Life in the Cheese Drawer

in case i hadn’t consumed enough calories for the month, i decided to go back to the fair for round II of food. there is only so much stomach room. jane went with me this time, and we went in the evening and into the night, when the crowds are much less stroller heavy.
first stop? BLUE BARN. 
if i hadn’t thought the blue cheese corn fritz weren’t good enough for the blue barn being my favorite state-fair-only stop, then the chicken in a waffle cone certainly sealed the deal. enter waffle cone filled with chicken tenders/nuggets, covered with a spicy sausage gravy, and sprinkled with parsley on top. OMG. the only weird part was they actually had a chocolate ball at the base of the cone, like with ice cream, so when i got to the bottom and got a mouthful of chocolate sausage gravy, my mouth did a weird thing, but got over it. 
then it was off to the sky ride, which spit us out at the leinie lodge, so of course jane and i had to get a beer. she got summer shandy and i got orange shandy. we sat on the grass and listened to a cover band play “bohemian rhapsody”, at which point we each called our sibs who weren’t here.
 
next stop, cheese curds. while jane got the curds, i stopped at the taffy place and picked up taffy for my coworker who requested some. curds were delish, like always. you really can’t go wrong with the tried and true cheese curds.
 
 
we wandered over to the ag/hort building, where we checked out the christmas tree exhibit, smelled the piney scent, and got a little too excited for christmas. then we stopped at the apple corner and picked up a cider pop, which was frozen apple cider in a sleeve for $1.25. they could have sold them for more, and i’m sure people still would have bought them, so it was nice to see a low price on something! i tried to take a pic of the pop with the largest pumpkin in the background, but i ended up getting a pic of the largest pumpkin with the pop in the foreground. boo camera phone.
by then we were a little on the stuffed side, so we took a tour of the horse barn and people watched in the grandstand vendor building. then we made our way over to  carl’s gizmos, which apparently are the BEST THINGS EVER according to one andrew zimmern: “If I could pick only one state fair food, this would be it.” verdict? unimpressed. hot dog bun filled with ground beef and sausage, which were mixed with a TINY AMOUNT of sauce, then covered in cheese and baked. either this needed no sauce and more spice in the meat, or much more sauce in the meat. or maybe more cheese. i’m glad i tried it, but it was really anticlimactic.
anyway, onward and upward. jane and i decided it was time to make our way back to the busses (it was closing in on 10 at that point), so we made our way over to tom thumb, because can’t go to the fair and NOT get minidonuts. and tom thumb minidonuts are the best. <3
 
 
 

nate had requested some martha’s cookies, and jane decided she would take some too to share with her roommate. after seeing the ginormous swarm at the big martha’s on the skyride, we opted for the other location. we stood in line for probably 20 minutes, but we each got our bucket of cookies, mine overflowing. it must be the fact that they come right out of the oven, because the cookie itself? kind of underwhelming. my recipe is 400x awesomer. 
THEN CAME THE FUN PART! we’re walking to the busses with our overflowing buckets of cookies, when it started to rain. thankfully, we had anticipated this and brought umbrellas. so we made our way to the exit through the rain, while people were screaming and running around as if it were the apocalypse. as we got closer to the exit, the crowds running to the exit got huger and huger, and the wind started picking up big time. 
we were like, no way we’re standing in an uber long line for the bus in the rainy windy mess. so we decided to make our way toward a building where we would at least be buffered from the wind. 
we turned, and both our umbrellas flipped inside out. YAY. ran toward the building. i set down the cookies to fix the umbrella, and once it was flipped right side out, it BLEW AWAY. AAAAAUUUGGHGHHHGH. i ran after it, because it was my dad’s umbrella.
let me tell you, he is lucky that i had already set down the cookies.
i ran after the umbrella, and after a couple failed attempts, was able to grab it and bring it under control. the crowd across the way under another building cheered for me.
well, after standing against buildings for about a half an hour or so with the wind calming down, we attempted the bus. we were able get on with no line! back to the parking lot, where it was still raining, and then to home.
i didn’t get home until about 12:30, but it was worth it!