County Fair

R had a bonus day off work yesterday (he really has a lovely employer), so we decided to make a trip to the County Fair. You Americans are very lucky to have such a venerable institution. I don't think I can adequately describe such an event to an outsider, because there really is no frame of reference for the rest of the world. Of course, I've only ever been to the LA and SD County Fairs, so I may not be speaking of the experience for the whole of America, but wow, they're really something special.

If I describe the day, it'll give an idea of the full scope of the festivities.

Firstly, there was the traditional line of traffic waiting to get into the truly vast parking. After our escapades last year (don't ask, but it involved an emergency trip to the hospital) we decided to park close by. That was our first nine dollars spent. We got there at lunchtime, so our first stop was the enormous food section. F got a hot dog, R and I got roast beef sandwiches. Then it was off to the animal section via the Monster Trucks for F. Wait a minute, I skipped an important part of the day when this happened



F got a ribbon for his participation in the squash toss - chucking a crookneck squash into a bucket in front of an audience.

On the way to the Monster Trucks and animals, I went to see some alpacas from a farm in Ramona. There was nobody there to ask anything of, so, well, I saw some alpacas and that was that. The animal barn was packed, so I waited outside with the pushchair while R took F and A around to look at the cows. Poor little A was a bit unimpressed with them, but the gigantic fans in the ceiling of the barn did it for her. We backtracked a bit to let A see some kitties that were up for adoption (she adores soft fluffy animals).

Then it was off to the kiddie fun fair. F did us proud - the little daredevil- as he threw himself onto some pretty scary rides. After that it was time for a quick snack of onion rings (battered of course). We made a quick trip to the Kids Best of Show tent. Inside was a truly amazing array of work that kids throughout the county had done - art, projects, models, collections. Really impressive. We had a quick stop for F to bounce around on some inflatable toys, then it was on to the next thing.

We went for a trip around the fine art section. Hmmm. Again, an impressive collection of work, some of it more impressive than others. Mostly it was just kind of stressful trying to keep F from destroying bits and pieces of sculpture, gourds, that sort of thing.

By this time we were definitely being moved by the Fair spirit. It was time for dinner. A got fruit from the one and only fruit stand (although it was smothered in syrup). I got deep fried battered zucchini (!), F and R got corn dogs. The zucchini transported me back to Scottish chippies, although I'm not sure the Scots would think of wasting good batter on actual vegetables. I ate only about a quarter of my portion, and believe me, that was enough.

It was getting dark, so we went for a walk through the grown-up fun fair.There were flashing lights, loud noises, and our own little four-year old desperately trying to persuade us that he was big enough to go on the gigantic vertical drop ride, or even the big wheel, but it was no use, he was too small.



On the way outside, we passed hundreds of people just arriving for the big concert that evening, but our two little fair-goers were exhausted and it was definitely time to go.

Oh, and these, they got third place! One and two were really nice Koigu efforts, so I felt a little ashamed. Still, now I can do entrelac, which was the purpose of the exercise, and it was nice to get a free exhibitors ticket.