Wisconsin State Fair

Wednesday August 11th, 2010

After wishing our dad & our respective doggies "goodbye", Jenny, Marie, Paul & I loaded up his big car for a road trip to Wisconsin Dells. Our second stop would be the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee, the first was Cracker Barrel near the Illinois/Wisconsin border. Food, even though we were headed to a place that had PLENTY of food for us to try.

As we went through Milwaukee, it was nice to see the places that my sweetie and I had hit back in May, ie. the Miller Brewing plant, the Harley Davidson store, etc.. As we got closer to the fair, we didn't realize that it was right behind the racetrack that Danica Patrick & I'm guessing other Nascar people raced at. We got to drive on the actual racetrack & park in pit row. My family was ecstatic and we video taped it. Sweet. Marie was excited to see all the markings left on the walls of the racetrack left by cars that had scraped along side it.

It was funny, on Facebook, a classmate of ours, also named Jenny, from high school, Good Counsel, had mentioned that she was also going to the Wisc. State Fair. So here we are, standing in line for tickets when we heard, "JENNY!" being shouted. Sure enough, Jenny was right behind us with her son & her entourage. Okay, this fair is going of for 11 days and we happen to be in line, all the way from Chicago, at the same time. But I'm not so surprised, Jenny, had worked @ Bamboo Bernies where my friends and I were regulars. Years later I bumped into her @ Crate & Barrell, other friends see her @ Costco. She always seems to pop into our lives. I think it's pretty cool.

Boy was it HOT, 90 degrees plus. It took forever for me to waddle, yes that's my strut now, a waddle, and huffing & puffing to get into the fair after going through an underground tunnel. Luckily under the stands there was the Mile Market, in the shade, where people sold their wares and cool breezes came through. Paul asked if I needed a wheelchair, it didn't take me long to agree to that plan. They should've had it by the entrance, not @ the other end of the park. We made it to the wheelchair rental booth, thank goodness. We rented one for $15.00, the motorized scooter would've been $45.00, plus I don't think I'd be able to drive it very well, but it did come with a basket. My family took turns pushing it. At first I was embarrassed to ride in one but since this mass is causing me so much discomfort and as short of breath that I get, I'm all for wheelchairs. Sometimes the concrete wasn't always smoothe = bumpy and I had to brace myself for those. Ugh. I was still able to see the animals and my family was kind to take pictures for me. I did get up in one of the exhibits areas to try and walk around, my butt started to get numb. I was able to hold the bags we accumulated from shopping & eating.

Speaking of eating, they had tons of fried foods. My family tried the fried Snickers, fried pickles, fried cheese curds, fried cauliflower, fried Oreos, we had begniets, we also ate cookie dough dipped in chocolate. Our plan was to have salads for dinner. Our sister started Weight Watchers and was proud of the weight she had lost. Think she put it back on? Some of us stayed well hydrated, others had a few beers.

We saw the little pigs race, got to see the world's tallest horse, Big Jake, bunnies, chickens, cattle, more horses, pigs, goats, sheep, llamas and alpacas, etc.. The animals were so close, if they decided to evacuate their bowels or bladders, you better not be close behind, some of the display cages were open and there was nothing separating you from their backsides. The baby ducklings, piglets, chicks, calves, etc., had us all saying, "AWWWWW, they're so CUTE!"

They dropped me off @ the exit and Paul went to return the wheelchair. Jenny & Marie stayed with me while I waddled & puffed my way back through the tunnel. I made it to the entrance of the parking lot but now my back was hurting too. GRRR. Jenny & Marie went to get the car. It was still very hot outside. I'm glad I brought a specific throw pillow from dad's, it really helps ease the pain in my back. When they came with the car, that's the first thing I put behind me. The air conditioning in the car helped too.

We were on our way to the Dells. An hour or so later we pulled into Fitzgerald's a little motel on the strip where my family and a good friend of the family stay when they visit. It's been 20 years since I've been here and two years since they were last here. Paul knows the owner so they chatted for a while. As soon as we hit our rooms, Jenny & Marie changed to go into the pool. I rested my back & got online. Paul went to the store & bought a fly swatter, there were 2 in our room & I think they liked me, they kept landing on me. We ended up killing both flies, on Paul's blanket. EWWWW! After the swimmers finished cooling off & showered, we went to dinner @ Carvelli's, an Italian restaurant across the street from the motel. Yes, salads came with our dinners. I really can't walk long distances unless the day trip took a lot out of me, plus the heat. I hope I'll recuperate tonight and have more energy tomorrow.

Paul & I came back to the motel, Jenny & Marie went for a walk. They didn't get far because the key to our room wasn't working. Luckily we had adjoining rooms and J & M came back to get us back in. There's a trick to the lock that Paul figured out. Yeah, for some reason, my back was hurting a lot. After washing up, we ended up watching "Clean House" with Niecy Nash, I love that show, until we fell asleep.