It was a marvelously leisurely day. Zeke will be joining me again tomorrow so we were in no rush to see and do everything all at once. Since it has been a year since we last saw each other, we spent some great time just sitting and catching up over various fried foods. Replace the fried foods with pints of ice cream and it was just like college again. Fabulous day!
Here are some highlights:
Piratey Parrot Show This is a new addition, seemingly replacing the skateboarding pig from last year. All in all, a very positive change. Can’t say I really miss the dancing piggy. The stage for this show was a pirate ship and the performance consisted of one guy in pirate garb and about 15 parrots of different varieties. The parrots flew around, grabbed dollar bills out of hands waving in the audience, and did a few tricks here and there. But the show’s real emphasis…according to the pirate…was education. And it succeeded. Among the things we learned: don’t play with the birds in pet stores; two toes forward and two toes back means zygodactyl; and the pirate is going through his second divorce. Aaaarrgh.
The Smaller the Better With yet more vouchers for 30 seconds in the Catch-a-Coupon Booth, Zeke gave it a try and I entered a second time. With plans for some 4-legged additions to the family, Zeke was happy to grab a $5 off coupon to Petco. He also anticipates taking advantage of a free eye exam. I was congratulated by several of the people working the booth when I exited with two…TWO…coupons for highly discounted stays at a very nice hotel nearby. I was also excited with a coupon for a free milkshake and a free cheeseburger at my favorite local fast food joint. AND a coupon for 20% off a meal at a nice restaurant on the Columbia River. Score!!! One thing these highly useable coupons have in common: they are all on much smaller pieces of paper than most of the other coupons flying around in the booth. An obvious strategy now that I think about it. I wisely haven’t told Rob yet about the coupon I grabbed for 5 free square dancing lessons. Can’t imagine why that coupon is so large.
Lords and Ladies, Hokiness Still Reigns A few years ago, a new show was piloted in the grandstands. Rob and I attended and laughed ourselves silly at all its hokiness. We were sure it would be the only run of the show, quickly replaced by something else the next year. Now in its third year…and moved to the weekend with four shows to handle all the enthusiasm…the Knights of the Realm is considered by many to be a highlight of the Fair. Who knew medieval jousting a la WWF (the wresting one, not the wildlife one) would be so popular? Wanting to make sure Zeke experiences ALL the Fair has to offer, I made sure we had prime seats for all the choreographed sword fighting. As promised repeatedly throughout the show, the fight was TO THE DEATH!! And then the dead guy walked back to the castle.
Watching Uninhibited People Just Never Gets Old Our favorite hypnotist is back so we caught his 8:00pm show. Word is getting out about him because arriving 20 minutes early still meant we had to stand for the entire hour’s show. But even with the back ache it was worth it! Within minutes, a dozen volunteers from the audience were happily snoozing on stage and then later performed as Lady Gaga, her back-up dancers, and Tinkerbell. I was particularly impressed when one very muscular body builder type was told a bottle of water on the floor weighed 1000lbs and he was to try to pick it up. It was astounding to watch him struggle, the muscles and veins in his arms straining, the bottle not lifting a millimeter off the ground. I was very relieved the hypnotist had told the guy to be sure to lift with his legs and not his back; if not, the sleepy guy could have seriously injured himself. Now THAT would have been one heck of a disability claim!
Food Parade! Still pacing myself. And very happy that I drank my liter of water throughout the entire day. There are still lots of things left to sample. And I just realized I didn’t have my daily cob of corn today. Shoot.
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| Irish Sundae (aka baked potato) with the works (sour cream, butter, bacon, sausage, and chives) ~ a mighty fine start to the day. |
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| Not a fan of the fried pickle. So disappointing since I LOVE pickles. I think a spear would be better; these were pickle chips. |
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| My Dairy Wives Peach Milkshake. Worth the wait! LOVED the bits of peach surprising me thru the straw. |
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| Apparently I was thirsty today. Feeling tropical with a frozen lemonade. It was just zippy and tart enough. |
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| A pepperoni and cheese pizza stick with marinara dipping sauce. Greasy goodness! |
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| A jousting snack of white cheddar kettle corn |
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| Post-hypnosis curly fries with lots-o-ketchup |
1 comment:
Don't read this blog before lunch!
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