It's the FAIR!! ~ Day 3

My walking mileage today was 4.98 miles over the course of about 8 hours. I'm a little surprised because it was once again a bit toasty today so we spent more time than normal lounging about in the shade and on various air conditioned benches. But we also walked out to the car to drop off some purchases and then also walked to and fro the Amphitheater for a free concert. So I guess that really does add up to a Fair amount of walking (an intended pun). I am very grateful today was the day I decided to wear my gym shoes.

Side Squirt Left After grabbing a best-burger-at-the-Fair from the Burger Buggy, we headed over to watch the Silver Stars Square Dance Club perform. I had high hopes that the dancers would be old retired people in western shirts and crinolines. I was not disappointed. We watched for maybe 20 minutes, leaving mostly because we were getting weary of being targeted as fresh bait who needed to know about the dance lessons that start in September. It became clear pretty quickly that Rob and I were the only ones in the audience not related to the dance club and/or its dancers in some way. In between deflecting the info cards, we watched a dozen couples twirl around and slap hands and go forwards and backwards and do some sort of move that I swear was called "side squirt." I don't remember that move from my foray into square dancing in 4th grade. Perhaps we did the move but the teachers were wise enough to call it something else? Regardless, Rob has made it clear that he is very busy in September...and every September to come for the rest of his life. Guess I'll toss the 3 lessons info cards I stashed in my purse.

Chicken Bits One of the things I absolutely adore about the Fair is the totally random stuff we stumble upon while simply wandering around. Case in point: today's discovery of the 4-H Poultry Judging Contest. By name, that sounds sorta boring, like a bunch of kids somehow judging one chicken versus another. What it turned out to be was a series of tables where different aspects of chickenness had to be identified.

The most traditional table was a bunch of pictures of different chicken breeds. The kids had to correctly name each breed. Exactly the sort of stuff you'd expect from a 4-H activity. But so much more interesting were the other three tables. One had 6 eggs and then 6 plates with yolks and whites. The task seemed to be to match the egg variety with its contents. I honestly couldn't tell the difference in the yolks and whites at all...other than one yolk was sort of runny and salmonella-y.

Another table looked like the butcher case at Safeway. There were probably 20 plates, each with a different uncooked chicken part that needed to be identified. I was able to figure out a leg and a wing but beyond that I was lost. It reminded me of the dinner not long ago in which I proudly cooked a full chicken on a beer can and then realized I had no idea how to cut it up. Man, I really should have been in 4-H as a kid.

The last table was the most amusing. I am not sure what exactly needed to be identified. All I know is the task involved taking a chicken out of a cage, holding it upside down, and staring at its nether regions for several minutes. Not surprisingly, one chicken tried to make a break for it and ended up making three 4-H kids chase it around the breezeway.

All in all, a great find.

Pushing my luck I dragged Rob once again into the sweltering horse arena, this time in search of huge dancing horses. We met a member of the Friesian Dance Troupe outside the arena and were dutifully lured in to watch the show. It turned out to be two Friesian horses and two other much smaller horses trotting around to a few songs, sort of doing patterns and such. Mostly I just kept watching the riders jar their vertebra in time to the music. Preceding the show, however, was a "special guest performance." It was some sort of love story interpretive dance thing done in Spanish by a man wearing a sombrero and woman playing the guitar. The man was on a horse, the woman was on a chair in the dirt in the middle of the arena. As the music swelled and a long netted scarf came out and it appeared a wedding was taking place, Rob looked at me and said with great sincerity, "I'm never letting you drag me into a horse barn again." We'll see. It's hard to resist the Drill Teams, what with their flags and Spandex.

For country it wasn't bad While there is very little overlap in our music collections, one thing Rob and I agree on is that neither of us particularly likes country music. But, we do both like free stuff. And tonight there was a free concert at the fancy amphitheater next to the Fairgrounds. It was the Washington State finals of a singing competition a la American Idol for country music. So being tempted by "FREE," we headed over and carefully chose aisle seats so we could quietly escape if it got unbearable. We ended up staying for the entire 2 hour show. And once again, it became clear by the end that we were likely the only people there not related to the contestants in some way. It was a bit sad as there was only about 200 people in the audience to start with. By the time we left, we were down to about 100. The Amphitheater seats about 17,000.

There were six contestant. The first was a very nervous woman in a very tight skirt. The second was a local contestant on last season's "American Idol" who made it to Hollywood Week and then was crushed when her entire team was sent home. The third was a nondescript woman with a twangy singing voice. The fourth was a 14-year-old girl who screeched with great gusto, making her mom sitting in front of us very proud. The fifth was a woman with very long hair who really should have been rocking and rolling. The last was a guy who brought his own band consisting of four really old men and what might have been his pastor's wife as a back-up singer.

While we waited about a half hour for the judges to make their decision, we were treated to a free concert by a local band Rob and I both ended up liking. We learned a lot about the two main singers (they are married, both have ex's, they met when his band bailed her out of very tough spot, she's a little bit country, he's a little bit rock n roll). I also spent quite a few minutes trying figure out who the drummer reminded me of (Bulldog the sportscaster from "Fraiser"). When the set ended and the last plug for the band's new CD had been made, the verdict was announced. Much to my surprise, the woman I thought should win did. If it's country music, it's gotta be twangy. Way to go Contestant #3 (aka Nicole Lewis from Yakima)!

The Shirt During last year's Fair, I got an idea for a t-shirt. Inspired by one of Rob's t-shirts that has a bunch of different purple stain blobs on it from different wines, I thought it would be a hoot to have a similar shirt for Fair Food stains. So I made a list of nine stains and kept that piece of paper on my dresser for about 10 months. Finally one night not long ago, with Rob's encouragement and the wonder that is Cafe Press, I created my very own Toni Original t-shirt. It didn't come out exactly how I envisioned but it was pretty close. It would be a lot better if I knew a good artist who knows how to draw and properly color junk food stains. Nevertheless, I wore my Fair Food Stain t-shirt today for the first time. I saw a number of people stare at it but only one person commented on it -- the guy working at the chicken wing booth. I've got a good laundry pile going (including my sock with Spicy Peanut wing sauce on it; what is it with me and socks this year?) so I will probably wear it again later in the week.

And now for today's Fair Food Parade!

A delicious Ms. Burger from the Burger Buggy.  A really tasty hamburger patty plus deli sliced ham and Walla Walla onions.  Best Burger at the Fair.

A Lemon-Lime/Blue Raspberry/Cherry Slush Puppy.  Not getting one again.  AWFUL brain freeze!  Repeatedly.  

Soft serve chocolate/vanilla swirl while admiring the quilts.  I would have gone for the cone but things were melting so fast I didn't trust myself not to wear most of the ice cream on my sock.

Fantastic chicken wings from the Young Life booth!!  It's a toss up as to which sauce is better -- I  really liked both the Buffalo Chipotle and the Spicy Peanut wing sauces.

Still can't find any Nerd Rope this year.  Boo!!  So this was the next best thing while awaiting country music stardom in the amphitheater.  The box says there are 15 servings in that box.  Ooops.

All the sugar made me crave salt.  It's a deliciously vicious cycle.  Late night pretzel with mustard before heading home.