All's fair at the Fair

As a child, since my birthday always falls during the state fair, I used to go to the state fair about 5 or 6 times a year. Getting older certainly changes that. It's been about 4 or 5 years since I have been there. So today my husband Richard and I headed to the Wisconsin State Fair.

It all started out innocently enough. Last night while watching a movie I told him that I wanted to go this year. When we looked at our calendar for the week, we decided that today would be our only chance. We called my neice to see if she wanted to go along, but all I could do was leave a message which I am still waiting for a return call from. Richard decided that he wanted to go early to beat the crowds. HA! I got up at 7:00AM, which is a feat for me on a Sunday morning. I decided to color my hair before we left because I knew I would be in no shape to do it tonight and I really needed it bad. We were finally ready to go about 9:00AM. We get to the grounds and drive for about 20 minutes just to get to the parking lot entrance. We park a mile away, walk to the gate and wait and wait and wait. The line for tickets is enormous. I guess eveyone had the same idea to get their early.

When we got in we walked through the place with the rabbits and poultry. Then moved on to the cow barns. After that we headed over to view the horses. We got to see a lot very up close. So close that I could have gotten stomped on by a few of them if I wasn't careful. We couldn't leave out the sheep, goats and pigs so we headed over to see them too. By this time we were very thirsty. I HAD to have a hawaiian shaved ice. I waited in line and Richard went to find a lemonaid. By the time he got back I will still in line. I guess those shaved ices looked good to everyone.

We walked around a little more and looked at some of the outside vendors. We found some shade. Did I mention that it was about 90 degrees with not much shade anywhere. We couldn't find any place to sit down so we walked some more. We finally decided to go into one of the buildings with lots of different vendors. As a kid, I loved going into these buildings and finding some treasure to buy. This year I came to a realization. I told Richard that I knew I was a grown up now just because looking at all these things all I could see was a bunch of crap. We bought nothing. At least we got to cool off and find a place to sit for a short while.

We headed outside again and walked and walked some more. We went and saw the display that his company had set up. The guys in there had it made. They are set up inside a semi trailor and it was beautiful in there plus it's air conditioned. They show off all the modern technology that Best Buy has available now. They took our picture and that really gave me some motivation to lose some weight. I can't believe I go out in public looking like I did today.

After this we only had one final thing to do. We had to get a famous creme puff. The line for that wasn't too bad but you have to go through this enormous roped off area which means you have to walk and walk some more. By this point my feet and back were killing me. We got our creme puffs and we had no choice but to eat them at a stand up table. We quickly ate those and headed out the door. We decided that we had enough. It was time to head home. That is after we found our way back to the car. We were on the opposite end of the fair ground. At this point we were just hot, thirsty and hurting from walking and standing so much.So we walked and walked and walked to get to the car. At one point my back hurt so bad I didn't think I could even make it to the car. We finally did and headed home.

When we got home I think we both were ready to crash. Richard headed to bed and I tried to stay up but knew I couldn't make it. We both took very long naps. I would guess that is why we are both wide awake and on the computer.

All in all, today was a good day. Who knew that 4 hours walking around the fair would take that much out of you? Maybe it will be better next time. That is if there is a next time. Also, next yea we both plan on being a lot smaller so maybe it will be easier.

My vote for this years fair is that it was just fair. I do recommend it but make sure you take plenty of money and be prepared to sweat. You will sweat A LOT.

See ya next year.