Woodhaven Ramblings: My most favorite time of the year ~ Day 3!

Today, Day 3 of the Annual Fair and Food Fest, was a bit slower and more leisurely and involved carrying around a very large bottle of water.

When I woke up this morning, my head felt heavy, my mouth dry, my eyes puffy. On Facebook I described it as a deep fried hangover. A quick review of the prior two days revealed I hadn’t been drinking any water and barely any soda, save for yesterday’s strange root beer craving. I usually drink several bottles’ worth of water every day, so suddenly replacing that with deep fried confections very likely left me dehydrated. So I bought a 32oz bottle of water with lunch today and carried it around all day. That's probably why I ate a little less today. Here’s hoping for a clearer head tomorrow.

Our first stop after lunch was the 4-H and Open Class Exhibition Hall. Zeke had been thoroughly enjoying the fair and seemed to be seriously considering a return visit next year until he encountered the admittedly bizarre array of crafts and hobbies displays. The quilts and canned asparagus and photography were fine. I think it was the red ribbon given to a boy for assembling a fashionable outfit of a white dress shirt from Costco with black pants (the required uniform for 4-H showmanship events), and the poster board homage to the fictional school team for the tween movie sensation “High School Musical” that seemed to do Zeke in. He had been so enjoying the surreal escape to Rural Americana until he saw a red ribbon awarded to a young girl for glue-sticking cut-out pictures of Troy and Gabriella on poster board. Not even another kid’s blue ribbon picture of a horse made out of Starburst wrappers could bring Zeke out of his “this is just too weird” funk. Luckily, by the time we had visited the turkeys, ducks, geese, llamas, and cavies (guinea pigs), Zeke was feeling grounded again. I think the funnel cake helped, too.

After hanging out with the llamas, we grabbed dinner and headed for the grandstands. Tonight’s entertainment was very similar to last night’s Extreme Air Motorcycles except tonight the motorcycles were quads. And by that I mean four-wheeler ATVs. It was entertaining enough but honestly, the motorcycles seemed more dangerous with only half the tires and therefore more exciting.

We ended the night with a ride on the Ferris wheel. We discussed this for a few hours, sizing up the back-friendliness of the ride and agreeing that the larger wheel with the round buckets to sit in was a much better choice than the smaller wheel with the traditional terrifyingly swingy bench seating. It turned out to be a lovely, smooth ride affording views of a beautiful sliver of a moon, a few volcanoes, and a birds-eye perspective of my beloved fair all lit up. The rotating breeze also gave me an excuse to pull on my newly acquired County Fair hoodie.

During our final snack, we ran into a few friends, chatted about brooms and goats and corn dogs, and then called it a night. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow. We will be checking out the hall with all the vendors and free samples while waiting for the fair’s highlight: the Demolition Derby. YAY!

And now...today's Fair Food Feast:

First up: A Ms. Burger from the Burger Buggy. It was a meat patty, sliced ham, and the other usual burger add-ons. YUM! Rob also shared his garlic fries from the Greek food booth. YUM YUM!