Me and my Dad had the "About a foot long" hot dog slathered in sauted onions. Right after getting that monstrosity we stumbled upon this sign that says "Portion Distortion". Steps to a healthy balanced diet.
In the Creative Arts Building we checked out all of the Blue Ribbon winners. Then the Education Building to check out all the colleges and universities for Jacob's future and all of the free handouts you can get. Every year I say we're not going to collect all that crap, but every year we wind up with bag-fulls. Only at the fair would you walk around with the state of Minnesota on your head!
In this pic, the white tall thingy in the background is an actual blade to a windmill. Can you imagine how tall an actual windmill must be! We made it all the way to Machinery Hill. All of the old classics were present. My Dad and Jacob oogled over all the Farmall and John Deere's and Ford tractors. I oogled over the old John Deere tractor-made strawberry ice cream Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmm!
Further down the road we stopped at the local radio station KQ92 booth - their morning show is a hoot! They have a few shirts for sale -Jacob wanted this one - I of course said -No! After visiting the Teen area - watching the extreme sporters - BMX'ers, skateboarders and the Rockband performers. We moved onto the Pet Center sponsored by Chuck & Don's pet food outlet. Then we hopped onto the Skyglider to ride back across the fair. It really saves a lot of steps and you can see for miles! It was only two to a car - Me the ultimate chicken - rode alone and Jacob rode with Grampa. I actually let go for a sec to turn around to get a picture! 
We stopped at the Leinenkuegel's Beer Leinie Lodge Bandshell to listen to a group called Five by Design. A Benny Goodman, Lemon Sisters type show (remember it was senior day). After chowing down on Bull Bites, Hash Browns on a stick, & Macaroni & Cheese on a stick we watched Mel McDaniels perform Stand up, Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On and Louisiana Saturday Night, etc. He wasn't that bad between inhaler puffs.
We moved onto the Horticulture building to check out the large record setting pumpkins and veggies and the piece d' resistance the Crop Art! Check out this slide show. Keep in mind they are all created with seeds. I just adore the feed sack display! And I can't forget to show you the Sham-Wow! booth from the Merchandise Mart! Everybody that walked by yelled "Sham-Wow!" in the australian accent. It was time for the deep-fried Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. That kinda hung in my craw for awhile. Thank goodness for the little sample cups of a new iced tea by Coca-Cola. By this time, we ran into cousins and an aunt at the Ball Park Beer Garden. Their huge basket of garlic fries are legendary! The karaoke is not!
Since we purchased lottery tickets at the fair we got a free t-shirt with a smiley face on it. Kare11 TV gave Jacob a bike helmet. Quitplan gave him a water bottle and bunch of free mints, and the U of M handed out a great canvas backpack. After listening to the band War perform their hit Low Rider (theme song to the George Lopez show) we decided to head for home, after all we were there for 10 hours! We'll back again tomorrow - this was only the tip of the ice berg....Robyn
