We try to go to the Fair every year. It’s like a tradition. You find out what new deep-fried foods are being offered, look at the cute agriculture animals being judged, watch the Swifty Swine Racing Pigs, eat some grilled corn and some grilled-meat item, swelter in the sun, check out the Collections and nifty vendor items, grab mini donuts and cold milk, complain about being hot and sticky, then head home to take a long nap. We usually go alone, as we have friends who like to celebrate the Fair being their first date and friends who do not relish the whole being-hot-and-sticky part of the Fair. This year, though, we met up with everyone to kick things off at the Craft Brew festival going on. There was also a Strongest Man competition later, which we started to watch but it apparently was running late and the warm-ups we watched were kind of boring.
My mom was in town, we we picked her up from the airport and headed straight to the fair, where it was a paltry 84 degrees at 10:30 am. Whee! We killed two birds with one stone by having mini donuts for breakfast, eliminating the need to wander through the vendors later. We also consumed a cinnamon roll. Lots of sugar and starch to get things rolling! Then it was off to the Del Mar Arena, via the Ag building to look at some fuzzy chickens, llamas, and baby cows. We picked up our beer tasting wristbands and started circling the booths to determine which beers would be worthy of our little plastic tabs. My mom and I scored a table under an umbrella, which made a perfect resting spot out of the sun. A bratwurst and some beers later, we were ready for something different. I think part of the reason my mom wanted to come to the Fair was to see the racing pigs. They’re pretty cute, I have to admit, although I think the races were rigged as Pig #2 won all three races.
This year the Fair had racing mini dogs, which I had mistakenly thought would be a dachshund race. One schedule listed them racing at 3:00pm and another listed them at 4:00pm. Well, since we were watching the boring Strongest Man warm-ups at 3, we walked to the Infield to see if they were racing at 4. Alas, the 3:00 race time was the correct one. Some mini dogs were present, though, and they were very cute. I would have liked to see them race. I think my mom was disappointed we didn’t stay for the 5:00pm race.
I carried my camera with me with the intention of taking pictures of food and pigs and other fun Fair things, but it was all I could do to not melt into a little puddle of ick. So, no pictures. Sorry. On the other hand, we didn’t even try the deep-fried White Castle sliders or mac ‘n cheese, so I wouldn’t have had pictures of those anyway.
We also had to say goodbye to our friend over the weekend. He’s off to Seattle, embarking on a new life without us. I think we’re all really sad that he won’t be here to hang out with and we’re really going to miss him. But, I think it’s fair to say that we’re also really happy for him and his new opportunities. I’m proud of him, taking this chance to get away from San Diego and do new things. It’ll just be a little different now. Our group dynamic is shifting these days: losing a buddy to a new state, talk of a new baby, and bringing home a shiny new bike that goes “vroom”. I wonder if we’ll look back and say this was a turning point in our lives.
Three Dog Kitchen 