The morning moved slowly, as I wrote blog entries, spent some time with the puppy and the kid packed up to return to school. I was a bit exhausted from the previous emotionally and physically demanding days.

I didn’t even leave the house until 2 pm.  My plan was to remain on the East side and get through Creative Activities, Education, Annex,  4-H, and finish the Eco Building.  Rain was predicted every other hour, so I was hoping that it would stay away so I could get through the buildings with fewer guests! I only got through Creative Activities and my Sunday plan took a more fun turn.

I was completely engrossed in the Creative Activities and feel like I took care to see every display case and hanging object there was.

My friend Elysia who we call “E” was trying to connect with me, and we were in the same building for almost 20 minutes before she actually found me!

 

She found me trying to get quality photos of this incredible Springerle display.  It was tucked in a dark area by the door to the annex and taking pictures was difficult.  What I wanted most is the recipe and the instructions in hops that it will help me when Andrea tries to teach me how to make them this fall  Dad made them every year and I never really did it with him…now I wish I had.

The La Patisserie demonstration that was supposed to be in the Cambria Kitchen was cancelled.  Not sure why but I got a nice picture of the unoccupied space!

The buildings were so humid and oppressive that most people were outside.  My friend Carole informed me they were not going to come over due to the forecast, but there was no rain yet.

E & I quickly got through the back corner of the Creative Activities and saw an enormous Tinker Toy display!

It’s a huge Midway Like display utilizing different generation Tinker Toys, from wood to plastic.

We then cruised through the Annex, making my first stop for wine slushie samples, soup and more slushie!

The slushing lady was sad to know mom died too. We’d say hi every day!

The standard shops are present here, with the addition of a sign shop and a floral shop. The Swiss peeler/slicer guy is still doing his thing!  And Jacobs lefse is still there.  I almost bought some extra supplies, realizing that I don’t need more as I will just find and use Moms.

They had a claustrophobic kitchen gadget shop where I looked for an avacado slicer, but they don’t have the good one. I again realized, I bought one for mom.

E has spent the last four days in the Education Building as her son is very active with the robotic teams.  She was gracious enough to accompany me through it, one, more, time! We spun the wheels,

answered trivia, snagged some treats, maps and pencils and attempted to get some funny pictures.  The first photo-op was with MNdot and we were posed “falling off” a bridge.  The kid running the computer system was not sure what he was doing, so we don’t think we’ll ever see that one.  The one from the Minnesota Historical Society of us at the Oliver Kelley Farm hugging the Oxen is fun!

We walked right up to the reconfigured St. Thomas both and got a bag, no lines, no schedule…but not sure if that is the standard protocol.  I grabbed it and tucked it away and didn’t look at it until before I went to bed and at first glance I thought it said says “Blessed are the Needy”.  I wondered if they were putting all the beatitudes on different days of the fair., but there are only eight….  The next morning I noticed the bag actually says, “Blessed are the NERDY”.  I’ll check to see if that is the bag every day!

I like to see the school art submissions and this one blew me away.  A multimedia collage created by a first grader!!

We needed some food, and grabbed another Egg roll (my third!?!) Man they’re delicious.  E & I tried the garlic cream cheese wontons and they were not my cup of tea, but E liked them a lot.

We stopped in the middle of Dan Patch to try to take a sunny selfie to send to Carole to tell her “it’s not raining” and a lady stopped and asked if she could take our picture for us.  We were obviously struggling!  LOL  I love it that strangers are willing to help at the fair!

We grabbed a photo-op here where I don’t think I have ever actually done it!  Then we strolled through the Health Kare11 booth and got a Ucare bag which are new and blue this year, picked up the Gluten Free food list and thought for a split second about getting our blood sugar checked but decided against it after our recent consumption!

E has never been to a talent show, so we grabbed a beer, a lemonade slushie, a burger and pie and settled in for the show. The talent was excellent, but we didn’t stick around to hear the winners as I convinced E to take in talent show #2!

I don’t know if it was because it was a Sunday night and kids were heading back to school. or if the weather forecast scared people off, but the fairgrounds were so empty, E & I could take opportunities to do things that normally had long lines.

We stopped by Anderson window booth and smashed a Vikings penny. The lady was offering me a penny to smash and I asked her if I’d have to be on her mailing list for life and they’d hold my email address forever, and this kid just looked at me and said…”lady I’m just trying to give you a free penny!”   E grabbed the pennies and we got the job done!

We scored yard sticks that we had to carry awkwardly all night tying not to stab each other and strangers as we walked!

The tent was still set up where the Red Vines natural giveaway was happening. They wanted to close up so they were handing out ~stacks~ of boxes!  Score!  We walked back over to the county Talent show where I had not yet succeeded in honoring Mom by sitting through a show on these bad benches with shredded rubber getting in my shoes.

David was there and had a couple of seats by him, so we joined him for talent that was not quite as good as what we had just seen.  I asked how Davids food & beverage spread sheet was working this year and he had made some progress, but had lots to do! He informed me tat Iron Man meat & potatoes were no longer offered at Giggles and was in disbelief!  Recon required!

After the show, I offered to take E on the Giant Wheel.  I did not know she was afraid of heights until we had tickets in hand and were waiting in line.  (a albeit ~short~ line)

As we waited I go to catch up with this lovely youth & fiance from CPLC and as I turned the queue corner again who do I see but my former coworker Molly!  E is convinced I know everybody!

Once in the Wheel, E had a slight panic moment, and then we both panicked a bit when the enormous hornet appeared on the glass door of our  enclosed but somewhat ventilated cage soaring 150 feet in the air!  We got a bit more freaked when our cage mate pulled off her shoe and was going to attempt to smash it…or miss and just make a mad hornet! I pulled my epi pen close and just tried to take pictures.

It was quite a view!

Once we survived the flight, and safely on the ground, we started walking again.

We encountered some poor little plushies left behind at the fair. I’m sure it was preceded by some parent saying “if ~you~ want them, ~you~ carry them!”

we walked down to check out the bench, and catch the view of the skyscraper above.  We ate some french fries…since they were. right there.

I promised Randy cookies the night before but failed with the long lines.  Tonight was much better, and I bought a cone, whipped out my ziplock bag and the kid in the booth exclaimed. “you’ve done this before!”  Ya, not my first cookie take-out mission.

We then wandered over to get corn, listen to Earth Wind & Fire and possibly take in a corn dance.  E had never seen or heard of it, so I thought it would be fun.

The concert ended, late…after a few encores and the fireworks went off…and no corn dance.

We waited a while as a good Minnesotan does, until I finally asked about it in the ticket window and got a vague answer.  Then one of the managers approached me and asked if we were waiting for it, and he informed me that there would be no corn dance as the kids were all exhausted.  The day before set a record for first Saturday attendance shattering the old record by 20K people and with the heat and humidity today the temps in the booth reached 140 degrees.  No corn dance for you.

We did however witness kids getting dunked in corn water trough!

With no corn dance, and tired feet we made our way out the gate around 11:30pm.  The “M” all lit up takes on new meaning for me this year!

I’d only walked about 9K steps that day, but E recorded almost 24K!  She hopped on her bus and I walked back to the all too quiet house and made my way home.

It never did rain….