We arrived at about 12:30pm and counted a total of 13 cars between where we parked and the gate. I don't think we have ever parked that close! As we strolled down the Main Midway, we were amazed by the stark contrast compared to yesterday's booth-to-booth crowd. Today there was plenty of elbow room, no need to weave through people or dodge strollers. There were no lines at food booths, including the ones selling cold, icy things. When we had lunch, there were plenty of tables to choose from and it was actually cooler inside the Food Court than yesterday. Amazing the difference a lot fewer bodies makes. At about 3:00pm, we walked right up to the window at the Dairy Wives Barn to get our first milkshakes of the year...a wait that would typically be at least 30 minutes long on a more typically temperatured Saturday afternoon. It was awesome!
As we ate lunch and gawked at the ease of getting around, I put on my "blogging for the newspaper" hat and realized I should do what I could to get the word out about how pleasant the Fair on a hot day actually is. Thus began an adventure in figuring out how to hop on an Internet-connected computer for 10 minutes.
I first tried to log into the newspaper's blogging site via my iTouch and the Fair's kinda pokey free Wifi. After several trial and errors it became clear I needed to use an actual computer. Our first stop was the Fair's main office where I explained to the nice ladies who I was and promised photographic proof as soon as I was able to log into one of their computers. Nope, sorry, no computers there that I might use...the Marketing Department is very busy on their computers right now. We left the office and were glistening outside trying to figure out what else to try when I saw a man I know from my llama fun who also happens to be heavily involved with the Fair.
We beelined to Kirk and I explained my desire to help promote the Fair with the borrowed and very brief use of a computer. Blessedly eager to help, Kirk lead us to one place then another then another in search of Matt whose permission was necessary for my access to a computer. A few more twists and turns eventually landed me in someone's lovely air conditioned office with an unoccupied computer and two jovial marketing folks who didn't seem terribly surprised to have some yahoo and her husband barge in and start tapping away on a keyboard. Ten minutes later, my blog post was up on the newspaper's site and I returned to my quest for a Hawaiian Shaved Ice.
The entire adventure took about 45 minutes...which isn't terribly long in the scheme of things, I suppose. But I am still bewildered by how many hoops needed to be hopped through in order for me to willingly and voluntarily promote the Fair in real time. On the bright side, I got to meet some really nice people who love the Fair and get paid to work for it year 'round. Lucky dogs!
Blog live and grape/lime shaved ice in hand, we headed to the horse arena to finally find out what the modestly advertised and intriguingly named "Flying Monkeys" were all about. Turns out they were about gymnastics on horses. And they were about 30 minutes behind schedule.
The announcer described the exhibition as "vaulting." There were two adult spotters, seven Flying Monkeys (Spandexed girls ranging in age from about 6 to 13), and one rather large horse. With words like "flying" and "vaulting" and "gymnastics," I was expecting to see some trampolines and aerial moves and jumping with pointed toes (the girls, not the horse). I was expecting oohs and ahhs and gasped breath at the danger of it all. Instead, the girls took turns mounting the horse while it dutifully trotted slowly in a circle. Once they were on the horse, each girl performed such tricks as: sitting on the horse; sitting on the horse while putting their arms out to the side; sitting on the horse backwards; and sitting on the horse sideways. It got a little fancier after the ten minute break -- break from what, it wasn't clear -- with one girl doing yoga-like poses and another standing on the horse. Oooh! Ahhh! And then it was over. We only knew it was over because the horse suddenly left the arena, the girls similarly prancing through the dirt in synchronization behind it. At least we were in the shade?
The rest of our day was spent snacking and browsing the vendors inside the air conditioned exhibit hall. I spent $1 for a small Tupperware container for medication and otherwise resisted the temptation of a $75 pillow made out of plastic filler, flavored grape seed oil encouraged by Dr. Oz, and a solar-powered light for a flag pole that the sales guy honestly admitted would be sort of iffy during the winter months here.
Due to the heat I didn't eat as much as typical. And I was surprised my pedometer reading wasn't terribly different from yesterday. Guess that exhibition hall is bigger than I thought. Today's mileage: 3.49 miles. And now today's Fair Food Parade!
 |
| Startin' off the day right with a Soft Taco Supreme. Tasty! I totally messed up, though. I automatically asked for no sour cream. Was I thinking it was July or something?!? ARG!! I'll make it up on a baked potato soon. |
 |
| Glowing with a massive Lime and Grape "Tied Dye Shaved Ice" from the healthy booth. They only allow 2 flavors but it is $1 cheaper than the Hawaiian Shaved Ice stands |
 |
| Loved loved loved the cherry chocolate milkshake! Perfect for a 100 degree day. |
 |
| Dinner: Yakisoba noodles with chicken and a heap of rooster sauce. Note to self: skip the chicken. It's not worth the extra money. A plate full of noodles would have been much better. |
 |
| Last treat before an early departure: my confounding craving for root beer. Why do I only drink root beer at the Fair?? |
No comments:
Post a Comment