A Day at the Orange County Fair

It's that time of the year once again, it descends on Orange County every July and threatens to drain your wallet of all its contents, the OC Fair is in town.  Our family is somewhat divided on the fair, there are things we like and dislike.  The likes? Junk Food, Rides, more Junk Food.... The dislikes, it's crowded, the parking is terrible, the traffic in or out is unbelievable and it's expen$ive.

This year, my wife Betsy was on a work trip and already expressed her desire not to go this year so on impulse I decided to take Brad and Brooke in the middle of the week (which I thought would be a "light" day as opposed to the weekend).  This particular day you could also get in to the fair free by bringing 5 cans of food for the local food shelter (help the shelters restock the food shelves and free admission to the fair, I am winning already).

After the 15 minute drive to the fair grounds, followed by endless circling and rerouting through Costa Mesa's road cone maze and fair parking lot, we finally arrived after 1 1/2 hours (yes :15 minutes to get to the fair grounds and :75 to enter the parking lot and exit the car). 

Searching for a parking spot!

We did get in free although, any thought of Wednesday being a "light" day was a joke.  Apparently everyone in Orange County prefers to pay for the fair addmission in canned goods as opposed to real currency.

Once in the fair, Brad, Brooke and I took care of the first order of business, testing the fried foods.  We started with:
1. Fried Kool Aid
2. Fried Twinkies
3. Fried Oreos



Fried Twinkies and Oreos...mmmmm.





The experts test the fried goodness

 After trying all three, I have to say that Fried Kool Aid is not the best thing I've tried, however, a fried Twinkie is pretty good followed by a close second, the fried Oreo.

In an effort to "pace" ourselves and not eat or spend ourselves to death, we decided to check out a few fair exhibits.  Brooke wanted to see the decorated cakes (she's obsessed with Cake Boss on TV). Impressive was the cake that looked like a hamburger and one that also looked like a house (apparently a good cake should look like anything but a cake).

We also stopped by the photography and visual arts exhibit.  I always enjoy this.  I found the picture below very moving. Obviously it portrays a view from inside one of the twin towers on 911, where employees are starting what would seem like another normal day at work.  We should never forget 911.

Next we ventured off to the carnival zone to see how far 100 ride tickets can go.  I advise those with real interest in carnival rides to purchase the unlimited ride pass.  100 tickets (for $50) doesn't go very far these days.

Most rides (the good ones) are about 10 tickets each, so with three people do the math.

We did ride the zipper which while is fun, seems to try and extract more money from your pockets while flipping you upside down in circles.  You can hear the change falling from everyones pockets.  I had to decide what I wanted to save, my phone, and sunglasses or my spare change. The zipper received all my spare change (I managed to keep the car keys though).

We did ride this swing thing, which didn't try to steal any remaining change and provided a nice view of the fair and orange county coastline.

Now one thing Betsy does like about the fair, is the abnormally large horse and steer. 

On our way to visit the Giant Steer, we stumbled on this years newest addition, the giant Alligator (sorry no pictures allowed).  Yes, it's big too.  Betsy would have approved.

We bumped into some friends who were also at the fair to see Chris Issacs play so we joined forces for some addtional rides.

Brooke and Jennifer

Katie and Bradley

One of the funniest things we enjoyed watching this year was Brooke playing in the human Hamster Ball.  This is a large ball that floats on a bed of water.  It's quite amusing to watch, see for yourself.



Brooke, the Human Hamster

The other surprising thing was the Aeorsmith tribute band which we watched for over an hour.  These guys were pretty good, they even looked like Aerosmith.  Check it out...-> actually sounds like "Love in an Elevator" right?

All and all, this year's trip to the fair was pretty fun.  In addition to the fried foods we tried earlier, we also consumed some chocolate covered bacon, cinnamon rolls, a few international beers (just dad), and some tasty barbecue.  Yes we all felt sick by the time we got home and yes I will be in trouble with Betsy after she reads all the stuff the kids and I ate.

Yes, I know better.....

I won't do it again (that's a lie)

:)