Twine Ball Day! Darwin, Minnesota

This was Jen's idea.

She owns a book called Oddball Minnesota and its full of interesting tidbits about where you can find goofy things like the state's biggest chicken and a two-story outhouse.

However, she didn't care about either one of these. She wanted to see the biggest ball of twine.

Yes, twine.

So she went. Last year she road tripped it to Darwin, Minnesota to see "The World's Biggest Ball of Twine Made by One Person."

When she got there, the place was a bit in disarray as the day before had been the small town's summer celebration: Twine Ball Day.

She had missed Twine Ball Day -- an entire day dedicated to the glorious ball of twine -- by just a few hours! She refused to miss the celebration this summer! And I was to be her lucky companion!

Twine Ball Day was a packed house! People had come from all over to see the parade, play in a volleyball tournament, tour the Twine Ball Museum, drink beer and watch a tractor pull.

It was a humid, sunny day and it felt good to be out of the city and participating in something that was designed for nothing other than a bit of fun and foolishness.

Sadly, though, while we could look at the biggest ball of twine -- which is 13 feet tall -- we couldn't touch it.

It's housed in a glass gazebo to keep curious hands, and volatile Minnesota weather, away from it. They don't want that twine ball to start rotting!