Duane and I spent part of Friday at the Minnesota State Fair. It's always seemed ODD to me that the state fair is held in the middle (actually off to the side) of two HUGE cities. It shouldn't...I've been going to the Iowa State Fair for YEARS, and it's in Des Moines. I guess "fairs" always seem to me like they should be out in the middle of the country.
Anyway...they have this really cool system here where you can go to a park and ride lot FAR FAR FAR from the fairgrounds, and take a bus to get there. No parking hassles, no traffic to worry about, and, when it's time to go home, you go to the "bus area", look for the big sign with the name of your suburb, and get back on the bus...all for $5.00. TOTALLY worth it!
We started the day by checking out the "birthing center" to see what animals were recently born. I always feel sorry for the animal that is soon to give birth to something. It's in a pen, looking uncomfortable, nervous, and hot, with about 200 people standing around watching and waiting. SO not the ideal! While we were passing through a cow was lying down, breathing heavily, and looking like she could "go" at any minute.
Not being one (or two, because I don't think Duane is either) to enjoy watching slimy baby animals pop out of a cow's backside, we opted to move to other parts of the building to see what had already been born.
We saw some ADORABLE lambs, and found a pen full of recently hatched ducklings as well...very cute!
After the birthing center, we headed out to find breakfast. There are only a few "diner-y" permanent food stands left, and we found one near the "eco-building". I had an egg sandwich, and Duane had a pancake on a stick (sausage link dipped in pancake batter and then deep fried).
After breakfast, we headed to the art building to look at the paintings, then went to the education building to try to find my niece's art pieces that were supposed to be there. Both Abigail AND Emilie had projects that made it to the fair (I believe they each had THREE!), but they weren't sure WHAT had made it, and we didn't find a SINGLE one. Unless you know what you're looking for, things are very disorganized in the display cases, and the cards that have their names on them are REALLY small...I needed a telescope to see most of the ones I COULD read.
Outside the education building, we ran into Nan and Pat from work, chatted with them for a bit, then went to check out the butter princesses. They have this WEIRD "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" thing up here that I TOTALLY do not get, but is the Minnesota version of the Iowa "butter cow", I suppose.
We watched the "butter carver" work on one of the sculptures for awhile...
After the butter sculpture, we went to the horticulture building to get an apple cider pop (frozen apple cider...YUM!), went to the food building for cheese curds (DOUBLE YUM!), and "The Salty Tart" from the Midtown Global Market had their AMAZING macaroons, so bought and ate some of them too.
Earlier in the day, I saw someone wearing a "chicken hat". and Duane asked where they got it, so we had to wander around the food building a little longer to find the Gold'n Plump chicken booth. They had a roulette wheel, and, if you did what it said, you'd get a hat. Most of the things were easy, like tell your favorite chicken dish, or why you like chicken. I, OF COURSE, got "do the chicken dance"...
As you can see, I did what I had to do to get the hat...
We spent the rest of our day at the fair wandering around, riding the sky seats (which I found a little unnerving this time for some reason), checking out the vintage tractors, looking at all of the jellies, jams, cakes, cookies, and breads that won ribbons, and trying to find shady places!
We looked at lots of cool exhibits, like the "seed picture" display...
The "show corn" exhibit...
Ate ice cream at the John Deere Ice Cream Maker stand...
We ended our day at the sheep and poultry barn. The tom turkey below had female turkeys in the cages on both sides of him, and spent the entire time we were there puffing himself up, and turning from side to side to try to get one of them to notice him. As BOTH females kept trying to get into his cage, it was apparently working for him!
By the time we left the sheep and poulty barn, it was REALLY hot, REALLY sunny, and the crowds had picked up enough that I was ready to buy a stick and start beating people with it, so we thought it was probably time to head back to the bus and go home.
I really enjoy state fairs! It's fun to see the variety of livestock, food, handicrafts, etc. that the people of the state have spent so much time and care working on or with. It's a nice break from "being in the city", and reminds me of all of the county fairs and state fairs that I spent time at growing up. It also reminds me of my grandparents, who spent their entire lives on the farm...not to raise or grow or make things to exhibit at a fair, but as their way of life.
Here's hoping YOU were able to enjoy "something deep fried on a stick" recently, and that there isn't a cholesterol test ANYWHERE on the horizon in YOUR near future!!!
Anyway...they have this really cool system here where you can go to a park and ride lot FAR FAR FAR from the fairgrounds, and take a bus to get there. No parking hassles, no traffic to worry about, and, when it's time to go home, you go to the "bus area", look for the big sign with the name of your suburb, and get back on the bus...all for $5.00. TOTALLY worth it!
We started the day by checking out the "birthing center" to see what animals were recently born. I always feel sorry for the animal that is soon to give birth to something. It's in a pen, looking uncomfortable, nervous, and hot, with about 200 people standing around watching and waiting. SO not the ideal! While we were passing through a cow was lying down, breathing heavily, and looking like she could "go" at any minute.
Not being one (or two, because I don't think Duane is either) to enjoy watching slimy baby animals pop out of a cow's backside, we opted to move to other parts of the building to see what had already been born.
We saw some ADORABLE lambs, and found a pen full of recently hatched ducklings as well...very cute!
After the birthing center, we headed out to find breakfast. There are only a few "diner-y" permanent food stands left, and we found one near the "eco-building". I had an egg sandwich, and Duane had a pancake on a stick (sausage link dipped in pancake batter and then deep fried).After breakfast, we headed to the art building to look at the paintings, then went to the education building to try to find my niece's art pieces that were supposed to be there. Both Abigail AND Emilie had projects that made it to the fair (I believe they each had THREE!), but they weren't sure WHAT had made it, and we didn't find a SINGLE one. Unless you know what you're looking for, things are very disorganized in the display cases, and the cards that have their names on them are REALLY small...I needed a telescope to see most of the ones I COULD read.
Outside the education building, we ran into Nan and Pat from work, chatted with them for a bit, then went to check out the butter princesses. They have this WEIRD "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" thing up here that I TOTALLY do not get, but is the Minnesota version of the Iowa "butter cow", I suppose.
We watched the "butter carver" work on one of the sculptures for awhile...
After the butter sculpture, we went to the horticulture building to get an apple cider pop (frozen apple cider...YUM!), went to the food building for cheese curds (DOUBLE YUM!), and "The Salty Tart" from the Midtown Global Market had their AMAZING macaroons, so bought and ate some of them too.
Earlier in the day, I saw someone wearing a "chicken hat". and Duane asked where they got it, so we had to wander around the food building a little longer to find the Gold'n Plump chicken booth. They had a roulette wheel, and, if you did what it said, you'd get a hat. Most of the things were easy, like tell your favorite chicken dish, or why you like chicken. I, OF COURSE, got "do the chicken dance"...
As you can see, I did what I had to do to get the hat...
We spent the rest of our day at the fair wandering around, riding the sky seats (which I found a little unnerving this time for some reason), checking out the vintage tractors, looking at all of the jellies, jams, cakes, cookies, and breads that won ribbons, and trying to find shady places!
We looked at lots of cool exhibits, like the "seed picture" display...
The "show corn" exhibit...
Ate ice cream at the John Deere Ice Cream Maker stand...
We ended our day at the sheep and poultry barn. The tom turkey below had female turkeys in the cages on both sides of him, and spent the entire time we were there puffing himself up, and turning from side to side to try to get one of them to notice him. As BOTH females kept trying to get into his cage, it was apparently working for him!
By the time we left the sheep and poulty barn, it was REALLY hot, REALLY sunny, and the crowds had picked up enough that I was ready to buy a stick and start beating people with it, so we thought it was probably time to head back to the bus and go home. I really enjoy state fairs! It's fun to see the variety of livestock, food, handicrafts, etc. that the people of the state have spent so much time and care working on or with. It's a nice break from "being in the city", and reminds me of all of the county fairs and state fairs that I spent time at growing up. It also reminds me of my grandparents, who spent their entire lives on the farm...not to raise or grow or make things to exhibit at a fair, but as their way of life.
Here's hoping YOU were able to enjoy "something deep fried on a stick" recently, and that there isn't a cholesterol test ANYWHERE on the horizon in YOUR near future!!!
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