More Fair Fun!

Well, here we again at one of our favorite places on earth, the Iowa State Fair... Day 2 for 2009! Lucky us! This is one of the many tree carvings on the grounds. The fair was hit by high winds one year and took down many old trees. Many of them were carved into detailed art pieces like this one depicting different historical aspects of the fair.

Today we met our fabulous friends the Vander Wells,. Miss Victoria and I were best friends in high school, roomies in college and have remained super close ever since. It was a real treat to be able to spend the day with her and her folks, and her Aunt and Uncle.

Here's the group in front of an AE truck...(from left to right) Victoria's Aunt Jean, her Uncle Dean, Victoria, Jim, Victoria's Mom, Jane, and her Dad, Bud. Bud even found his own tent!

Mother Nature's calendar seems to be a bit off these days - it was 62 degrees when we arrived and didn't warm up much, as it rained off and on all day. Which had us running into buildings more often. In the cultural center we "Oooooed, ahhhhhed and chuckled at all the amazing photographs. And then we gals looked around and we'd lost the guys. Wasn't long, though, before we found them sitting outside in the courtyard... beside a sign that read: "DO NOT LEAVE CHILDREN UNATTENDED" which had us laughing out loud!

We ambled over to the Susan Knapp building where you can see all kinds of baby animals coming into the world: sheep, goats, calves, and even birds being hatched! Such a wonderful place for kids to see other "kids" being born.



The largest Pumpkin contest was amazing again this year... the largest was 1099 pounds!!

There were some finely dressed geese honking around the grounds today! Apparently, they are from Victoria's neck of the woods near Le Mars, Iowa, where they often are seen in parades!

Another one of our traditions is to ride Ye Ol' Mill, (aka, The Tunnel of Love :) This ride was built on the fairgrounds in 1911 and renovated in 1996. Sadly, there are only three of these rides left in the country. Powered by a huge water paddle, back then it was known as a "dark water ride" because you go through a series of dark tunnels (1500 feet) with a few lighted scenes scattered throughout. It gets so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face... also a good chance for your sweetie to sneak a kiss!

Here we are in front of the Pioneer Pavilion. It's a horse and cattle show barn - where I've spent an awful lot of time watching and showing horses. The fair has done an awesome job of renovating the old buildings on the grounds. New ones are always nice, but there's just something about keeping the old ones around for history's sake that makes this fairgrounds so special.

And we always take time to find our brick... It only seemed right that we make a donation when they were renovating the horse barn, since it's where we like to spend most of our time when we're there. It's on the East entrance to the horse barn, upper left hand corner. Y'all look for us next time ya visit!!