State Fair

The trip to the state fair is starting to feel like a fall ritual for us. I guess North Carolina is really starting to get into our blood. When I went to the fair the first year I was here in Durham, I thought, please can I go home? It is just a huge maze of gross food, packed to the gills with people, except in the areas where people exhibit their best squashes and stuff (oooh!) where you have to park a mile away and just come home totally exhausted and broke. But every year, people kept convincing me to go back using arguments like, you have to go! it's fall! it's the state fair! And now, 6 years later, the force of those arguments has sunk in, and I subscribe to them wholeheartedly. Today, we just had to go to the state fair.

We parked, I think, the furthest we have EVER parked away, but put on our happy faces and trekked our couple of miles to the gate. I was really (really!) excited to see the gourds, the livestock, and the humongous pumpkins.

Big pumpkins huh? Taking this picture is part of the ritual, so you know. I have many of these shots, but I think this year, I look like I'm really getting into it. I am.  : )

Also, I have never understood why people would dare to consume all the fried you-name-its they have at the fair. I mean candy bars, peanut butter sandwiches, even coke!  And it's all so expensive! I still know all of this to be true. But like I said, the fair has seeped into my blood. Look what I paid $6 for today . . .

A burger sandwiched between 2 Krispy Kreme donuts. This is the first wild fair food I have ever tried. It was gross. Maybe I need another year to actually enjoy it.

This year we found some new things at the fair too--the art competition (very interesting), the folk arts pavillion (think 10-year olds tap dancing and singing solos), and the building where people have booths to try to sell you super hose nozzles and super steam mops (I got called on stage to try the steam mop! Paul didn't take a picture, doh!) All in all, it was a fun day. Ella enjoyed it too. This picture was taken in the flurry of a jostling crowd and you can tell, but I love this smile.

True to the pattern, we left exhausted.

Here we are about to embark on our 2 mile hike back to the car. Do you see the car from the demolition derby in the background? He drove all the way to the gate with a bumper dragging and making the most horrible noise. It finally fell off just as he was leaving. Maybe I'll appreciate that stuff too in a few years.