the Grand Canyon and Arizona. And more obviously, the patriarch of our family is named Clark. Yup. It cannot be ignored any longer. We're the Grizwold's.

Like his counterpart, Clark also wanted to stop and see all the fun roadside attractions along the way. In the movie, his family did not share this enthusiasm. Convinced by his wife to abandon these stops, Clark W. Grizwold gave up on his hopes. Unlike the fictitious Vacation family, we would succeed where they had failed. Kansas was just the state to provide us with such an opportunity.

Specifically,  this scene.

That's right, we were heading to the LARGEST ball of twine in the world. Located in Cawker City, Kansas, sits this 18,000 pound ball of sisal twine. Started in 1953 by a local farmer, the landmark was donated to the city in 1961. The town of Cawker City has fully embraced this goofy roadside attraction. And when I say they embrace it, I mean the town exists solely because of it. Every year they celebrate their claim to fame with a Twine-A-Thon where they add to the ball's total size.

This is what 9 tons of twine looks like.

Additionally, in the windows throughout Main Street, are recreations of famous paintings with the ball of twine hilariously added into them. A twine path, conveniently painted on the sidewalks leads from the ball to these pictures.

It seems like once upon a time, this town reveled in it's twine ball glory. Today, Cawker City is a shell of it's former self. Nearly every window that housed the paintings were boarded up. Just about all the businesses were vacant. 

We didn't see a single person in the town during our stop. It was sad, really. I guess that's what happens when your town's sole purpose is a giant ball of twine.

Regardless of the state of abandonment in Cawker City, our visit was amusing, and a fun little stopping off point in Kansas. “It's bigger than I thought it would be”, said Clark. “It's smaller than I thought it would be”, answered Jenny. A success. As it turns out, the Grizwold's we are not.