Photo Blog - Sharon's First Day At The Fair

Sharon arrived Thursday afternoon and after I picked her up from the airport and we drove by the Fair (just to get that State Fair grease smell mixed with lots of people smell and the occasional whiff of livestock smell) we continued on to the house. Depositing her things into her room - a room that really deserves an engraved plaque on the door stating "Sharon's Room" - we hopped back into the car and headed out to Red Lobster. In my hands were printouts of the various reviews and lists of new foods and beers to try at the Fair. We ate a marvelous meal and started culling down our choices for the next day. The rest of this blog will be a photo blog, but those are fun on occasion. So ... here we go. The first 24 hours of Sharon's visit to the State Fair, 2018. 

Dinner at Red Lobster was wonderful. I indulged in salmon 
with a really nice and tangy sauce and some of the best 
asparagus I've ever had. The corn was "meh". If you order the 
corn and don't like it, don't blame me. The rest of the meal 
was spectacular! 

We started out with breakfast at the Blue Barn when we entered
the State Fair on Friday morning. On the left - French Toast Bites with
a crazy but very tasty whipped cream. on the right - bacon
loaded potato tots which were good too. But the french
toast was better. 

We got our photo taken at Blue Cross-Blue Shield and picked
up insulated lunch bags from them too. Score! In case you
couldn't guess, that's me on the left and Sharon on the right. 

We shopped at the International Bazaar (didn't actually buy anything
until Sunday, but scoped things out). I had one of the Fair's new craft beer
flavors "Helles Ya, You Betcha". I liked it - a bit of citrus and
not too heavy. 

We stopped by Danielson's and Daughters Onion Rings for a
quick bite, one of two visits to Danielson's this year. So good! 

We walked west to the Swine barn to see the piglets - cute little
porkers. These were a bit older than many we've seen over the
years, but still so sweet. They're born with razor sharp teeth, so
I'm sure Mom wants to get rid of them ASAP! 

Then we moved to the next pen for the Biggest Boar display. He
wasn't as large as some we've seen over the years. This year's
topped out at 1400 pounds. Still, that's a LOT of pig! 

It was MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) day at the Fair, and we
joined a large, enthusiastic crowd in a sing-along with
Cantus. Cantus is an acapella men's group we've loved
for many years. It was great fun to hear them and to
sing along with them. Sharon sings regularly in
her church choir, but I sound like a croaking
frog. It's a good thing there were others singing
around us too - LOL.  

It was a hot day, but we wandered to the north end where a new food
venue had opened in what used to be the Pet Pavillion. "The Hanger"
was actually built in 1909 as a hanger for the biplanes that used to
perform at the Grandstand in the early days of the Fair. After building
a new and improved Pet Center last year, The Hanger was repurposed
as a new food and drink venue. It quickly became our favorite
and we ended up there three times in three days. Our favorite food
was the Brisket Slider trio. So good! 

I totally fell in love with the "Flirty and Fruity" beer flight
at The Hanger. I had one of these flights every time we
came back for more brisket. Really good assortment
of lighter beers. 

Here, Sharon and I are resting up before continuing our long
walk around the Fairgrounds. It was such fun to catch up
with her again. The selfie was taken at The Hanger, a
bit loud, but comfortable. We had a lot of fun talking to
people while seated munching a meal or drinking a
beverage at various places we stopped.
The people are the BEST part of the Fair. 

We finished Day One with our traditional dinner at Outback Steak
House. Sharon had beef, but once again, I opted for the
salmon. Are you sensing a trend going here?
We still have three more days to go - LOL. 

So, I hope I haven't bored all of you to tears with my Friday's activities at the Fair photo blog. I took a bunch of photos throughout the four days of hopping through the Fair and the Renaissance Festival, and since I'm still trying to play catch-up with work and emails, I think you'll have photo blogs for another few days until I'm caught up. Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'll be cleaning up after Sharon's visit, picking up my project from the State Fair, and doing lots of other errands along with five loads of laundry. No rest for the wicked - LOL - but I'll be back tomorrow.