State Fair

The California State Fair has come and gone, and we made our yearly pilgrimage to our Golden State Capitol to see the sights. And I gotta say that this was one of the more disappointing years. I remember when there were tons of animals, and horse racing, and most of the counties had exhibits at the fair. This year we saw only rabbits, goats, cows, and the baby chicks from UC Davis. There were no long horn bulls, no sheep, no pigs, no chickens, no ducks, no geese, no turkeys. It was rather disheartening to see that there is a serious lack of livestock in California. I don't think that it's the vegetarians, because the lack of meat eating would logically cause an abundance of these animals. So I can only assume that the farmers don't care about their state fair blue ribbons anymore. Which is sad because, really, what else do they have to work for?

The counties exhibit was again a let down. The great Contra Costa County didn't participate again. Of course the winners are usually farm counties with years of heritage and old folks to sit on the board and cook up new ways to make their exhibit the coolest ever! Solano County actually had the best one, but it could be because they were giving away free Jelly Belly's.

But the kids had fun in the 100+ degree heat. They got to run around a little and got some really poorly made free sunglasses, so that was good. They also got to make a mess with no reprisal and T enjoyed the Thomas part of the Toy exhibit where he could play on two Thomas tables full of trains almost by himself. That was hard to pull him away from.

Also, on a completely unrelated note. I discovered that I really like Fenton's Creamery, but there is way to much ice cream on those plates! Which, I know, doesn't seem possible, but I saw four very hefty people share what i believe was a banana split and they couldn't finish it. That says something.

Until next time, when there will be a quiz on the implications of me having discovered a song that's been around for almost 40 years. The tune is Goin' to California by Led Zepplein. Give a listen if you haven't yet and just enjoy the thought. Everybody wants to come here. And damn if there aren't a lot more songs about California than, say, Wisconsin, or South Carolina.