Oct
29
2009

Arizona State Fair

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosThursday, October 29, 2009 - 10:22:36 pm
(Posted Under: Livin' In The USA Livin' In The USA)
Photobox ImageWe'd planned on going to the Arizona State Fair today, which actually runs for a fair while (3 weeks). We'd planned on today to take advantage of the free admission between 12 and 1pm.

It was a really nice drive up to Phoenix, and only took 15 minutes which was really sweet. When there is no traffic our location is so perfect for getting pretty much anywhere. Our timing was really perfect, getting out of the car (valet parking right next to the entrance off McDowell) at 12:05.

We didn't quite know what to expect - I still clearly remember being at the cross roads of McDowell, 19th Ave and the Wickenburg highway in 2005, talking about the Blossoms playing a Gun show and Katie pointing out the fair grounds and suggesting that the fair wasn't that good for what she knew or though. We started out scoping things out, and quickly it became apparent that the grounds were certainly small than say the Iowa State Fair. After spending some time looking at some cool stuff under the grand stands, we set out on a mission to find some luck. With "possibly the worlds best curly fries" (btw, while the were okay, the claim was far from accurate) we sat down and had our lunch and formulated a plan for the rest of the day. With the backing sounds of Miss Senor Arizona in the background - which was suitably hilarious. Looking over to the stage every now and then kept the comic relief coming. Though, I must saw that the 60 odd year old woman doing a Michael Jackson dance routine to The Way You Make Me Feel was certainly something, and enjoyable is some strange way.

Photobox ImageWith lunch done and an action plan sorted we checking out the student artwork and Culinary arts...which took us a while to get through, and cut it short to head back out the where we had lunch to watch the Native Spirit Dancers and their display of Native American dance. I thought this was particularly cool and quite impressive. All the while we watched this performance, off to the side the seniors were still belting out tunes. The placement of these two displays in such close proximately probably nasn't the smartest decision in the world. [wink]

Photobox ImageAfter the native american dancers, we headed over to the Coliseum Hall to continue checking out the artwork - which ate into a hell of a lot of the day actually! But was really good and both the artwork and photography sections were quite extensive. We were quite impressed by some of the works done by kids between 11 and 17! Of particular note was a drawing of Willy Nelson, which you could only just tell was really a drawing when you got up close. Amazing, and even moreso given that it was done by someone in the 11 - 17 age group! It wasn't until close to 5 that we've gotten done with all of that, and set out to try cover everything else we hadn't seen. So much for lowered expectations of what the fair would provide, we'd already spent 5 hours looking around without even trying!

Photobox ImageBack outside walking through the midway Katie spotted the Arizona Lottery prospector mascot walking around - at lunch she'd mentioned how enjoyable she thought he was (we were sitting by the Arizona Lottery booth), so we tackled him for a photo. He was actually walking pretty quickly in the opposite direction, and thankfully a bunch of teenagers had stopped him for a photo. So we got a photo with him, which I think for Katie in itself was worth the price of admission! [smile]

Photobox ImageFrom there we checked out the remainder of what we hadn't seen, including another crafts building. Which put is in a good location to catch the 6pm pig races. The "Ham Bone Express" races were quite entertaining, and the speed of these little oinkers scrambling around the track towards an Oreo cookie was quick impressive!

Nearby, and of particular interest to Katie was the equivalent of the varied industries building at the Iowa State Fair. One stand in there had a slew of really cool fixtures and hangings, and of particular interest to me were these Kokopeli light shades. They were just too cool. It was really unfortunate that I couldn't justify buying them right now - there is much more important stuff that we need to spend money on right now, but I know when we get a house I'll want them and not be able to find anything as perfect as those!

The pushy-ness of companies in there was quite impressive (and obviously annoying). Y'know, your typical suspects, Verizon etc. etc. I don't know why it's necessary. Firstly, more often than not, if you're at the state fair and in that building, if you have interest in any of that stuff you're going to stop and look at stuff - you don't need to be flagged down. And for cell phone providers - everyone has a phone, and it's ridiculously easy to do stuff online, go into a store or sign up over the phone. Do you really need to wrangle everyone that walks past? I'm with Verizon, so Verizon reps trying to sell me stuff really pisses me off! In anycase, I wasn't ready for it (unlike when we say go to Arizona Mills - you're guard is up right before you walk in), but two minutes after being in there I had my reasonably cold "nope" routine up.

Photobox ImageOnce we got down there all we had left to see were the livestock. Mind you, it was after 7 by this stage. We decided to get a churro, and that became quite an excursion, walking up and down isles of the midway trying to find a stand selling churros. By this point our feet were pretty sore, and it was kind of cruel, since Katie had seen a bunch of stands selling them throughout the day. In true to form fashion for us we arguably searched for longer than we should have, and longer than most other people would. But it got to a point where even I gave up, and we agreed on just getting a funnel cake instead. And then about a minute later spotted a stand selling churros. Major lodge victory! So we got our churro, and headed back to the entrance, checking out the livestock before heading back to the car.

So, having not known what to expect, and not having too high of expectations, we had a really great day, and spent a lot more time at the fair than either of had expected. And arguably we could have probably spent more time if we hadn't been so exhausted after 8 hours of it.

It being so late when we left there wasn't much traffic, so again it was just 15 minutes home, which was really nice! I'm definitely quite exhausted though. I think the past week, plus the walking around today is catching up with me, because it was actually a quite relaxing day despite all the walking, and many days last week we've seemed to have had much more full on days, but have not been as absolutely exhausted as this. And on that note, it's time for me to wimp out and go to bed!

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