responsibility

We sometimes do things we shouldn't. And we know better. We can make excuses, rationalize, and point fingers. But ultimately, it's our fault. So, that being said, I take responsibility for what I forced upon my stomach on Saturday. Why and how you may ask? I went to the State Fair... for 8 hours... enough said. But I had fun doing it!

In case it's not enough, though, I'll share with you our day. First, it was crazy, hella, super busy there - it looked like this in pretty much any direction you look (see below).


The State Fair is mostly about the food. It's kinda about the animals, the concerts, the rides, and the people watching. The food is the most important part, though. Ask anyone. The first thing I ate, which I don't have a picture of, was a piece of lefse with cinnamon and sugar on it - very yummy! By 10:30 a.m. I had my first deep-fried item: the classic corndog.

We moved on to walk through one of the buildings where they sell all the things and do demos - did you know you can buy a box of fish eggs and get live fish in multiple colors to grow? Time for some lemonade.

We started walking toward the barns and I saw an opportunity to be healthy that I couldn't pass up. Deep-fried fruit on a stick is healthy, right? OK, maybe not. See what I meant before about making excuses and rationalizing? It was really good though - fruit (pineapple, grapes, apple, strawberry, cherry) with fruit dip around it, then deep-fried in a funnel cake breading.

We made it to the barns without further delay, although we did see the deep-fried pickle stand and made a mental note to stop back there later. While we were at the barns I ran into my mom's cousin, Jerry, and his daughter, Mary. I think Mary had a sheep in the open-class division. Small world - hundreds of thousands of people, and I see them. :)

In the swine barn, there was the biggest pig I've ever seen being proudly displayed at Minnesota's largest pig weighing in at 1,400 pounds. Unrelated to the giant pig, but overheard in the swine barn from a passerby 'They are really cute... but I sure do like eating them!' Hmm....

We made it through the horses, pigs, sheep, and cows and headed to the Miracle of Birth Center where they have the baby animals. Super cute, but probably more exciting for someone who didn't grow up on a farm.

After that, we headed back to the center area and immediately came upon the all-you-can-drink for-a-dollar milk stand. I had almost three: 1 chocolate, 1 mixed chocolate/white, and almost 1 white. I don't drink milk often, so this was probably overkill. But all-you-can-drink is a challenge, right? (again, excuses)

It just so happens that the all-you-can-drink milk stand is right by the awesome turkey sandwich place that I was introduced to a couple of years ago. Needless to say...

Here, we did take a break and sat down for a while and just walked around. In my defense, it was during this time that I passed up the bacon on a stick, so I did have a little bit of will-power... (rationalizing)

We headed back to the grandstand area (where, by the way, KISS was to be playing that night) and Matt wanted to try to the deep-fried alligator and several of us got corn on the cob. We all tried the alligator (even Harlee! - see photo) and it tastes like chicken. Really. The little pieces tasted like chicken poppers.

We walked around more. And more. And some more. On the way to the other side of the grounds, Kyle got some fresh-cut french fries to share (sorry, no photo) and then we stopped for a bit and got a beer.

And then we walked some more. Did I mention the fairgrounds are enormous? And the crowds were tight? The only thing Harlee wanted at the fair was the homemade ice cream so we stopped while she and Joan got some and ate it. I guess it was 'to die for!' Looked good! I didn't have any though, and I respectfully declined some cotton candy I was offered at this point, as well. I would like to say that it was because I wanted to make wise choices and that ice cream and cotton candy are bad for me... but I must take responsibility that the truth was that I was just holding out for what was yet to come.

Remember earlier when I said we spotted the deep-fried pickles stand? Our mental note did it's job and stuck with us until the mission was accomplished. If you haven't had them before, deep-fried pickles are awesome.

We fought the crowds to get back over by the grandstand area and then began a serious discussion trying to remember where we had seen the deep-fried candy bar stand. It took a little searching, but we found it! Matt and I had a deep-fried snickers, Jen had the reese's, we got a milky way for Carson. We thought they were delicious, but Carson didn't like his - so Kyle got to eat it. Can't waste.

And finally, what is the MN State Fair without the cheese curds? In my opinion, this is the best thing they have there. But because we waited to the end, I was considering leaving without having them. Good thing Jennifer was there to remind me that no one likes a quitter. (pointing fingers)

So we went back into the crowd, one last time, and got them.

We were all exhausted, not to mention full, by the time we left at 6 p.m. And we were all a little jealous of Reagan because she got to take nap, and we didn't.

I was thinking about what I was going to say about this experience on my way home Saturday and even had it all planned out to post all of this when I got home and write something witty at the end like 'Now it you'll all excuse me, I'm going into a food coma.' But in reality, I got home, sat on the couch, skipped the blogging and fell into my food coma by 8:30 p.m. Oops. You know that feeling you get when you were in college and you drank too much? The I'm never drinking again... feeling? I had the I'm never going to the fair, again... feeling. But like with drinking, it's never the last time. So, I'll see you at the fair next year!