Minnesota State Fair

WOW!  This was a state fair at it's finest.  Supposedly, Minnesota's State Fair is one of the country's biggest and BEST and is famous for it's array of CRAZY fried foods.  Here, anything goes.

Dave has been looking forward to being able to attend a Minnesota State Fair for as long as we've known we'd be living here.  Dave's deep-fried dream fulfilled.

Minnesoata's is the largest State Fair in the U.S. in terms of average daily attendance.  I can believe it!  I mean, look at all these people!   It was complete MADNESS!  But, the fairgrounds must be GINORMOUS because it didn't seem too crowded.  A reported 1.78 million people attended this year's fair, and that number is down from last year.  That is a lot if Krispy Kreme Burgers!



What is a trip to the fair without going on a bunch of crappy & overpriced rides? Tol loved the rides while Addi didn't so much.  The kiddie roller coaster put her over the edge.
I have to say though, there were some pretty WILD & CRAZY rides here.


It was pretty ridiculous that we even spent money on ride tickets because the kids loved playing in these cart thingies WAY more than riding on the rides.  Of course.

 
And some samplings of the fried goodness (?)  available at the fair.  
Deep fried fruit?  Seriously?  I'll admit that some of it did sound tasty.  Like the Chocolate & marshmallow sandwich.  Anyone who knows me know that I LOVE me some marshmallow anything.  Mmmmm marshmallows!  But no, I didn't get one.

Here are the things we DID get.  Just looking at this picture makes me a little queasy.  But I can't deny that it was some GOOD food.  I didn't try the Corn dogs or bacon, but the other things were delish!

 These pics with the animals are a little bitter-sweet for me.  Sweet because it was a fun family day with pictures of cute animals with cuter kids.  Bitter because the animal barns REEKED, but mostly because this is where I busted my camera. Sniff.  I was sliding my camera into an outer pocket in my purse and MISSED!  Who misses their pocket?!  It fell right on the ground and a piece broke off.  It worked just fine for a few days after, but now the zoom doesn't work.  LAME!!!  And I'm too poor to fork out the money for a new one (I don't want a cheap-o replacement).
Anyway, the animals were cute, but I can't help but feel bad for them that they have to live in a cage for people to stare at.  And if that's not bad enough, this fair had a labor and delivery area where you could actually watch mom's give birth to their babies.  I guess it's kind of cool if you're into that kind of thing.  But I'm not and thought it was weird.

Well, there you have it.  
Until next year...