A Day At The County Fair

Oh what a fun day it was! The weather was perfect, not too warm as last year, just warm enough, with a slight breeze to keep things feeling reasonable cool. We did take our jackets along, and I wore mine, although most of the time it was worn around my waist.

Upon paying our admittance, we were offered free bottled water, as well as lanyards, which I'm sure we'll find a use for at some point. First stop was, of course the restrooms, where I met a young lady sporting a real cute handbag, which I complimented her on. She informed me she had purchased it at a vendor at the fair for a reasonable price. I thought she must be joking about the price, but sought out the vendor just the same and found their prices were reasonable indeed! So reasonable, that I just had to make a purchase of my own.

Next, we headed over to say hello to our ISP, who has a booth, but were stopped short by the captain of the train, who insisted we hop on for a ride. It seemed a bit silly, especially considering I was looking forward to the side benefit of some exersize via walking, but we climbed on and were treated to quite the tour. It was fun interacting with the other passengers as well, including the little girl seated in front of us, who was merrily "toot tooting" between my "chugga chuggas" throughout most of the ride.Her mother seemed quite amused by the whole thing.

The food and beverages were overpriced, as expected, but we payed nothing for the little we consumed as, for some reason the vendors were feeling generous. While we dined on our free goodies, we sat at a picnic table, listening to the Old Time Fiddlers perform.

Then it was off to the rides. The kids immediately headed to their favorite, the big slide, then Pa and Nathan took a ride on the Ferris Wheel before the kids proceeded to the Shrek feature, which is a bit like an obstacle course designed for kids. Then it was off to the Bungee hop, which Nathan and Lindsay both enjoyed. Daniel opted out of that one this year, which was probably just as well. I was becoming rather concerned by the time his turn ended last year. As the fellow this year said, "It's quite a work-out!"

We didn't get to see the "pretty Good" Magician/Comedian, or the sting rays, but we did visit with the reptiles, where we saw, among many other things, an anaconda, a tarantula and my personal favorite (NOT!) the spitting cockroach (shivers). The kids also enjoyed petting, and visiting with the albino Python.

The kids also got to pan for gold! The fellow was extremely helpful, truly seeming to enjoy helping them out, and carefully bagged Nathan's flake of gold he'd managed to glean from the sandy water. Of course, the kids are both wondering how much that tiny flake must be worth, but they have no plans of cashing it in, as it is worth more in memories than any amount of money ;-)

That "fun" over with, we headed over to see the cows, the sheep and the Llamas. One Llama was evidently feeling a bit cranky. He took one look at us, snorted a rather disgusted snort and turned his back on us. Alrighty then! Other Llamas, as well as several pigs were much more friendly, and we had quite the entertaining conversation with them. The rabbits were beautiful and the chickens were quite chatty. As we left that area I realized there's really no point in us acquiring livestock for food purposes, other than perhaps eggs. That would be one sure way of converting me to vegetarian status. Those critters were all just so durn cute! Even the moody Llama ;-)

Perhaps the most exciting event at the fair this year, was one we didn't actually get to witness, but happened to be situated near a fair employee who's radio was providing us with a play by play. First, there was the call to "The Purple Cow", which we're really not sure what that is, although we've seen the sign. A first aid station perhaps? Anyway, someone had been stung by a bee. A couple minutes later there was a callover the radio for all employees and volunteers to "drop everything" A steer was on the loose. Suppressing the urge to run out and see what we could see, we listened in, as they excitedly called for reinforcements, "We need some horses!" I'm not sure which would have been more exciting, the radio transmissions we heard, or actually seeing the action, but I'm pretty sure we had the safer seats of the two.

We spent the whole afternoon at the fair, and upon returning home discovered we were oddly completely worn out! It was an early night, and we all got a good nights sleep. Surprisingly, I remember no nightmares about anacondas, pythons, or hissing cockroaches.

Happy Birthday to Kimmi! I hope you're having a great day, and wish I could share the day with you, or at least give you a Birthday hug. Guess I'll just have to count on Nick to give you a hug for me!