Yesterday my brother and his girlfriend and Lawrence and Ethan and I went to the Texas State Fair. It was tons o' fun! We spent a lot of time looking at cars and riding rides. I have decided to rate the highlights of the day for your convenience.
Directions to the Fair: D+ I printed out the directions to the fair from their website and followed them. Sadly, they told me to take the WRONG EXIT. They told me to take an exit that doesn't exist, so I ended up having to turn around and figure out where to go. It turned out to not be a big deal, as I could just follow the 14,000 other cars that were going that way, but it's the principle of the matter. If your only job is to be a website that gives people directions to your event, they should be correct.
Fair parking: B I would give the parking a higher grade except for two things. It cost freaking ten dollars, and the parking lot was kinda rough. But here's the thing: we went from our car to a train, which was all nice and air conditioned, and it delivered us right to the gate! How sweet is that! It was totally sweet.
Getting around the fair: C It is very confusing to walk around the fair. I feel like we walked like crazy, and I never could figure out where we were, even if I looked at the map. And the masses of people standing around everywhere didn't help none. If it weren't for my brother's girlfriend's mad navigation skills, we would have been toe-up.
Car shows: A- They had lots of cars. They were very friendly. Their games were free. Toyota had free fishing for the kiddies. Unfortunately, you also had to put yourself on lots of mailing lists to participate and well. . .you have to care about cars. Lawrence viewed this area much as I view a shoe store. Which meant that he was doing LOTS shopping for future reference. I signed up to win a pass to Texas State Parks. I doubt I'll win, but I bet I'll be getting lots of mail!
Rides: B+ I like the rides. I don't like the cost. We were only able to ride a few rides, but the ones we rode were kick ass!
Free biscuit samples: A+ Super yummy! I just wish they were bigger. :(
Donkey tails: A For those of you not in the know, a donkey tail is a hot dog, stuffed with cheddar cheese, wrapped in a tortilla and deep fried. I got mine with chili but tried a bite without chili. The chili makes it. Well worth trying if you go.
Fletcher's Corndogs: B Very yummy. Not worth standing in line behind 50 people for. Seriously, you can find the Fletcher's stands very easily. Just look for the big group of people that look like they're standing around waiting to get into a concert.
Homemade lemonade: B- Super yummy. Not worth $4 for about 10 oz. I can make a whole pitcher for less than that.
Turkey leg: A Great value for a really good leg, I tell you what. I didn't expect to like it, but Ethan wanted one so I had a few bites and damn it was good!
Sausage sandwich: A+ By far the largest amount of food for the lowest cost. It filled my tummy good and proper, and it was delicious to boot!
Regular Fries: C Bland and boring. They also had something called Tornado Taters. I should probably try those next time.
Vendors: A What a crazy assortment! They had all kinds of things to buy! I bought Ethan a key chain with a yellow jacket encased in resin that glows in the dark. Very cool. I was seriously tempted by the Dr Pepper beef jerky.
Bathrooms: A+ There are bathrooms around every corner in the fair. And not just porta-potties. Real bathrooms with rows of stalls and sinks and soap and everything! AND they were clean! I made about 5 stops and every single bathroom I went into was clean, even at the end of the day. Very nice.
Price: F The fair is really really freaking expensive. Seriously. It costs like 4 dollars per ride. Water is $2.50. The ferris wheel was $6 apiece. And the haunted house? 12 bucks. I kid you not. And they try to trick you. You see, all the rides and food people only take tickets. So you buy a gazillion dollars worth of tickets and you don't really realize how much you're spending. The shifty bastards.
The Ferris wheel: A- The ferris wheel at the fair is the tallest ferris wheel in the western hemisphere! It says so right by the entrance. It's like 225 feet tall I think, or somewhere around there. But, surprisingly, the line moved extremely fast, and the ride was a little longer than I expected. It really didn't seem that high though. Also. Six bucks apiece. But worth doing at least once in your life.
The weather: A The weather was amazing. It was nice and cool for the most part, and not too windy. The only reason I didn't give it an A+ was it got a mite warm in the middle of the day, but what do you expect, really? It barely barely sprinkled a few times, and started raining almost as soon as we left. What kind of great timing is that?!?
Ethan's behavior: A+++ Ethan was SO good! I was so proud of him, he didn't whine all day and didn't argue when he couldn't do what he wanted. I was surprised in the best way by his behavior. What a good boy! Also, he did something really cute. At one point, I was holding his hand and Lawrence was on the other side of him. He grabbed Lawrence's hand and pulled our hands together behind his back and then put his arms around both of us. What a sweetie.
All in all: B+ I had a great time. I'm just glad I wasn't paying.
On a related note, Lawrence and I went to Bennigan's Friday night, and I thought I'd give a few pointers;
Cheeseburger eggrolls: D- Interesting concept. Could be really good if done right. Their's aren't done right. They're mushy and mealy, not yummy like I want food to be.
Ice Cream with brownies, caramel, and hot fudge: C- Good. But freaking TEN bucks. WTF?!? If I had realized how much it costs, I NEVER would have ordered that thing.
So there you go. I recommend you go to the fair at least once in your lifetime. Save up first.
7 comments:
i think i got indigestion just reading this hehe. im glad you guys had fun. ive always wanted to go to the fair, but never got a chance too. maybe soon.
I've always wanted to go to the fair but I don't think you can do much with a baby. :(
Dude, I saw like a million trillion babies while I was there. The only thing you can't do with a baby is ride the rides. There's still museums, exhibits, shows, concerts, and tons of food.
We went to the fair a couple years ago. We had two memorable events:
1) There was an arcade area, and one of them was labelled the 'Haunted House'. It had a handle to hold, while it had crappy graphics showing your little walk through the haunted house. The handle was a static discharge machine. (These are machines that distribute raw pain to human skin if you haven't heard of them.) The sign was about showing how tough you are a lot. We decided we were tough guys, so we did it together, each with a hand on the handle. There was supposed to be a little card that came out as a certificate that showed you were tough enough. They were out of cards. Boy that was a bad way to spend a quarter.
This post was too long for me to read in one sitting. I will read it later.
My mom has made a rule that no babies are allowed at the fair. So there.
Andy got a PhD in Mathematics, and yet he can't count to 2.
Andy: so you paid a quarter to get electrocuted? Dumbass.
Shemsi: You're right! I didn't even notice that I got jipped out of a story! Dammit! I demand #2!
Ok, it took me 3 or 4 tries, but I finally got through this post :)
That's funny about finding the fair and finding parking. When I went to the fair grounds on non-fair days, I had no problem finding it. But when we went for the fair. . . well, we did what you did and just followed the crowds, and then we ended up parking on someone's yard for $5.
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