2014 Fair!! ~ Day 4

I love Monday at the Fair! The big crowds are gone. Things are calmer and saner. The crowd does pick up in the evening, as people arrive after work and for the events in the Grandstands. But until then, it feels even more like “my” Fair. Ahhh.

Rob and I arrived separately this morning since he had a meeting tonight. We parked in different lots, mostly because I am more of a rule follower than Rob is. Nevertheless, the parking lots today at 12:30pm were pretty darn empty. When I walked with Rob out to his car at 6:30pm, they had filled in.

It was a hot day so we decided to explore the photography, arts and crafts, sewing, canning, and quilting exhibits in the Big Air Conditioned Building. After Rob left, I walked around and then parked myself in the nosebleed section of the Grandstands to take in tonight’s concert.

Anyone ever heard of Chase Rice? I hadn't. According to one of his songs, he “Likes Drinking Because It’s Fun.” Brilliant.

Chase's fan base seems mostly legal to drink, and all the girls got the memo to wear shorts and cowboy boots. The fan base is still building, though, so some concert promoters were working the stands before the show handing out free tickets to sit down front (shhhh, don’t tell anyone since the rest of them down there paid $25 for the privilege). The gals with the free tickets eyed me and my dusty Clark WaveWalkers and moved on. And it wasn’t just my age.

They declined the invitation to get cozy with Chase

I guess when you wear sock monkey gear you have to expect such things
We found out how the six photos we entered in the Amateur Adult Photography competition did. Rob and I both entered and we should have each gotten blue ribbons since we are both stellar examples of Amateur Adults.

Three of my photos got red ribbons (2nd place) and one got a white ribbon (3rd place). Both of Rob’s entries got red ribbons. YAY! We continue to be a little mystified, though, how the judges make their decisions. We saw some red ribbon photos that were breathtaking. And some red ribbon winners were also awarded "Best of Show" in their categories. Huh?

On the other hand, the judges showed very astute judgment in properly categorizing one of Rob’s photos. There was a mix-up with tags so it wasn’t clear which category this photo of me should go in.

You can't see my sock monkey scarf because it was tucked inside my coat.  Because you KNOW I have a complete Sock Monkey Winter Ensemble.

Rob and I thought it was supposed to go in the very general "People Non-Posed" category. However, using their best assessment of the photo’s subject matter, the judges put it in the "Children Non-Posed" category.  Because when you act like a child, you get treated like one.

Yep, I fit right in.

I thought it was an innocent question. And I think I'm glad I don't have a picture for this one
I was just starting to look at the Sewing Exhibit when I came across a poster about corsets. The more I read, the more I was grateful for bras. Then a 20-something woman “manning” the exhibit asked if I had any questions. So, unknowingly taking the bait, I asked, “So why were corsets invented?” Fifteen minutes later…

Much to my surprise, Fria (my new corset buddy) was quite enthusiastic about corsets. She wears them for gaming and Ren Fair (Renaissance Fair) and fencing and archery and SteamPunking. She explained about flat vs. cupped corsets, steel-boned vs. spiral steel-boned ones, and under- and over-garment advantages. She vehemently warned me away from “waist training” corsets, and suggested I buy a “starter” corset at Frederick’s of Hollywood just to get the “hang” of wearing one before investing $150 on one from etsy.com.

Throughout our entire conversation, Fria kept eyeing what I would put in my corset. Although I knew it was only to help direct me to the right corset option, I still felt like she should be offering to buy me a drink.

When Fria started handling her own corset-fillers, in an effort to explain how different corsets work, I feared the elderly lady manning the Canning Exhibit was going to faint from the impropriety of it all.

Then Fria’s fiance, Gabe, came over.

“Are we talking about booby holsters?” he asked, while grabbing his own set of boobies. The Canning lady paled but didn’t budge.

Gabe assured me that a corset is much more comfortable than a bra. He didn’t clarify in any way how he might know this fact.

We continued chatting and I learned that Gabe works for Microsoft and he and Fria are at the Fair because they are showing chickens. Of course.

At that point, I couldn’t take it anymore and dashed off to find Rob in a bust…I mean burst…of giggles.

They don't call it the Exhibition Hall for nothing!

Stats
I had trouble with my pedometer again. I think I missed about a half-mile. Nevertheless, the reading at the end of the night was 2.68 miles. Eh.

Tonight’s re-entry stamp animal was a horse.

The Dairy Women Milkshake Barn did not have a Flavor of the Day today.  :-(

And now, today’s Fair Food Feast Parade!

Teriyaki Chicken Wrap from the new Sweet Al's truck at the Horse Arena.  Yeah, it turned out to be a little healthy.  It had cranberries in it.  But there was Chili Mayo, so that counts!  And it was really good.  

The Huckleberry Hawaiian Shaved Ice was surprisingly good!  I paired it with my trusty Pineapple just to be safe.  The Huckleberry tasted sort of like blackberry but better.

I gave the Raspberry-Peach milkshake combo a try.  REALLY GOOD!  I liked it better than each flavor by itself.  However, my heart remains true to the Chocolate Cherry combo.

Deep Fried Pickles from the Smokehouse.  They were pretty good this time because the pickles were slices of a big dill pickle instead of those icky pickle chips for burgers they had last year.  These were interesting but not enough to have a second time.

Nerd Rope is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Decided to go a little "light" for dinner.  Your basic nachos with lots of bonus jalapenos.  They were fine but industrial.  From the Mexican place in the food court.

Old Fashioned Lemonade at the very top of the grandstands

Rainbow Ice Dippin' Dots.  They were fine.  I lost my photographer to a meeting.  This selfie was taken using the timer feature on my camera that was balanced on my lap.  Of the 8 photos I took, this is actually the best one.  I miss my photographer.