Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

We celebrated our fourth anniversary in style this year. We had upcoming events during the weekend, so we enjoyed a Stay-cation in town. Hubby took work off so that we could spend some time together for this monumental holiday.

A friend of his told Hubby about chocolate-covered bacon at the State Fair this year, so all of a sudden there was a great urgency to see it in person.

Ironically, we didn’t even get any chocolate-covered bacon.

We were able to make it in time for the hour of free admission from noon to one o’clock. I love free stuff.

We stopped at the rodeo arena to see what action was taking place. The rodeo was ongoing, but our timing meant that they were prepping the arena for the next events. So we decided to go wander!

The rodeo was high school-level but was still fun to watch. We came back later, with full bellies, to watch some events.

For some reason, this sign caught my eye. And then I saw all of the giant dinosaur turkey legs underneath.

Did you just hear that angelic choir, or was it just me?!

Bacon-wrapped Turkey BBQ Legs. I think bacon was a theme at the fair this year.

I’m OK with that if you are.

There were tons of food vendors, and we wandered for quite a while trying to decide where to start. It was already 1:30 PM, and we had fun dinner plans later tonight for our anniversary. So we didn’t want to get too full, if you know what I mean.

There were so many edible choices, but we opted to try an order of curly fries made-to-order. They were delicious, but most potatoes are.

We took a walk through some of the fair displays and found this incredible gingerbread house. I love little stuff like this, and every detail was covered. No wonder it won grand prize!

I also liked this cake…simple, pretty, and elegant. And I wouldn’t think that a black cake with little pumpkins all over it could fall into those descriptions, but it works!

Look at how even the inside of the flower is a little pumpkin. So cute!

My nose sniffed out a giant homemade fudge shop, so you know that I got some. I am kind of a purist when it comes to fudge. I don’t mess around with silly flavors…just give me milk chocolate fudge with walnuts, and I’m good.

With fudge in hand, we timed it perfectly to watch some pig races. These pigs were trained to run around the track, and they even jumped over some hurdles. It was really fun to watch.

As the last part of their show, the baby pigs, who are still training to enter the water, were given a chance to show their stuff. As you can see, there was some slight trepidation at first.

But then they all dove in, and it was hilarious and adorable. Pigs are the ninth-most intelligent creatures on planet earth. Did you know that? I didn’t!

Then we watched a family of Native American dancers. This reminded me of being a kid when we attended lots of pow wows in the Uintah Basin of Utah. It was fun to watch, and the kids were really good.

 

Next, we had a stare-down contest. Guess who won?

I would have to say that the animal pavilions were my favorite thing about today’s visit to the fair. We even stopped to see the petting zoo, where baby miniature goats were bouncing around. It was too cute for words…and for my camera, apparently.

Somewhere in there are some eyes. I removed his straw for him, and he thanked me.

Wow, lots of sheep pictures. I loved these guy’s horns and thought that you would, too. Perhaps I should reconnect with my readers, huh, to realize that not everyone loves to admire sheep horns?

 

This poor little thing needed a hair cut. Especially in the bangs area. But luckily, this owner was demonstrating the old-fashioned way of clipping away wool.

Hand clippers, everyone! I didn’t even know that these still existed!

Enough about sheep. Let’s move onto pigeons, which was a massive display for the fair. An entire room was just chock-full of pigeons. Who knew?

Have I mentioned how much I love my camera? Even if I usually lack the confidence to try manual modes in most situations?

I was told that this is how they breathe…they take in a big breath and just work on it for a while. But I personally think that he looks like Phantom of the Opera who is about to throw open his cape for all the world to see.

No? (crickets)

I was trying to get some pigeon pictures (how many times I haven’t been able to say that in my life), and this guy randomly started opening cages for me to get better shots.

Luckily, he had the authority to do it, since he was there to judge the little buggers. And I got some nice shots because of him!

 

Some of these pigeons needed an attitude adjustment, though. I’m just sayin’…

Alrighty then…enough with the birds. Let’s go see some entries for flower gardens!

Even though they only got second place, I thought that these oranges were lovely. Did you know that oranges are bright green until they begin to ripen? I loved their ingenious way to support these oranges while still allowing the branch to get a drink of water.

These were my favorite flowers…and I loved the milk jar underneath!

Hey, I said that we were done with pigeons…not animals in general. These little smelly guys had been playing too hard this morning and were all tuckered out.

We had chicken for dinner just last night. Coincidence?

Next we walked back through the fair to arrive at the fairgrounds once again. This time, the exciting event of goat tying was taking place.

Girls run their giant horses at little goats (which are tied to a stake), then dismount and continue to run towards the goat at full-speed. Then, they throw the goat and tie its feet, which have to remain tied for five seconds or a disqualification happens.

You didn’t know that I knew so much about goat-tying sports, did you? I don’t know what else you would expect from a girl who grew up in small-town, Utah!

In the late 1940s, the Arizona train team was assembled. So a bunch of cute, little, old men come to play with trains every day. Of course, they had it up and running for all to enjoy during the fair.

It was actually really fascinating. Someone has spent a lot of time and money to make it look incredible!

It was a really nice day. I love fairs, if only just to watch people. And there was quite the display of fair people to watch at this event today!

Can you believe that we’ve been married for four years?!

Don’t miss it, don’t even be late.