A Minnesota Tradition

Last night for dinner I had a crab cake, a handful of mini donuts, a rootbeer float, five or six cheese curds and a bite of a corndog. Can you guess where I was?

Yep, you guessed it. The Nash family headed out to the Minnesota State Fair. Some of us were a bit more begrudging about it than others. Ahem, Brian, ahem. But he soon found out that the State Fair serves beer and then his mood perked up quite a bit.

"We have a coupon for a $1.50 off two crab cakes," I said, "Should we get some?"

"Of course!" Brian replied, "Let's try everything. That's what we're here for."

It's amazing what just a bit of beer can do. That's our little crab cake stealer off to the right.

Anyway our first stop was the Miracle of Birth barn which, once the evening was said and done, was my favorite part. There was a cow in the center pen that had given birth to a calf just two hour earlier. In the barn we also spotted lamb, sheep, chicks and more calves that were just a few days old; some just a few hours old.

All week I've been hearing horror stories from other fair-goers that yes, the Miracle or Birth barn is way cool but it's also the most crowded and most suffocatingly hot. But we picked a perfect night to go it seems. It was a Wednesday night and having just rained for the majority of the day most people stayed away. We found the crowds very manageable and the air temperature perfect. In fact, we even wore long pants and sleeves!

Here's a few pictures of the Miracle of Birth barn.

After that we wandered about and picked up a few bites here and there. Brian and I were both excited to catch a glimpse of Mike Pomperanz. Ok, maybe me a little more than Brian, but Brian was still pretty excited.

When the evening was coming to an end and we felt our guts could take no more grease I begged Brian to go down the giant slide. The beer was waning, you see, so it got a little tough as the night went one. So finally I told him to take the camera and I would take William down the slide myself. If nothing else the jaunt up the stairs carrying a 28-pound child would help me burn off one or two of those calories I just ingested. (Note: Our camera doesn't work so good when taking action shots a night. Sorry for the blurs.)

When it was over I announced to Brian that the ride was way more fun than I had expected it to be. That statement coupled with William's cries for "Gen! Gen!" persuaded Brian that he needed a try too.

Is is just me or does William look way too old in that last picture?

So in the end, William's favorite part of the fair ended up costing just $2. Well actually, that's kind of a lie. William's favorite part of the fair experience was free. That part was the ride to and from the fair on the big bus. That was probably the most talked about. So if Metro Transit wouldn't mind, I might just ride that bus around and around all week.

But the fair was fun too.