A “Fair” Day
For the first time in several years, hubby and I took #5 and one of his friends to the NM State Fair today, otherwise known as Coronary Central. Puke-inducing rides, smelly animals and booths selling fried, greasy and/or sugar-saturated food as far as the eye can see. Heaven. I really, really wanted to try the deep-fried cheesecake (no, I’m not kidding), but apparently we never passed that particular booth, which also specializes in deep-fried Snickers and Milky Ways, among other things. So we settled for mountain-sized cones of wispy blue cotton candy (a real bargain at only a buck), which I finished up when the kids started to turn green instead of blue. Spent way too much money but those were two of the happiest kids you ever did see, and we felt like Good Parents once again.
Turns out, though, we missed half of it (I kept saying, “I want to see the chickens! Where the hell are the chickens?”). This is a biiiiiig fair. Serious fair-goers return several times each year, and for good reason. Besides the normal fair stuff (food, rides and animals), there’s a halfway decent art exhibit, various ethnic pavilions (Native American, Hispanic, African-American), a model railroad exhibit, a shark tank (yeah, we missed that, too), major musical events at night and horse racing. And all that disgustingly sinful food. The kids paid fifty cents each to view the World’s Largest Hog, a four-foot tall, seven-foot long monster who lounges in an airconditioned crib-like thing listening to stunned “Ohmigods!” all day long.
Came back to an expected email from my editor, detailing her issues with the hero of my next Special Edition. I tossed back, “No problem, I’ll fix him,” so I should be under contract again soon. Of course, once I get back into the book, I’ll will undoubtedly regret my cavalier attitude, but for now it’s all cool.
My kid is happy, and I’ve more or less sold another book. Life is good.
I gotta be honest. I hated the fair. Yet managed somehow to return year after year. Maybe it was the free frybread trick we learned. Or maybe the women. Either way, I wouldn’t mind seeing the world’ biggest hotdog.
Comment by Gareth — September 20, 2005 @ 4:30 am
And what free frybread trick was that, if you don’t mind my asking?
And how can you say you hated the fair? Think about it — greasy food every two feet, all those booths hawking T-shirts and sunglasses and God-knows-what, the crush of bodies. . .it’s NM’s answer to Times Square, right?
Heh-heh.
Comment by Karen Templeton — September 20, 2005 @ 4:04 pm
I think you just answered your own question. I also think I’ll keep that trick a secret for now: )
Comment by Gareth — September 20, 2005 @ 10:32 pm