Monday, November 07, 2005
Our State Fair is a Great State Fair
On Friday night we went to the Arizona State Fair. It was a blast! I had never been to a state fair before. The thing was HUGE! So many rides and attractions, concerts and shows, food, food, food, and animals. It pretty much cost us an arm and a leg to go, but it was worth it. I never thought anything could be more expensive than Disneyland!
We started our adventure with a ride on Kitty, the 8,000 pound Asian elephant. Little B and I rode while Big B took pictures. The people that rode Kitty right before us got a bonus ride because Kitty had to go potty. They got to sit on her while she did. Hmm. It was actually pretty impressive. Two trainers backed her up off the ride route (I guess it was the "bathroom"), and each had a trash can. One was for #1 and one was for #2. The trainers got their trash cans into position and just gave her a pat on the bum. She went on command! Pretty cool. So Kitty was all refreshed and perky when we got on her. I'm sure her flower tiara helped her get in the mood. The ride was pretty slow and rolling. Kind of like being on a boat. We got to pet her head, which was rough and bristly. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to kiss her, but you know I would have. We told her thank you, and gave her a good pat at the end of the ride. Poor thing...going round and round in circles all day.
After that we watched pig races. The pigs had names like Janet Napigliono (Arizona's govenor is Janet Napolitano), Arnold Swartspignator, and the like. They were pretty cute. Once they got their numbers on and got in their stalls, they were all fired up. Squealing and snorting. The race started and the crowd cheered, they rounded the first bend and crossed the finish line, where they were greeted with platters of slop. I think they only had to race about twenty feet or so, so the whole thing was over in about ten seconds. I think it took us longer to get to our seats in the bleachers. But who can resist a racing, squealing, snorting pig. No kissing there, either.
Then we watched people waste their money on the Crazy Bike, hoping to win a bike of their very own. Of course, the dude in charge of taking all the money could ride the thing perfectly. All you had to do was ride the bike straight between a set of cones for only fifteen feet or so. But the steering on the bike was backwards, so if you went left, the bike would go right and vice versa. Seems easy, but most people fell as soon as their feet hit the pedals. Funny how everyone thinks they are going to be the one to do it, even after watching tons of people fail. I wonder how much that guy raked in at $3 a ride or $5 for two rides. Sheesh! It was sure fun to watch, though.
There were so many food stands, it was amazing! They were all lit up and flashing with merchants yelling at us to try their fried this and their fried that. Your choices were limited in terms of fried or not fried (I think the only "not fried" items were pickles, which you could also have fried, and ice cream), but there were a load of fried choices. We finally settled on hand-dipped corn dogs and curly fries. Yum! My belly kinda hurt after, but it was yummy.
Just after eating, I found the "Orbiter," a ride that spins, and then has arms that spin, and then individual cars that spin. it goes really fast, and flies up into the air. I had been on one before, and they are super fun. I had to go alone because both of the boys were chicken. Especially after the fried feast. I got off the ride a little shakier than I remember last time. It must be age. Or the corn dog.
The boys then played speed pitch, where you throw one pitch, then guess the speed of your second pitch. Big B guessed 58mph exactly and won a Giants baseball hat. Then Little B went on a bunch of super slides and fun houses, and we walked around and enjoyed the sights. We also went on this terrifying spinning coaster thing. Each car fit four people--couples back to back. The whole thing was a coaster, but then the car spun, as well. I hated it because A) You felt as if your whole cart was going to launch off the track at any moment, and
B) I was sitting next to Little B and about two seconds into the ride he said "I feel sick." I ripped his new baseball hat off his head and handed it to him. He didn't have to use, it but it was a close call. As if we didn't have enough to eat, we stopped by the ice cream booth. Big B and I got hand-dipped ice cream bars, and Little B got--get this--a frozen Twinkie hand dipped in chocolate, then covered in Oreo cookies. Insane!
We rode "La Grande Wheel," the largest movable Ferris Wheel in the northern hemisphere. It is over 150 feet high, and has over 500,000 lights. It was really an impressive sight, and the view from up top was amazing. Made us realize how big the fair really was. I thought it would take forever to get on the thing because the line was really long, but they have the loading and unloading thing down pat. They load six gondolas at a time. They can do this because the line for each is tiered. It went really quickly. So they load all the cars, spin you around about four times, then you get off. Little B was afraid to go on it at first, but he loved it once he saw the view.
After that, we headed over to my favorite thing, the petting zoo, where I finally got to kiss something. A goat! They had baby goats that were too cute!!! They were crawling all over the grown-up goats and prancing around.
We also saw a giant tortoise, got to pet a kangaroo, got to see Rosie Rose's relatives, the wild cavies from south America, and got to feed a yak (and got butted...they don't like to be pet on the head). We saw a giraffe, zebras, and the largest rodent in the world (I forget what it's called). Oh, and chickens! The petting zoo was definitely the best part!
Tired and belly achy, we then walked back to the car. A nice cap on the evening was a street musician playing the sax. He was quite good, and we enjoyed the tunes as we strolled a half mile back to our $15 parking space.
We started our adventure with a ride on Kitty, the 8,000 pound Asian elephant. Little B and I rode while Big B took pictures. The people that rode Kitty right before us got a bonus ride because Kitty had to go potty. They got to sit on her while she did. Hmm. It was actually pretty impressive. Two trainers backed her up off the ride route (I guess it was the "bathroom"), and each had a trash can. One was for #1 and one was for #2. The trainers got their trash cans into position and just gave her a pat on the bum. She went on command! Pretty cool. So Kitty was all refreshed and perky when we got on her. I'm sure her flower tiara helped her get in the mood. The ride was pretty slow and rolling. Kind of like being on a boat. We got to pet her head, which was rough and bristly. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to kiss her, but you know I would have. We told her thank you, and gave her a good pat at the end of the ride. Poor thing...going round and round in circles all day. After that we watched pig races. The pigs had names like Janet Napigliono (Arizona's govenor is Janet Napolitano), Arnold Swartspignator, and the like. They were pretty cute. Once they got their numbers on and got in their stalls, they were all fired up. Squealing and snorting. The race started and the crowd cheered, they rounded the first bend and crossed the finish line, where they were greeted with platters of slop. I think they only had to race about twenty feet or so, so the whole thing was over in about ten seconds. I think it took us longer to get to our seats in the bleachers. But who can resist a racing, squealing, snorting pig. No kissing there, either.
Then we watched people waste their money on the Crazy Bike, hoping to win a bike of their very own. Of course, the dude in charge of taking all the money could ride the thing perfectly. All you had to do was ride the bike straight between a set of cones for only fifteen feet or so. But the steering on the bike was backwards, so if you went left, the bike would go right and vice versa. Seems easy, but most people fell as soon as their feet hit the pedals. Funny how everyone thinks they are going to be the one to do it, even after watching tons of people fail. I wonder how much that guy raked in at $3 a ride or $5 for two rides. Sheesh! It was sure fun to watch, though.There were so many food stands, it was amazing! They were all lit up and flashing with merchants yelling at us to try their fried this and their fried that. Your choices were limited in terms of fried or not fried (I think the only "not fried" items were pickles, which you could also have fried, and ice cream), but there were a load of fried choices. We finally settled on hand-dipped corn dogs and curly fries. Yum! My belly kinda hurt after, but it was yummy.
Just after eating, I found the "Orbiter," a ride that spins, and then has arms that spin, and then individual cars that spin. it goes really fast, and flies up into the air. I had been on one before, and they are super fun. I had to go alone because both of the boys were chicken. Especially after the fried feast. I got off the ride a little shakier than I remember last time. It must be age. Or the corn dog. The boys then played speed pitch, where you throw one pitch, then guess the speed of your second pitch. Big B guessed 58mph exactly and won a Giants baseball hat. Then Little B went on a bunch of super slides and fun houses, and we walked around and enjoyed the sights. We also went on this terrifying spinning coaster thing. Each car fit four people--couples back to back. The whole thing was a coaster, but then the car spun, as well. I hated it because A) You felt as if your whole cart was going to launch off the track at any moment, and
B) I was sitting next to Little B and about two seconds into the ride he said "I feel sick." I ripped his new baseball hat off his head and handed it to him. He didn't have to use, it but it was a close call. As if we didn't have enough to eat, we stopped by the ice cream booth. Big B and I got hand-dipped ice cream bars, and Little B got--get this--a frozen Twinkie hand dipped in chocolate, then covered in Oreo cookies. Insane! 
We rode "La Grande Wheel," the largest movable Ferris Wheel in the northern hemisphere. It is over 150 feet high, and has over 500,000 lights. It was really an impressive sight, and the view from up top was amazing. Made us realize how big the fair really was. I thought it would take forever to get on the thing because the line was really long, but they have the loading and unloading thing down pat. They load six gondolas at a time. They can do this because the line for each is tiered. It went really quickly. So they load all the cars, spin you around about four times, then you get off. Little B was afraid to go on it at first, but he loved it once he saw the view.After that, we headed over to my favorite thing, the petting zoo, where I finally got to kiss something. A goat! They had baby goats that were too cute!!! They were crawling all over the grown-up goats and prancing around.
We also saw a giant tortoise, got to pet a kangaroo, got to see Rosie Rose's relatives, the wild cavies from south America, and got to feed a yak (and got butted...they don't like to be pet on the head). We saw a giraffe, zebras, and the largest rodent in the world (I forget what it's called). Oh, and chickens! The petting zoo was definitely the best part!Tired and belly achy, we then walked back to the car. A nice cap on the evening was a street musician playing the sax. He was quite good, and we enjoyed the tunes as we strolled a half mile back to our $15 parking space.
# posted by Kristen–well minded @ 7:23 AM 
