A Day at the Fair

Superman and I have been looking forward to spending an entire day at the Geauga County Fair. I think I've mentioned in the past that Superman is a big Jean Shepperd fan. He wanted to experience something close to Jean's rendition of his fair experience as a child. I think we accomplished that yesterday.

Of course, some things were bound to be different. We started our adventure in the rain, which prompted discussions of how we would manage to enjoy the fair through cloudbursts and scattered thunderstorms. This turned out to be moot, as the rain passed before we arrived and never did return.

We knew immediately we had been transported to a world different than our norm. Walking through the parking lot to the fair we encountered this:

That's a spotted dog's head, if you can't tell

This is the same vehicle.
Someone certainly has an artist's perspective... on something.

Right as we walked through the gate we found a book store, which was very exciting for both of us. Superman found a machinist's manual from 1924. Price? $1.00. He also found Yoga For Dummies, which I scored for $.50, and a copy of Ian Flemming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That is one of my favorite movies, but I've never read the original. The cost was another $1.00. Luckily, they had a system where they held your books while you visited the fair, and could pick them up on the way out.

 

The plan was to arrive early for a full day of fun. We would start out with the Chicken Flying Contest at noon, and end with the Demolition Derby at 8:30. We had no real plan to fill the time in between.

The Chicken Flying Contest was everything anticipated, and more.

The contestants lined up near the podium

Chicken catchers were recruited from the audience

Chickens were placed in the launcher, and summarily launched.
(yes, that is a plunger)

The catchers then retrieved the launched chickens

The chicken's flight distances were measured and recorded.
The launched chickens kept going under the podium and into the dairy barn behind us.
I don't know why.

After the excitement of the chicken flying contest, we wandered the fair and tested the vendors wares. Certain treats are mandatory for events like this.

Candied apples.
This one was promising as the candy shell was super thick, 

but the apple was mealy underneath.

I threw most of it away, which was disappointing, but ultimately for the best
as it left room for other treats.

Funnel cake with strawberries and chocolate

Grilled turkey leg.
I couldn't eat all of this, so wrapped it up and saved it
in the handy dandy cooler I won from spinning a wheel at a radio station booth.
The cooler was the perfect size for this.

There were also fried oreos, which were a disappointment, and cinnamon covered cashews, which were not. Superman and I shared a corn dog, and we both had ice cream, fudge, and corn on the cob. Overall it was a very full day, food-wise. 

It was a very full day period, as we walked for the better part of 8 hours.
We only sat a few times.

We got bored waiting for the miniature horse show, so started comparing the muscles in our legs

He wins, but who knew I had discernible muscle?!?

We got up close and personal with miniature horses

and massive draft animals

We saw miniature donkeys

and miniature goats

Sheep shearing

Pig herding

Exotic chickens

Alpacas

Baby cows

and baby bunnies

We learned about blacksmithing
and horse-shoeing
This guy was a story teller!

We learned about glass blowing.
We watching this show twice
and talked about maybe taking lessons
Fascinating.

We viewed the domestic arts
My mother judged the knitting
I drooled over the cakes and cookies

We watched them milk the cows

 Finally, after walking miles and miles and miles, it was time for the finale.

First, the obligatory sky-diver with the American flag

The pit area

The excitement begins

Smash 'em, Crash 'em!
It was like bumper cars, for adults

There was one small fire, under the hood of the car
the kids next to us were rooting for

I had a blast!

The fair, as we walked to our car

Overall a full and wonderful day. I haven't been running for almost 2 weeks now, but I certainly got my exercise yesterday! I feel it in my legs today, as we must have walked at least 10 miles.

I still have a little bit of a cough. I've been itching to run since the weekend, but haven't wanted to push myself as I still didn't feel completely well. Today... maybe. I have to go climb all over my parent's house first, rewiring the cable. Certainly tomorrow I'm going to attempt a long run, with the understanding that there will be walking involved. I have to get moving though, as I only have a few weeks before the Towpath Half.