Our trip to the State Fair

Yesterday my mom joined the girls & I

for a day at the State Fair of Texas.

The first notable of the day was a nice woman who handed us coupons for free kid's admission & discounts for adults - bless you, ma'am!!

"Howdy Folks!"

That's what Big Tex has to say as you walk through the front gate of the Texas State Fair, which runs for several weeks in the fall each year. I learned this year that it's not a recorded voice - there's a real man who sits in a booth & does Big Tex's voice all day long - amazing, considering all the technological advances in the State Fair's history.

The huge children's petting zoo was a huge hit - the girls fed & petted goats, a baby camel, piglets, donkeys, a miniature horse, a baby ostrich, and even some ducklings. The Texas Star ferris wheel is the largest in North America, and they say you can see Fort Worth's skyline (45 miles away)... but Mom & I were too busy keeping the girls seated & trying not to look down - that sucker is high!! I cannot say enough about the beautiful Birds of the World show - birds are my favorite animal group, and everyone loves hearing a parrot sing Old MacDonald, right?

A stroll through the Creative Arts pavillion was fascinating - all the amazing work of local artisans that is submitted for judging in the fair is worth wandering through for. And Nicole is still talking about the things she saw from the Junior (interpretation - kids) categories... she is inspired by the work of her fellow Texan girls & boys. I wonder if she'll be pestering me soon to enter her latest pipe cleaner & bead sculpture for next year's fair? What category would that be entered in??

It is a wise person who packs lunch & brings water bottles to the fair. It may not seem much in the spirit of the whole thing, but it is doggone expensive to buy food there, and all the fried food is a bit nauseating when you consider eating it all day long. But be sure to have a few dollars for one treat - in our case, it was funnel cake - finger-lickin' good :)

In case you haven't figured it out by now, my camera batteries died, so I have no pictures of my girls, or my mom, or anything at all. I was sad about that. I hope you don't mind the "canned" photos I have substituted here!

We didn't get to see everything we wanted to, but we had a great time! There is so much to do there, I wish we'd had more time... maybe next year we'll have to stay past dinnertime so we can miss downtown Dallas rush hour traffic (ugh)!