State Fair Junkie

Hi.  My name is Nicole.

I'm a State Fair junkie.

:)

 

August 11:
Ate a corn dog {at a stand where they brush on the ketchup (and mustard if you are weird like that)}.
Shared a bag of mini donuts with some lovely ladies.
Walked around a little.
Enjoyed the concert of Sanctus Real and Casting Crowns.

August 13:
Ate fried cheese curds. {Absolutely delicious!!  I will be eating them again.}
Small bag of mini donuts.
Danced in a flash mob in the Grand Concourse area.
Lots of walking.
Various animals.
Enjoyed time with my brother's family {especially my little nephew}.

August 14:
Ate a yummy pork burger.
LOTS of walking and sightseeing.

Saw more various animals.

Loved hearing Carson 'call' as many of the livestock that he could.  :)

Enjoyed time with my brother's family again.

Ended the night with a free concert by Jason Michael Carroll.  {It was great!}

Yet To Do At The Fair:
Eat a Red Velvet Funnel Cake!!

Tour the 4-H Building.
Attend more free concerts.

Visit the Cultural Center.

Spend more time with the family.

Whatever else I can find to do.

:)

I'll be back in a couple of days.  

What's on your fair must eat/must see/must do list?  Please share!

State Fair Time

Yesterday (Thursday) my parents and I went to Des Moines to enjoy the great Iowa State Fair. It's State Fair Time!

We were on the grounds by 8:30am. And man, it was sparse. (But I kind of like it that way...I'm not a fan of huge crowds if I don't have to be.)

I like the look of the General Store area. This is a little ways inside the east entrance. (Dad is in the yellowish/orangish shirt across from the blue garbage can.)

Here's mom in front of the soda fountain store. After this picture, she said 'No more pictures'. Hope you like it mom! :)

Here's a shot of the Grand Concourse at 8:30am. Quite the site to see.

A view of the top of some food stands....while I was waiting for some mini donuts. LOVE THEM! In the background you can see the pavillion.

Lunch anyone? (Don't worry, I took this as we walked by it before it opened. Didn't bother taking one when we went there to eat. I wanted to eat!)

The wonderful 4-H Building. The past 3 years, I have helped in this building prior to the fair. However, this year due to work and having kids on campus, I wasn't able to help. Hopefully I can help out again next year.

Pioneer Hall. Love the barn with the flowers.

An old church that I always enjoy seeing.

A view of the Grand Concourse at about 12:30pm. A little bit more busy this time.

Here's the biggest bull. I guess I should have tried to get a person in the picture somewhere. This guy is just tall and wide. We were also wondering how old he is, but we didn't find out.

Now how about we look at some big pumpkins. It's impressive how big they can get. But to me, sometimes bigger isn't always better. I would prefer a nice, small, orangier pumpkin.

As we were leaving the grounds, we cruised by Mrs. Clarks stand and enjoyed some lemonade. I Thought it was great. And thanks to mom not liking hers, I had hers as well. Thanks mom!

But dad got drawn to this truck. I don't remember the year of it, but he said we have one very similar to it in the back of the barn. I told him to fix it up! I'm thinking it would love to drive a little truck like this. Hmm. Maybe some day.

It was a great day at the fair.....even though it was the shortest time we have ever spent at the fair. But then, we also left right before the rain made its appearance. So I'm okay with that.

Next post...road trip time!

Tractors at the Fair

While at the Iowa State Fair yesterday, being the farm girl that I am, of course I took lots of pictures of tractors. But not new tractors. Tractors that have had hundreds of hours spent on them to refurbish. Some are 4-H projects, some FFA projects, and some are just projects of love.
And for some reason, I enjoy getting pictures of the tractor emblems. (Yeah, I didn't get any John Deere....I guess that is what happens when you have no John Deere Green on the farm.)

This little tractor was a 4-H project by a gal. I thought it was quite neat. If you can't tell, it was made out of 12 oz pop cans and a few 8 oz cans....for the front wheels.

I hope you enjoyed a few of the tractors at the fair!