Home again home again, jiggity jig!

In August, I'm taking Froggy to the Iowa State Fair!!! The picture above is what it was like in 1912.

The first Iowa State Fair was held in Fairfield, in southeast Iowa, October 25 to 27, 1854. Our family goes every year. It's a hot, smelly, crowded, family tradition. The fair is only fun for people who live in Iowa, and have been going every year since birth. It's kind of like Catholicism, only tolerable if you were born into it. Otherwise it's just a freak show.

I'm kidding. I genuinely LOVE the fair. And Catholics.

Corn dogs. The real reason we spend 10 hours in the Iowa humidity with a bunch of carnies and quilts.

The world famous Butter Cow. What do you mean, you've never heard of it? Every year the cow has a different theme. One year he's Elvis, the next year, he's stuck in the middle of a Peanuts cartoon. I can't wait to post this year's theme! A political cow perhaps? A Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney heifer?

I have no idea what this man is doing to this poor cow.

The ski lift is for the majority of fair goers, who just happen to be over 1200 pounds, after eating the corn dogs, turkey leg, and deep fat fried snickers bar. The ski lift will actually carry your fat butt up the hill, so you don't have to walk.

I can't wait for Froggy to pet her first calf, piglet and lambie! She's
going to love it.

My favorite fair activities are:

Checking out the world's largest sow, standing in line for a close up of the butter cow, eating (in this order) a corn dog with a lemonade, wonder bar, turkey leg, pizza with a root beer, another wonderbar, or a caramel apple, a couple beers, and then a Tums. In between eating, we hit the photo exhibit, the quilts (mom is the only one who likes the quilts, but we humor her), the various barns with all the baby animals (who will be slaughtered later on in life, but we don't think about that while petting them), the horse barn, the honey comb and bee exhibit (one of my favorites), the yodeling contest, agriculture building (with deformed squash and huge pumpkins), 4-H exhibits, the varied industries building, and last but not least, the beer tents and a walk through the midway, where the toothless Carnies really know how to compliment a woman with a "hoooyeee girlie, fity cents gets you a chance at this here giant stuffed Bart Simpson!"

Ahh, not much has changed since 1854. I can't wait to share this tradition with Froggy!