Saturday, September 20, 2008

Definitely NOT the Alabama State Fair

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor mentioned that the Alabama State Fair was coming to Pelham this year. Pelham is about 10 minutes from our house, so we were pretty excited. I googled it to get more information, and found out that it's actually a controversial topic. Evidently the state fairgrounds are in Birmingham, in an area that many (most?) people consider fairly dangerous, and the fair hasn't happened in a few years. Now this new company is coming to town with a fair, and calling it the State Fair, but our Mayor is adamant that it is NOT the State Fair. Those of you who don't live here probably don't know that our mayor is crazy. Nuts. He recently formed a committee to try to get the Summer Olympics here in 2020 - he's definitely off his rocker. But I digress - I just wanted you to understand why I wasn't concerned by his opposition, and why I was still very excited about the (Not) Alabama State Fair.
Today, we stopped for cash at the ATM (because fairs are ridiculously expensive these days) and headed to Pelham. We knew we'd made a mistake the second we pulled in. This was not a fair. At best, it was a carnival. It was about 1/10 the size of the Greater Gulf State Fair in Mobile. Perry and I were disappointed, but the girls saw the ferris wheel and started squealing, so we decided to make the best of it. While it was a small venue, and the only livestock was in the petting zoos, we still had a great time. S&A ate their first corn dogs (how is that even possible? 5 years old and never had a corn dog?), rode their first ferris wheel, rode every kiddie ride available, walked through their first fun house maze (while P & I were laughing hysterically watching them bump into walls), and generally had a fantastic morning. We finished with some cotton candy and a few minutes of a High School Musical performance. $95 and 3 hours later, we were home and ready for a nap.

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