Joining With Lots of People - The Fair and The Fest

The weekend was a bit crazy, but in a good way. This coming weekend will be even crazier, but we'll deal with that as we get closer to it. Starting off,, DH worked extremely hard on the castle on Saturday so that he could get the beginnings of the steps laid properly. He knows his time this week will consist of only a single day and he had ripped the steps and walls out four times the previous day because things weren't precisely level. Finally, late Saturday afternoon, he sent the photo below. Success! We now have three of the six steps laid and, although they still need their capstones, he was willing to go to the State Fair for date night - dinner and a beer with his wife.

It was a difficult thing and required lots of put down and
tear out, but we now have three steps placed exactly where
they need to be and ready for their capstones. There will
be six steps total from the lower to the upper back yard. 

This was an act of extreme love, because he was totally exhausted. But we caught the Park and Ride bus and went to the Fair, had our traditional foot long for our first food, checked out the exhibits and winners in Creative Activities and wandered west toward the Midway.

Danielson's and Daughters have the absolute BEST
onion rings I've ever eaten. I only get them at the
State Fair, and I just had to indulge. YUMMY!

Passing the Food Building, he had a Jamaican Bar-B-Qued Taco (always fabulously good) and I bought my favorite onion rings from Danielson's and Daughters Onion Rings - the absolute BEST I have ever had and only available at the Fair. He bought one bag of mini donuts from Tom Thumb mini donuts. Walking down the street another half-block, we were stopped by the sports broadcaster from Channel 5 who offered DH a piece of Mancini's garlic toast in trade for a mini donut. Both men were happy with the trade.

Our bar used to be boring - not a lot of choices. They've
learned now. Craft beer and more unusual brews are now
the rule instead of the exception. I was thrilled to see
that they had a tap for Deschutes, even though it was
for the lighter IPA instead of one of their dark beers. 

We walked the Midway and settled down at the Frontier Bar for a beer and french fries. We people watched for a while, snacking, but DH looked totally zoned by that time - just beat from his hard day of working on the castle. It was time to get him back home.

At any given time there are 100+ buses at the State Fair Transit Center.
It's huge and holds buses from more than 50 locations both
near and far in the spread-out Metro area. Metro Transit offers
free or low cost Park and Ride services to the State Fair. Our
local stop is very close to the house and operates 7 days a week,
with a bus every 15 minutes or so. It's a great way to get to
and from the State Fair. 

After three hours we called it quits and returned home, catching our bus at the Transit Center. We were sure glad we didn't need the Water's Edge bus - that stop had two buses worth of people waiting for it. When their bus pulled up, the whole crowd clapped and cheered. We slept like the dead - so tired - but were up and back on the road Sunday morning on our way to the Renaissance Festival.

Minion is parked at the end of the quarry which is located below
the Festival grounds. You can barely see DH between the cars, and
of course I have a Minnesota Wild logo on the back of my car. The end
of the quarry is ahead of us, a long walk to the gates are behind
us. The clouds burned away within an hour leaving a blue sky behind. 

The day turned into a gloriously sunny and very hot day and they had us parked way down in the far end of the quarry. It was a long hike to get to the front gates, but it wasn't too bad because it was relatively flat ground (until the steep hill to get out of the quarry and onto the high grounds where the Festival buildings are located).

Even though it was only a pre-season game, he said
it was important because all the main players would
be in for a minimum of one quarter for evaluation.
I guess next week's final preseason game will be
far less important to see. 

DH was happy because he was able to watch the MN Vikings pre-season game on his phone while we relaxed in the shade. Gotta love 4G downloads. It also was Highland Fling weekend, so we were able to watch the hammer throw and the caber toss events. I remembered my parasol this time, and it was sure needed. The sun was brutal. We started the weekend with upper 50's (14.5C) when I went into the pool Saturday morning. Today it will be in the low 70's (21.5C) when I get to the pool at 5:00 am. Minnesota summer weather - gotta love it! Happy Monday to all!