Day 1 in words and pictures

It was far from a perfect weather day at the fair. In fact, as we made our way to the fair around noon on Thursday, it started raining--a light drizzling sort of rain that was never a downpour, but at times annoying. The rain, however, did not curb my enthusiasm for the fair. In fact, I would argue that it was not that bad--it was never hot (in fact it was downright beautiful after the rain ended) and the crowds stayed light.

The rain actually gave me some great photo opportunities. Joel was a great sport and wore the "Target" raincoat, while I wore the less obnoxious "got milk?" raincoat. It made for some amusing photos (see earlier post) and garnered some second looks.

As promised, we started our day out with a pork chop on a stick, followed by a malt. I had a blackberry malt, but I know there is a chocolate malt in my future. Hey, we took the Kashi "get healthy" challenge and snagged a great bag. We went through a lot of buildings in the afternoon, partly in an attempt to stay out of the rain. When the rain really started getting to us, we went to the Coliseum and watched horse jumping. I do this every year. Joel was a little bored, but it gave us a chance to get out of the rain and recharge.

And the rain had ended when we came out. Joel got his second wind (thanks to some mountain dew) and we were good to go. We were able to listen to enjoy some free music performances and more people watching. We stopped at the Fox Sports booth and Roy Smalley was there (we also got to watch the Twins game for a bit). Joel missed the opportunity to snag some autographs, but he did get his pic taken with Smalley (check it out here). We also walked the midway as it was starting to get dark and checked out the birthing barn before heading home.

We managed to put in a 9 hour day at the fair. My body is still recovering (I woke up the next day and felt like I had walked 9 hours on concrete), but I'm already game for a second trip. Joel and I are heading out for our second trip to the fair. There's a chocolate malt with my name on it.