Texas State Fair

Last weekend I attended the Texas State Fair... and what a place.  I met my friend from grad school, Obinna up in Dallas and he and I had fun exploring the fair together.

Here is Obinna and me in front of Big Tex... you can see Obinna thought he could do a good Big Tex pose.  Also, in this picture we are absolutely soaked.  We had about an hour of dry fair weather and then it poured for the rest of the day.  We still had a blast!

Looking at the above picture and going from top to bottom and left to right, the highlights were as follows (not including the food):

• The Texas State Fair has its own currency... coupons instead of dollars, each coupon is 50 cents
• There was  REALLY BIG Long-Horn at the Fair... like horns 5 feet long on either side
• Obinna got in touch with his inner-farmer
• We went on the Ferris Wheel -- very big and a great view of the fair grounds and Cotton Bowl
• A view of Big Tex, the Cotton Bowl, and the Ferris Wheel as we entered the fair
• Pig races... who knew these could be so entertaining
• I got to hold a two week old calf... what a doll!
• I found a cute little Texas State Fair onesie for our little Nugget, and on the back it says "Udderly Adorable"
• State Fair of Texas sign lit up

To be completely honest, I have been to the Minnesota State Fair, and, since everything's bigger in Texas, I was expecting an event larger in every way than Minnesota.  The truth is... the Texas State Fair is NO WHERE NEAR as large and impressive as the Minnesota State Fair.  The Texas State Fair is cute, and certainly has some neat attractions... but Obinna and I saw everything we wanted to see in about three hours.  The Minnesota State Fair takes DAYS -- even years to investigate the entire thing.  The Minnesota State Fair had barns upon barns of animals, and award winning vegetables, and dairy sculptures, and more.  The Texas State Fair had one barn with some animals.  I would definitely say the Minnesota State Fair has Texas beaten in every category except one.

The Texas State Fair will fry anything and sell it on a stick.  And, apparently some very odd things taste very good when fried.  I may even make the argument that you can fry anything, and it will come out delicious.

Obinna and I did our best to try a sampler of the interesting fried foods the Texas State Fair had to offer:

• Korny Dog (not to be confused with a corn dog)
• Deep Fried Thanksgiving Dinner... SOOOO good!  One of my favorites
• Chicken Fried Bacon -- another of my favorites
• Deep Fried Red Velvet Cupcake -- my least favorite dish of the day... all the breading reminded me of a donut
• Some of these dishes were Big Tex Choice Award Winners... their prize is a gold trophy with Big Tex's head on it
• Fried Chicken and Waffles on a stick -- very good
• Blue Bell Ice Cream -- this wasn't fried, but is a Texas staple.  If I could go back and do it over, this is the food item I would skip that day.
• Deep Fried King Ranch Casserole shaped like the state of Texas -- this was something I only tried because Obinna wanted it... but wow, it was good.
• Deep Fried Cookie Dough -- it was really good.

What an experience.  It was a lot of fun, and something I will remember for a long time... but I don't think I will eat any more fried food for awhile.