The Minnesota State Fair

I don't think anyone should be surprised by my love of the Great Minnesota Get-Together, as I happen to think that the state fair is one of my two favorite totally self-indulgent days of the year. (The other being the Friends School Plant Sale, which - coincidentally? - is also held at the fairgrounds.) This year, Adam and I put the dog in the kennel and got a free room in St. Paul so that we could fully appreciate all the hours in a fair day. (P.S. In case you're wondering, that "free room in St. Paul" was lawfully won in a charity fund-raising event, so no, it is not as creepy as it sounds. Also, it was the Saint Paul Hotel, so extra awesome for us.)

We decided to photograph every single thing we ate over the course of one day. First up, breakfast crepes from the French Creperie, coffee from the French Meadow Bakery next door. Ooh la la! Adam selected fried green tomatoes and corn fritters for his first meal of the day. Classic.

For second breakfast, I cannot recommend anything more delicious than the Walleye Roll from Giggles' Campfire Grill. Served with a Grain Belt on tap, it is essentially the perfect meal. The only downside was that it kept us full for far too long. We had too many things we wanted to try and, unfortunately, we were stuffed by 10:00 AM.

Since we couldn't eat anything after that walleye roll, we decided to explore the oddities. 

Some top-notch seed art and beeswax sculptures again this year. I appreciate the topical themes, burr bra notwithstanding.

The only reason I can ever convince Adam to visit the pet building is for the chance to pet a real live Golden Retriever. We were not disappointed.

Local legend Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame.
We briefly stalked followed him around the fairgrounds,
but he was not eating fast enough for us.

Still rockin' a slight fever and body aches
from an annoying summer cold,
but never too sick for the fair.
I even wore my best Minnesota shirt.

The delightful Ag-Hort Building, very crowded this year due to the addition of a much appreciated Minnesota craft brewing wing.

Someone put a lot of time and effort into this outstanding work of (political/agricultural) art. The liberals were very well represented amongst the seed art contestants again this year. The conservatives really need to step up their game if they wish to compete next year.

Requisite flower shot, but this one has a bonus honeybee, hard at work.

After breakfast and second breakfast, we moved on to strawberry smoothies, samples of local honey, 1919 root beer, cheese curds (let it be noted that Adam was highly opposed to the ketchup), roasted corn on the cob, caramel apples, fried pickle chips (disappointing for the second year in a row), a cannoli from Ole, and Swedish coffee. I find it best if you alternate your salty with your sweet, so after the cannoli, we finished our fried food fest with the world's greatest French fries.

My only regret is that we had but one day to devote to the fair this year. That meant we did not get to see the goats and/or Emily and/or Jake, but I did get to pet most of the rabbits, so there's that.

Secret fair tip: when you think you couldn't possibly handle any more fair food, head over to the Produce Exchange for an amazing giant peach. Worth every penny.

Yes, we are exactly as tired as we look.

Even though I uploaded 30-some odd photos, we still ate a bit more than pictured. I felt great. Adam, meanwhile, had to convince the late night hotel desk staff to part with some Tums - for a nominal price and charged to our room, of course. 

I'm already looking forward to next year!