L.A. County Fair

Yesterday Kevin and I went to the L.A.County Fair. We haven't been in about 5 years, so we thought it was about time. As luck would have it, just before the fair opened, there was a great Groupon for the fair: two adult tickets and preferred parking for just $25.00. That's a darn good deal! Usually, entry on the weekends is $17.00 per adult, and preferred parking is $15.00, so this was definitely a money saver.

We had a good time: ate some good food; tasted award winning California wines; watched a cooking demonstration (great recipes!); shopped a bit; watched a cool lumberjack show; took some silly photos (see below); and even got to visit with Kevin's brother Brian who was working at the fair for the pool company he represents.

Still, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. We used to go to the fair almost every year when I was growing up - either as a family, or as a school field trip. One of the landmarks of the fair is a huge clock tower that's easy to spot from wherever you are. Or I should say was. Yesterday morning, I talked to mom before we left and she teasingly said that they would meet us at the clock tower. We were going to have someone take a picture of us at the clock tower, post it, and say to mom and dad 'We waited here for you, but you never showed up!', but we couldn't. We looked all over for the tower thinking we'd just remembered incorrectly about where it had been, but we found out that we could stop looking as they'd removed the tower to make room for more carnival rides. BUMMER

I just don't understand why we are a nation of makeover artists. I understand updating and moving with the times, but there are just somethings that define a place, or time, or event. Can we not learn to leave these things alone? For years they also had a giant slide. I remember that, for the longest time, that slide terrified me; then, when I actually went on it, I had a blast! Well, except for the scratchy burlap patch you had to sit on to slide down. Well guess what? They took that out this year, too. Grrrr.

As I said, we did have a good time, but we were both disappointed by the unnecessary changes. And while we may find ourselves there another time, I really think we're pretty much done with the fair for a while.

On to the silly pictures ... They have these whacky painted wooden cut-outs at various locations. I couldn't resist taking some photos of us with our faces popping out of some of them. After all, aren't count fairs supposed to bring out the silliness in us?

And one seriously gorgeous sunset