In the first few years that Marty and I were together, we never missed going to the State Fair.  In the early years, we went at night, drank beer and listened to music.  After we were married and had moved out of the city, we lined up a hotel room and made a weekend trip out of it.  That year, I was pregnant and we didn't drink any beer, but I did eat record amounts of food.  When Martin was little, we still went early in the morning, eating corn dogs for breakfast and struggling to maneuver a stroller and big 'ol diaper bag through the masses.  After Sophie's arrival, we went even earlier to avoid crowds, shoving our faces with cheese curds and french fries in an attempt to get all our favorites in before the inevitable meltdown began.  That year, I remember being grossed out by the bathroom, opting instead to change dirty diapers on a blanket-covered park bench in a shaded area, wishing we could just go home.  Last year?  We didn't even go.  I don't think we could bear the thought of crowds and grime and effort and whining and running and chaos.  Even the promise of a pronto pup wouldn't make it all worthwhile.

Last week we took the kids to the county fair which is held in our town.  We went on Friday afternoon, which turned out to be the only non-rainy day in the weekend.  And it was AWESOME - it was everything we like about the State Fair, plus didn't have all the stuff that we have grown to dread. 


We covered the main Fair Food Groups - Fried (corn dogs, fries, cheese curds, mini donuts), Liquidy (lemonade, slushies), Super Sugared (mini donuts - which provides double the Fair Nutritional Value by crossing into Fried AND Sugared).

Our kids were the right size to go on about half of the rides at the county fair.  There weren't any lines and most of the time and our kids were the only ones on the rides.  This meant that they were able to receive special attention from the carney operating the machine, by which I mean that he/she had the time to set down their smoke in order to buckle them in.


Both of the kids really wanted to go on some of the wild-looking rides where they'd get whipped around and tossed upside down.  Thankfully, they weren't tall enough for those and had to settle for the bumblebee ride that raised up and down and spun around at a fairly fast pace.  I just don't trust the safety of most fair rides, thinking that in all that packing and unpacking and setup at different places that they may not be put together properly.  Every time I see them, I'm reminded of a time when we were small and Ryan and I went on a fair ride.  Our safety harness broke and I had to hold onto Ryan's arm to keep him from flying out of our seat.  We shouted for help, trying to signal that we were in danger as we passed by our parents each time the ride went around.  They waved and smiled, thinking we were experiencing the thrill of the ride instead of watching our short lives pass before our eyes.  That's such a fine line, isn't it?  Thrill or danger?



After getting our fill of rides and games and food and animals we walked the short distance to our car and drove home, just a few miles away.  It was perfect, and for us, MUCH better than the State Fair.