Date Night!

Walker and I braved the heat wave to head into the country.  Why?  Well, because it's State Fair time!  I don't remember the last time I went to the fair, but it's been many years.  I wanted to play with the kittens in the small animal barn, and see the gorgeous horses, and eat greasy fair food before I embark on my triglyceride lowering lifestyle modification plan.  Plus, the fair is free, parking is free, the music tent is free.  It doesn't get any better.

There were no kittens in the small animal barn, but there were some adorable baby chicks and more bunnies that I have ever seen in one place.  We looked at hogs and horses and cows and sheep, but I stayed out of the goat barn.  Goats hate me.  I have been bitten and peed on more times than I care to think about.  Seriously.  Goats hate me.  So we steered clear.

After we looked at all the animals we went through the exhibition halls.  There were booths selling craft items and jewelry, honey, cosmetics, cookware....then we looked at the 4H stuff.  They had woodworking, needlework, photography.  Lots of kids winning lots of ribbons.  I did notice, in some of the photography entries, that the kids had taken one photo and submitted it in several categories.  Like one would be color, and one would be black and white, and one would be cropped as a close up, but all were the same photo. That surprised me.  But I guess if you get a great photo, you have to take advantage.  Especially the nature shots.  You can't plan those.

There was this one exhibit that I really liked.  It was a large aquarium filled with all the fish that are native to this area.  They had a fact sheet showing each fish and telling what it eats and where it lives and all that.  It was pretty cool.  But the excessive heat and humidity that always seems to plague the fair was causing the tank to fog so badly you couldn't make out most of the fish. I did take photos of the fact sheets, cause my nephews go fishing with Bro every week.  If they come home with one of the unusual ones, I want to know what it is. That keeps me firmly in my spot as Coolest Auntie Ever.



After that it was on to the food court, where we indulged in some yummy, fair only treats like Indian fry bread and these little nuggets:

This, my friends, is a plate of artery clogging, heart stopping, stroke inducing batter friend Oreo cookies.  Yep, fried cookies.  They were good, too.  Tasted a bit like warm chocolate donuts.  Yeah, I'll be keeping this discovery to myself at the next doctor's appointment.

There was a band playing during the later hours, but we didn't stay for much of that.  Despite downing several bottles of cold water each, we were both feeling the effects of high heat and humidity.  We packed it in at dusk and headed for home.  The drive through the farm fields is so pretty, and so calming.  The humidity is so thick, you could see a heavy haze hanging in the sky.  They say it will get worse - dangerously worse - today, and for several days to come.  We're taking the kids to the community pool this morning, and doing very little else after that.  I hope y'all are cool and safe, too.