Tourism is just the ticket in some states

We were rooting for the World's Largest Ball of Twine — the pride of Cawker City, Kan.

The ball sits under a pavilion on U.S. Highway 24, which runs through Cawker City. Motorists detouring off I-70 often pause for pictures, maybe a picnic, before heading back on their way.

But the keepers of the twine don't count all the folks who show up to gawk at it, so the title of most visited tourist attraction in Kansas went to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita.

Linda Clover, a member of the Cawker City Community Club, which cares for the huge ball in north-central Kansas, said there's a register in the mailbox that people can sign to say they've been there. "Some sign, some don't," she said. "I know thousands come to see it each year, but there's no way of knowing an exact number."

Visitors are invited to add their own bit of string to the ever-growing ball, which currently is said to have 7,049,191 feet of sisal twine, weighing 17,670 pounds. They then can stroll the streets of Cawker City, where empty storefronts have been decorated with renditions of famous paintings that include their own twine balls.

"Mona Lisa is holding a ball in her hand," Clover said. "In American Gothic, the woman is holding it, and the twine is woven through the pitchfork."

Although it lost out to the zoo for Kansas' pick, Cawker City surely merits a visit this summer. And we came up with plenty of others as we sought out America's finest home-grown attractions.

In preparing an unofficial list of the top tourist spots in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, we relied on information from state tourism folks. Some choices were best guesses because not every destination keeps attendance figures.

Many choices were obvious — the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Gateway Arch in Missouri, the French Quarter in Louisiana. Chicago's bounty of tourist attractions gave multiple choices for Illinois, where Navy Pier won out over the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, probably because it is free.

But who would have guessed that Vermont's most visited site is the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury? The factory is in a scenic spot — isn't everything in Vermont — and the 30-minute tour ends with a visit to the FlavoRoom for samples of the day's product.