Columbia County Fair: July

I love farmers' markets.  I love festivals.  But I love fairs the most.

I love looking at the animals and eating the food.

I knew Alaska wouldn't last forever, so when we went to the fair we made sure to see the animals first.  She aid moo when we saw the cows and "dog" when we saw the goats.  She loved the bunnies and it filled my heart with joy as I lead her up and down the isles of cages, her little eyes looking at each.  I've yet to find someone who loves looking at bunnies as much as I do, she followed me close behind and looked at each and every one, where as  I am so used to Steven pulling me through, suggesting that every bunny looks the same.  Alaska was a faithful follower and didn't mind that there was a whole row of bunnies with the same colors and markings.

Walking down the isles in the swine barn, the pigs snorted at her through the bars and she was not impressed.  She stepped away and gave them the, "who do you think you are" look.  However, her side-step from one side where the pigs were sticking their noses into the isles swiftly took her to the other side of the isle where another snout just about brushed her arm.  She got her, "I am so freaked out right now" face on and took a couple of quick steps forward to get away.  I was so proud of her though, for taking care of the problem on her own instead of reaching backwards to me, to pick her up.

Meandering through the pictures and quilts and photos I noticed much of what was at the fair was entered by kids, and perhaps that's the way it ought to be.  A way for kids to showcase what they are interested in and working on and proud to share.

I hunted down my curly fries like a mountain lion hunting a jackrabbit.  I had searched all the fairs over in Utah for two summers trying to find them.  Utah always slices their potatoes too thin and it created potato chips instead of curly french fries.  I took my own ketchup bottle and hauled it around in the stroller so that I didn't have to depend on the fair's ketchup supply that always seems to be low and ridden with germs.

Another thing Utah does is they call their elephant ears 'scones' and serve them with honeybutter instead of the traditional powdered or cinnamon sugar.  And you know?  Sadly I had gotten so used to that, that I missed the honey butter as I chomped into my deep-fried dough of yummy goodness covered in cinnamon sugar.

I had my first hand-dipped corn dog.  Not much to talk about.  I didn't realize it would be so soft.  I prefer my corndogs from the roaster at the local mini-mart where they have been rotating in circles for 5 hours, creating the perfect shell around a juicy dog. Next year I will skip that and go for the Philippino food.  It looked so tasty.  Almost worth the $8 fair entry fee again the next day just to eat dinner there.

Finished the night off with some carnival rides and I think, perhaps, my awesome dream of finally having Alaska to go on rides with (Steve gets sick) may have been crushed.  I didn't feel so good after the first two and never got quite back to feeling right until I got home.  I may have just outgrown carnival rides.  Which makes me super sad, because Alaska will never have the cool momma that takes her on all the rides in the evening when everything is lit up.  She'll have to go with her friends like the rest of them.