We ate Our Way Thru The Minnesota State Fair!

Up and at 'em early today, because we were on a mission!  The weather has cooled and the humidity is lower, so we're off to the Minnesota State Fair! The fair is in St. Paul, only a few miles from where we are "camped", but the highway system is completely messed up around here due to road construction.  Seemingly every intersection, offramp and overpass is undergoing some repair or renovation. This led us to find a remote parking lot and take a free shuttle bus into the fair, so the the driving would be minimal for Uncle Bill.  Calvary Church in St. Paul was the lot that we chose to use, as they were kind enough to donate the use of their parking lot.  Many of the younger church members worked in the parking lot, handing out bottles of water and providing chairs in a shade structure.  Good job, kids!

The bus took us right to the south entrance of the fair, and the first thing we saw was......FAIR FOOD!

It being early in the morning, we restrained ourselves and went to the animal barns.  We saw:

A turkey that was just a few hours old:

A cow that was within hours of giving birth:

Some pigs:

A cutting horse competition by some high school age kids that was fascinating:

These cutting horses are so focused on the calf and on the riders nonverbal instructions, that they are in a world of their own.  A calf is selected from a group, the rider positions him or herself and the horse with the reins held high.  Then the reins are dropped to the horses' neck, and it's game on. All the riders instructions are through leaning and squeezing, and the horse and rider act as one unit.  It was a wonderful demonstration of horsemanship.  The competition was fierce, and I'll have to admit that I don't know just how it's all graded, but it was wonderful to watch!

So then we ducked into the Spam exhibit to whet our appetites!

A couple of pics to remind us of the wonderful meat.....product.....

OK, on to the serious stuff!  First we layered on an order of deep fried cheese curds, then a norwegian version of onion rings call Lok Rings (funny little slash mark through the o) and pronounced "Lurk Rings".  The batter was really light and fluffy, and the rings were served with a Lingenberry dip. Then an order of deep fried Spam curds  (small bites, don'cha know).

We had to rest, so a sidewalk bench was pressed into service.  As luck would have it, a parade happened by with several high school bands, some old fire trucks and some brand new road clearing equipment and a young man in a rolling contraption that was completely human powered.

He rolled it down the street by stepping from bar to bar, sometimes stopping by stepping backward, and then starting again.  Every once in awhile, he would jump out, let the wheel roll on down the street, and go sit down on the curb and rest for a moment.  Then he would go running like crazy to catch up and start again.  Pretty cool!

We went back to checking out the eats again, but we had to pass on the double bacon wrapped corn dogs...

In favor of a trip to the old tractor area.  There were many old tractors that had been used on the farms in the area and then lovingly restored.  The oldest was this 1915 Aultman Taylor that was purchased new for $100.  A tree fell on it, damaging the cab on the day it was delivered to the farm, and it was never started or used until the restoration process started in 1999.

The tractor was started several times today, and runs every bit as good as it ever did.

Then back to some serious eating:

Pork Chops on a stick seemed to be the majority selection:

While a pastrami and cream cheese wrapped pickle with Jalapeno's was the minority selection:

Followed by a thick slab of bacon with maple syrup on a stick for a chaser.  I hope my Dr. doesn't see this post.

An hour of people watching while we let our dinner "settle" and we were off to the shuttle for the trip home.  All in all a great day at a traditional midwest fair.  The brick buildings in the animal area hark back to the early days of the state, and the attitude and demeanor of the 4H and FFA kids really gave us a sense of pride.  The vendors, whether for farm implements, new cars, or made-in-Poland glassware, were all friendly and nice to talk to.

Good Job, Minnesota!  We'll be back!