SC State Fair

This past weekend we camped in Columbia, SC and went to the State Fair all day Saturday.   We had never been to a state fair but have always wanted to go.   The weather was great (a tad bit hot but I'm not complaining) and the kids didn't really have any meltdowns.  That in itself is amazing considering we were there and walking around constantly for 11 hours or so.   I don't particularly like rides and especially rides that are taken down and put back together alot.   So I was the picture taker and Jan was the designated ride companion.  Ansley will ride anything.......really.....anything.   She definitely didn't get that from me!  We ate lots of fattening, fried, greasy food.  The only half way healthy food at the fair is vegetables.....deep fried of course.  They'll deep fry anything at the fair and sell it.  This goes for oreo cookies, snickers, butter, pickles, reese's peanut butter cups, cookie dough, etc.  We even saw the krispy creme doughnut hamburger.  The doughnuts are the buns and then there's a hamburger will all the fixin's on the inside.  That's just gross.  Why ruin a perfectly good Krispy Kreme doughnut??!!  We watched piggy races, saw lots of livestock and saw lots of interesting people also.  It's a great people watching kind of place.  Looking at the livestock was fun.  Ansley especially enjoyed this part.   Makes me miss living on land and having lots of animals.  I decided if I had land I think I could definitely raise goats.  Don't laugh.  They are cute and fairly small.  How hard could it be?  Maybe we would throw an Angora rabbit or two in the mix also.  Ansley loved this idea.  John....not so much.   All in all it was a good day and we had lots of fun for our first State Fair experience.

 Coming out of the fun house

 One of the prize winning cakes.  Very cool!

 Looks like pillows.  It looks like it's starting to lean a bit but still very beautiful.

 The big Euroslide

 Ansley and Jan rode this crazy ride that swings you into the air and twists you all around while at the same time flinging you back down and around so you feel like you are spiraling to your death.  Sounds appealing doesn't it?  

 You got in this spaceship thing and the door closes and then it starts spinning rapidly.  On the inside the spinning pushes you against the wall and the floor drops a bit.  All I could think of is someone thinking this was cool, then realizing it's really not and throwing up while the thing is spinning.  You can imagine the rest.  Ansley loved it......of course.

 We played LOTS of games to win these two crazy bananas.  And then we had to carry them around all day.  Elisabeth's is bigger than she is!

 I wanted to ride the cable car thing at night.  Thought it would be cool to see the Fair all lit up from above.  I never got to.  Maybe next time.

 What's a fair without funnel cakes and ferris wheels?

 The twirly dizzy ride

 That's one big pumpkin!

 Big cows!  Ansley and Jan are petting the little baby cow that is just on the other side of this enormous cow.

 Petting baby cows

 See....aren't they cute.  What's not to love?

 Ansley became attached to this one.  I don't remember her name.  We sat and talked to her owner for quite a while.

 Little babies

 The biggest rabbit I have ever seen

 This little boy was so stinkin' cute.  I could have taken him home!  He had won a blue ribbon at the Fair.  Too cute.

 The mule races

 Aren't my 2 little piggies so cute?

 The pig races

 Weeee!  This is so much fun!

 Sand sculpture.  It was amazing!

 Beautiful Orchids

 The Fair is so pretty all lit up at night

The fried food stand.  Fried butter, oreos, snickers, etc.  I really wanted to try the snickers but by the end of the day I just couldn't do it.  I had met my quota of grease intake and couldn't handle anymore.  There's always next time.  :-)