The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
When I think about road trips, my perfect vision of them is embodied in a song by “Weird” Al Yankovic called The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota from the UHF Soundtrack. You can see the full lyrics here:
I took many road trips with both my parents and my grandparents as a child, so I have many fond memories of pulling off the freeway to see what strange thing the locals had built for us roadway tourists.
This is my favorite line in the song:
I gave our camera to Bernie and we stood by the ball
And we all gathered ’round and said, “Cheese.”
Then Bernie ran away with my brand new Insta-Matic,
But at least we got our memories.
Not even the theft of their brand new camera could dampen their enjoyment. That’s what a road trip is all about. Enjoying the trip, even when a smelly hitchhiker steals your camera. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is the perfect road trip song.
There actually IS a makeshift pagoda over the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. It claims to be the largest in the world, but there is some debate about that with a contender from Kansas. For more information, see Roadside America’s piece about the world’s largest balls of twine.
I have never seen the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota, but it’s definitely on my list of things to see before I die. The Louvre, I might miss, but the biggest ball of twine, NEVER.