Off to the fair

Tonight was the first night of the Desert Empire Fair, and since we'll be pretty busy this weekend, we thought we'd better go now.

This is the 3rd or 4th time we've been to this fair, which is held every spring and fall. I remember having a lot of fun when we went last fall, then not so much fun when we went this spring. And this visit would have to be rated as even less fun, though perhaps that was due to the fact that we went on Thursday.

The fair runs Thursday-Sunday. Saturday is the day most people go, I think. Thursday isn't a popular day. There was almost no one there. Plus it was kind of chilly. It's been raining cats and dogs the last few days, and it's still cloudy and cool. Not really "fair" weather.

The first thing we did after we arrived was eat dinner. I got spaghetti for me and a grilled cheese sandwich for the boos from the Salvation Army booth. It was quite inexpensive, plus almost nobody was buying any food. I wondered how the Salvation Army could be making any money off their booth.

Rocket Boy got "shrimp on a stick" from the Chinese food booth.

There was hardly anyone else eating at the picnic tables. Of course, for us this is ALWAYS a good thing.



After eating, we visited the model railroad building. The boos remembered it from last time, and clamored to go in.

Last year there was a garden railroad out in front of the building too, but this year nothing. However, the trains inside were not a disappointment. We had to drag the boos out of there kicking and screaming.



We looked at some exhibits (quilts, art, baked goods) and also spent some time in the carnival section. Most of the rides had no one riding them. Rocket Boy was convinced that the boos would want to go down the giant slide. I was convinced they wouldn't, but I finally agreed to buy some tickets so that he could take them on the slide. Meanwhile the slide operator told him that the boos were too little to go on the slide.

So then we took our tickets over to the merry-go-round, but it was still being set up, tools everywhere.

We took a break from the rides and went over to visit the livestock -- sheep, pigs, goats, cows, rabbits -- all 4H projects that will be auctioned off later in the fair. Piggies were especially lovely. Baby B was interested but nervous, until we came across some girls holding baby goats. The goats were so darling, Baby B was finally convinced to pet one. I petted it too. So soft.

It was getting late, so we decided to head for the car. On the way out we passed the ferris wheel and considered it -- but it was pretty big, pretty tall. Rocket Boy and I would have enjoyed it. Boos probably would have been scared. Boos probably also would have been deemed too little to go on it. So much for our $7.50 worth of ride tickets. I looked around for someone to donate them to, but there just weren't very many people around. As in none.

We went to the car to go home to bed. The parking lot was crowded and we couldn't figure out where the owners of all those cars could be. Was there some section of the fair we'd missed entirely?

The moon was almost full.