Rob's State Fair Ramblings Day 2

 Well, an eventful Day 2 is officially in the books. It was Mother's Day, the day I take Mom out to the fair and let her experience all that the fair has to offer. Normally, I would rent her a scooter, but scooter rentals are around $70-$75 dollars for a few hours! I love my mom, but that cost is ridiculous! Fortunately, we have a friend who has a manual wheelchair that she let us borrow at no cost. Julie and I took turns pushing Mom around the fairgrounds to see the things that she wanted to see. 

We started off with a yearly tradition, seeing a Ron Diamond show, He is in his 22nd year at the fair. I'm sure that if the fair ceased their partnership with bringing him out every year, there'd be a riot on the fairgrounds offices. We enjoyed Pulled Pork Parfaits while we watched Ron Diamond. A Pulled Pork Parfait is served in a clear ice cream cup and is layered with pork & beans, mashed potatoes, and BBQ pulled pork. Julie and I gave our parfaits an A+ rating, while Mom rated it a C, stating that hers was a bit dry, and didn't have enough beans. Anyway, despite that, Ron put on a good show that we enjoyed thoroughly. 

Next stop: Domestic Arts building to see the results of my cookies. I'd been waiting since Thursday morning to find out the results, and I was told on Friday evening that I'd need to wait even longer, as the cookies hadn't been placed out yet. This afternoon when we went out, we were told that the cookies STILL were not placed out yet. Grrr... However, the lady told me that my cookies were probably on the next tray she was preparing. She asked for my name and then walked over to the tray and began telling me the results: Chocolate chip: 3rd place! Peanut Butter: 3rd place! Snickerdoodle: 2nd place! Monster Cookie: 2nd Place! I walked away with 4 ribbons! The most ribbons I've ever won at the fair was 2. Only my Oatmeal Raisin cookie didn't place. My friend Brad and his family and Jonathan and his family were there to witness the results as they were given to me in real time. I was really excited. I went back later to get the pictures that you saw earlier this afternoon. 

We took some time to go and see a couple of free shows. One of them was Laura J, who does acrobatic acts on a trapeze. The other act was Lady Houdini, who is an escape artist who specializes in escaping from strait jackets while hanging upside down. She also does an escape from a tank of water while handcuffed. We were pretty impressed with both of them. 

From there, we decided to just walk around. We walked over to the animal birthing center just as a baby calf was being born. Unfortunately, the crowd was so compressed around the animal pen that we couldn't see a thing. But we got to see some very pregnant pigs that looked like they could deliver at any minute. We explored the buildings and collected the cool free stuff that as being given away. We stopped for a bit and watched a kids activity where the kiddos get into giant beach balls and then float on the water. 

By 8:00ish, we were getting tired and it was starting to get dark. We decided to call it a day. It's pretty tough getting out of that huge parking lot at night. We all had a really good time. 

Tomorrow's day is going to be reflectory. Normally, I would take my dad out to the fair so that he could have a good time. I always took my folks on different days because their interests were so different. I miss taking my dad to the fair. Tomorrow we will honor my dad's memory by doing everything he would do on our day. We'll look at the animals, ride the Skyride, eat BBQ at Bernard's and look for free stuff in the buildings. We might toss some other activities in there, but the stuff that dad and I used to will be priorities.  

I'm getting tired, so I'm going to sign off for now. Please excuse any typos I may have made in my tiredness. Tomorrow evening, I'll post the day's activities. Remember that this blog thrives on your likes and comments. That helps me know how many people are reading. Thanks for being faithful readers, and God bless you!