Again I neglect the blog. :( I'm not so good at this you will find.
But today have something to blog about. Just got back from the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. We left at the break of dawn (literally). Paul had taken Jojo for a quick 20 minute walk, and by then I had put a cooler in the car and gotten ready. Jojo was great going into his crate (each time is better) and we were off.
One stop at Meijer later, we were sporting down I-71 to Louisville. We had one stop in the two hour trip for breakfast (Paul at Burger King and I at McD's). We arrived a little late at the fair, only to find out at the gate that they take only cash for admission!!! What a backward state!!! We turned around, found a gas station, and got money out. Then we headed back and were admitted. Parking was a distance from the buildings, but we didn't have much choice. We walked all the way up to the building before Paul remembered he had left his wallet behind (which had all of the money in it). So he walked back to retreive it.
Finally inside, we checked out two competitions during the World Class Champion Horse Show: Throughbred driving division, and juniors throughbred. I loved the juniors - all the riders were between 14-17 years of age. And all excellent riders. Paul had a bit of fun, but I could tell it wasn't really for him.
So we headed off for more exhibits. We saw some girls in a tap competition, went around the flea-market-type South Wing, stopped to eat (Paul had BBQ pulled pork, I had a pretzel), and then headed on to look at the hobby displays. We noted in photography that anything patriotic seemed to win or at least get honorable mention. And we saw in all the art at least 4 Obama's (including one in blue!) .
Then we stopped again near the horse show to watch the horses parade in. It was great to see that world again - when I was young I used to ride. I love nothing better than the smell of a horse barn... most people think it stinks - but not for me. It's like a lovely memory come back to me. We headed off to the West Wing where all the cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were housed. We even got to see the miniture horses lining up for competition. One of them tried to nibble my shirt while Paul took the picture.
We headed outside, for a long walk around Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (attached to the fair grounds) and a few moments on the midway. We didn't ride anything, just checked it out. I noticed my fist felt tight, and realized my fingers were swelling. Panicking, I took off my wedding rings and placed them in my wallet. We sat down after a quick jaunt around the baked goods, dairy, and tobacco products. Paul's reaction to the tobacco display was interesting to say the least...
Finally, we were finished and we headed home. We stopped in Florence to have Steak & Shake dinner. And then we headed home to our VERY VERY good puppy Jojo, who my mum had stayed with for 3 hours until we got home. Apparently he barely whined - a first!!!!
We had a great time!
