Minnesota State Fair

We made our first trip to the Minnesota State Fair with Alice today. I have a ton of fond memories of the State Fair from when I was a kid (my Dad worked on Machinery Hill, and Carrie and I would run around all day), so we decided to start Alice early and get her used to the GREAT MINNESOTA GET-TOGETHER.


This gopher greeted us at the entrance right off of Como that Carrie took us to. We came in right behind the livestock barns and right onto the (then empty) Midway.


Our first sight was this zany Magnum PI ride. How old is that show anyway?


Then Mommy covered Alice in sunblock. Gotta be prepared.


Our first stop was the horse barn, and we got a few close-encounters with real live horsies. Theyr'e a lot bigger than in Alice's picture books.


Alice as a Mounty? Doesn't quite work for me.


We then had a quick breakfast, and then swung through the cow barn. We opted to skip the sheep and pig barns, because the smell was getting to us. Next stop was the DNR area, and Alice got some live music and saw a lot of freshwater fish.


My next great idea was to take Alice on the giant slide. I thought she'd like it. After climbing to the top, I started to wonder if this was the smartest thing for a 1-year-old. But, before I knew it, we were on our way down. I was holding Alice tight, and I could hear her making some "nervous" sounds. It wasn't until I got to the bottom, that Carrie and Jaime let me know that her hat had come down, and she missed most of the ride. This photo cracks me up.


Next stop was the grilled corn-on-the-cob stand. We shared our corn with Alice.


Carrie enjoyed her corn.


Lots of people there, huh Alice?


Had to get a bucket of cookies. We heard this gal makes over a million dollars a year selling cookies at the State Fair. Crazy.


Will Mommy share? YOU BETCHA.


But I won't share my Pronto Pup!


Just under 5 hours, and we were all beat. Alice totally passed out in her stroller and got a nice hour snooze in. We packed everything up, and were home by 2 p.m. Whew!