2009 State Fair of Texas‏

I have attended the State Fair twice in the last week and a half. I LOVE the fair. What could be better than crazy foods, fun shows, and interesting exhibits?!

On October 3rd I went to see Mary Poppins at the Music Hall at Fair Park with Beth, Chris, & Emma. It was a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious show! It started at 2 pm, had one 15 minute intermission, and lasted until 4:50. It was as great as I remembered the movie being. Mary Poppins flew through the crowd and wowed the audience. The music was great, the costumes were perfect, and that big bag of hers was full of magic. It was practically perfect (as sung by Mary in the musical)! After the musical ended we decided to head into the fair. It was sprinkling so we decided not to stay long. We did make it to the 2010 Auto Show, grabbed a Fletcher's corn dog, saw Big Tex, and visited the animals in the Barnyard. By the time we headed out the sprinkling had gotten heavier. A new experience for me this year was riding the DART to the fair. It was a great alternative to fighting traffic and finding a place to park. We hopped on at the American Airlines Center and it took us right to the Fair Park Station that was adjacent from the Music Hall. It only cost $4 dollars to ride and $5 to park at the station. We had a great time, even if we were a bit water logged by the end.

Columbus Day was yesterday and I had the day off from work. (Thank you Bank of America.) Robert, Rashahn, & I decided to head to the fair, as Rashahn had never been and Robert hadn't been in a while. We arrived at the fair at 10 am and walked out at 7 pm. Yes, we were hardcore. We watched the Kroger Bird Show, Pirates of the Caribbean High Dive Show, Jump! Dog Show, and Dancing with Canines. I do not recommend the High Dive Show or the Dancing with Canines show. Skip that and eat more fried food! :) We visited the Children's Barnyard (it's for big kids too), the Cattle Barn where we saw two cows milked and watched a video about milking in the Milking Parlor (this made me crave milk all day and I bought it twice - yes I'm weird), perused the Gateway Pavilion, the Creative Arts building where we saw the butter sculpture, Food & Fiber Pavilion, Embarcadero, and the Craft Pavilion. We checked out the 2010 Auto Show as well. No, we did not see Oprah, although she was taping her show there yesterday. We weren't really interested in that at all so we stayed clear of that area until after her show was over. We did hear a horrid band called Honor Society on the Chevy Main Stage. I do not recommend running out and buying their CD. We did stop and listen to the celtic group the Killdares perform and they were pretty good. Now for the food...we ate a lot. We first hit up the Coca-Cola Food Court where I had a frito pie. Yum! Rashahn tried out the ft. long chili cheese dog and Robert got deep fried bbq brisket. We three split fried peaches & cream and a funnel cake. I had fried smores and it was awesome. I feel as though I need to learn how to make it. We got Fletcher's corn dogs as well. Rashahn had three bites of a pickle and disposed of that. She said it was sour, as in bad, not the way pickles are supposed to taste. Robert had a BBQ sauerkraut sandwich and a hand dipped nutty ice cream bar. Hmmm. I guess that was it. I wanted to try fried butter and fried cookie dough but the line was too long and I didn't want to wait. With all the walking we did I'm sure we burned it all off. Hehe. Of course we saw the Ferris Wheel and Big Tex, which Rashahn got to hear talk. We decided to drive and park at the fair which worked out very well since we got there so early. And we only had to pay $10. It was a super fun day but by the end of it each of us was complaining about different body parts hurting. We were ready to head home and crash.

I highly recommend the State Fair of Texas. There is fun to be had by all ages. I try to make it at least once every year. You still have time to make it this year as it runs until October 18th. If you can't make it by then definitely start planning for next year. By then someone will have invented some new fried food that we'll all want to try!