OC Fair Shenanigans

Every single year of my life, I have gone to the Orange County Fair.  Well, I lie.  The year we got married we couldn't go, since our honeymoon was 5.5 weeks and we missed the entire fair!  When I was younger we would ALWAYS ride the rides, but then once I hit high school, I decided they were pretty unsafe.  But then the last few years I guess I changed my mind because I'm back to riding them all again.  They're still super unsafe, but also super fun.  I figure I've lived a pretty good life.  Well, that and Andrew hasn't gone with me for the last 2 years in a row (he's been working and working and working), so he's not there to tell me how unsafe they are (he is not a fan of any sort of roller coaster, especially those put together for only a month).

The OC Fair is basically a place to fill your arteries, have a chance to pet some farm animals (since we are all city kids), and enjoy the rides.  Which, we did all 3 to the very fullest.

I don't know if it's because I'm old now, but I thought the fair was SUPER crowded this year.  It was a Wednesday night, but we drove around for like 35 minutes to find a spot!  It was packed with lots of OC residents.....many had very interesting (putting it lightly) looks about them.  People watching is one of my favorite fair activities!

WARNING:  the following pictures have all been fried enough to clog the arteries of a whole army.  HOWEVER, in our defense, it's the fair!  Also, all 7 of us shared!!!!

First, we started with this little fried dough that is very new to the fair world:

It basically tasted like a sweet, kind of cherry flavored donut.  It was OK, but since everyone has been talking about it, I'm glad we tried it......

Deep Fried Kool-Aid?

Next we moved onto many other fried things.......

GIANT donut with maple & bacon on the top.  My mother, who only eats veggies
 & string cheese totally bought this one.  She described it as like breakfast that all
touches.  I was not such a fan.

Nest was Australian Potatoes.  We get these every year and they are delicious!!!

This place was a treasure-trove of grossness/deliciousness.  You choose.
This is a chocolate covered corn dog & a beer-battered-bacon-sandwich with fries
 cooked in bacon fat.  Both were pretty good and pretty gross at the same time.

Then we went to go visit the farm animals.  We have a big farm on campus at my HS, so I was not all that much intrigued.  However Sara and Jenna were ALL ABOUT petting all the animals.  Then they decided that they really wanted to pet these 6 day old goats.  The mom goat was not having it and kept giving them the stink eye and was clearly ready to bite them. They didn't seem to care.  Then my city-mouse mother decided she was jealous and also wanted to pet one.  Though she was concerned that they all looked "dirty."  She chose this goat because she felt like it looked the cleanest.  Oh silly mom.

There was much hand washing done after these pictures were taken.  The OC is so "city" that there was even a booth where everyone could go and watch a cow be milked.  Kids were oohing and aahing.  It was pretty funny.





Next were the rides.  I am a big fan of all types of rollercoasters.  The higher, faster, scarier, bumpier, etc, the better.

We went on one ride that drops you down (which honestly doesn't seem like it's going to stop.  For real.  We were a little nervous.  It went WAY faster than the one at Knott's.  Funny story about a ride like that.  When I was a kid, we all went on the one on the top of Stratosphere in Vegas.  We bought the picture and left.  When we looked at it later, the woman sitting next to my brother was throwing up in the picture.  Amazing memories!!!)  The other one spun around and then flung us up and down.  It was WAY more fun than it looked!

Then we capped the food & ride filled evening with a lovely family picture.  Yes two were missing (husband=Andrew and bff=James), but otherwise it was really a perfect evening.