State Fair & Firsts

I couldn't resist the urge to enjoy a late summer night out at the state fair.   It always conjures up some combination of Sandlot meets Charlotte's Web in my mind.  I had never been to the Utah state fair so I was interested to see what it was like. When we were first married we lived downtown and would often frequent what my brother-in-law Michael so affectionately dubbed "Rose Park-tic Circle" which was near the fairgrounds.  I always hoped it would be sort of like the Del Mar fair.

We walked up to the gate and nice woman offered us two free tickets. Score. Ben had never had a funnel cake (what? how!) and neither had Blair so we followed the smell of grease and bee lined to the first light-up sign we saw.  I like funnel cakes plain with powdered sugar. Delish. After 'funnel cake' I had 'cotton candy' on the list but needed to break it up with something salty or savory. We couldn't settle on anything and as much as I love fries and homemade chips, the thought of more fried food was not alluring.  We decided to walk around for a bit.

If you're looking for diversity in Utah - go to the fair. I felt like we were transported to another place and time!  (yes, most Utahns are sheltered!)  We walked through the rides and carnival games and the strange booths selling weird stuff. We thought it would sort of be like the zoo if we walked through the livestock stables. Ha!  Blair was safely harnessed in her stroller so she wasn't going to get bitten by pigs (do they bite?), sheep or fleas for that matter. It was a quick in and out. There was too big of a swarm around the piglets so we skipped it.

 

Next year we'll have to plan better and get a big group together. This year we ended up solo but advantageously bumped into Dan and Lindsay  who live right across the street from us. So funny.  We didn't stay very long - nature started calling and there was NO way I was using the bathroom at the fair if at all possible. We stopped at Crown Burger for dinner and restrooms and then I got to enjoy my to-go cotton candy on the way home.  All in all I would say we didn't really get the most out of the fair experience this year - I was happy we got in free because Blair was too young to enjoy it either. But ---  we came, we saw& we ate!