fair notes, days 2-4

Whew. A whole weekend of fair activity. It was such a high concentration of fun that it took me a couple of days to recover—at least sufficiently to update. Proving once again that the fair, in some ways, is simply not for the faint of heart. As a group of us diehards discussed near the DNR stage Saturday evening, the State Fair should really be an Olympic event. I felt the fire myself on the first day, when I moved into an outside lane after getting off the bus and sped past the throng on the way to the gate. What a rush.

Clearly it would have to be some sort of decathlon-style event. I envision subcategories such as corndog eating, ride…um…riding, crowd navigation (extra points for presentation on this one, like figure skating), Merchandise Mart shopping (gold medal if you talk the mop guy down!), and barn viewing (fancy footwork often required). But instead of breaking it apart into multiple days (wusses!), it would have to be all in one long stretch. State-Fairgoing is an endurance sport, after all.

New highlights:

• Saw a street fight during the Friday fireworks. The crowd didn’t know which spectacle to watch. Awesome!
• Corndog: still yum.
• Bunnies: still cute. I stuck it out at the baby animal barn (which is actually called something vomitorious like the “Children’s Miracle of Birth Barn”)—putting up with much shoving, many elbows to the knees and thighs, and parents trying to maneuver SUV-sized strollers through narrow, crowded aisles—until I got to pet a small white-and-gray resident of Bunnyland (Population: 5). Softest thing EVER.
• …although the alpacas ran a very close second. Closer than a men’s Olympic gymnastics meet. It was that close. (I know, old news. Snore.) One of the alpacas in particular was a bit distressed and hummed a lot. Sound bites surely to come from fred baby.
• Watched with mild revulsion as the baby buffalo (who was VERY cute, make no mistake) licked a small girl repeatedly. The buffalo was only three months old and her tongue enveloped the girl’s hand. But everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly.
• Misread a sign in the Grandstand. Don’t go looking for the Independent Loving booth. As intriguing as that may sound. Because all you’ll find is the Independent Living booth, which could be disappointing.
• Had TWO crepes! (Not on the same day. Although I certainly wouldn’t put it past me.) Marmalade (eaten on my own, as fred baby is inexplicably anti-marmalade) and Nutella (shared, as fred baby is understandably pro-Nutella).
• Saw the Fine Arts building. Among my favorites: A fish drawing that included text telling a story about a fisherman’s son; a big orange cat woodblock print; a small etching that showed Manhattan from above; and a storybook-like pencil drawing. Plus many others.
• Scored four 100,000-point shots IN A ROW in Skee-Ball. The thing was spewing out tickets like crazy.
• Crafted a fair highlights list that was really, really heavy on parentheses.