The Fair in a few pictures

I will write up a real review soon... but while I was downloading pictures off my camera, I figured I might as well post a few. Here's our Fair Day in a few pictures.

The HUGE pumpkins (i'm trying to find out the total weight, it was quite a winner)


Some cute sheep and lambs


Boy and cow with hunter's orange cap (the cow was making quite a game of shaking the cap off... and yes, it was quite entertaining to us 'city folk')


GEESE! Ducks and more GEESE!


Turkeys (they didn't seem to like each other and the small space they were sharing...)


Taking a break to people watch, drink some apple cider and well, people watch



And finally, get your fresh, homemade, IIE CREAM HERE..... LIE CREAM? ILE CREAM? I dunno

NC State Fair webcam

If you can't come to Raleigh to experience the State Fair, you can always look at it here: State Fair Webcam

We did go on Saturday morning and I hope to have a little more time to write about it later. Paul is on his plane set for Dallas/Ft. Worth right now, he just called me from his seat in 1st class. That lucky man :) Well, he is going to be traveling for more than 24 hours, being in first class is pretty necessary! He'll be in LA by late evening and on a 747 to Melbourne by 4am EST. I'm already missing him, but I can't wait to hear all about his adventures.

The State Fair has begun

It is officially fall! Well, at least it's fall fair time in the capital city of NC. The weather is cooperating as well, seeing that it was in the 50s this morning (chilly!), the air is dry & cool and the sky is the most beautiful blue (at least when the fog burns off). Yay for fall! The leaves are still fairly green, no real signs of the change (except the dogwoods and poplars who couldn't take the heat and drought of the last 2 months).

Paul and I are planning on going to the Fair early tomorrow morning for 1/2 the day. We're only interested in the animals, exhibits and maybe some food. Oh, and of course, the people watching! If we don't go tomorrow, we won't be going at seeing that he leaves for AUS on Sunday until the end of the month...

Apparently, a lot of the rides aren't ready anyway (good thing we haven't had any interest in riding the past few years...). The new show company hasn't operated in NC before and didn't realize that we actually care how safe the rides should be. Ok, well, I'm sure they care about safety, but not attention to detail. Each ride must be in 100% compliance -- if just one seat on a ride doesn't work, the whole ride is closed until everything passes inspection.

From the N&O: "As of 7:30 a.m., a little more than half of the rides -- 61 of 111 -- had met state labor safety standards, said Heather Crews, spokeswoman for the Department of Labor. Inspectors hoped to approve another half dozen by the time the midway opens at 10 a.m. today, Crews said.

She said the labor department didn't know how long it would take to certify all the rides. "We're going to be out there working all day," she said. "We'll be working as long as it takes." Inspectors had found rides with cracks, electrical problems and missing hardware."



Local BLOGS on the NC State Fair:
WRAL and The News and Observer

Paul is going 'down under!

Paul has been at his new job for a full week and is already scheduled to travel internationally! He is leaving for Melbourne, AUS on Sunday! THIS SUNDAY. As in 5 days from now. He's going to be there for 12 days... for me, 12 loooong days (including a full weekend, ack!). I'm really excited for him, but I'll admit that there are so many loose ends that make me feel hesitant about it (he doesn't have a company cell phone or credit card...). I'll just have to put my trust in the company and hopefully they know what they're doing. The cool part is that he'll be flying business class for the 16 hour flight from the US to Australia. Business class is very cool - more room, better service and whatnot, but still 16 hours is a LONG time on a plane (and for me to not be in touch with him!)

Info on Melbourne here