Duluth!

Duluth! What a great town. It is a rather industrial town, but there is just something about Duluth that is like no other. It's a place to escape to and still have stuffs to do. My husband and i make it up there at least once a year. Even though we do the same things, it's a comfort to go out there to just... do the same thing :).




Of course it's fun to watch the ships come in and out of the harbor. There's something remarkable about seeing such a large ship pass through such a narrow channel. Every year it amazes me and i think about the people who work on that ship.









To see how big those ships are going through the channel, and then seeing them out in the lake... well, as you can see, the lake is huge compared to the ships. They look like toys floating in a bathtub. You should check it out.

The Great MN Get-Together IV

Oh i know the Fair is over but i have so many lingering memories! What's fun about the horse barn is that occasionally you get to see a horse get groomed! Those of you who own horses etc. are probably thinking, "pish! big deal.". I suppose, it's not a big deal, but i have more fun watching the horse's face during the grooming.



Yes, the MOO barn as-in, cow barn. I had a roommate in college who grew up on a dairy farm. I had the pleasure of visiting for a weekend and participating in chores. I have great respect for dairy farmers. Cows are skittish. They kick. They kick hard.



Cows are funny creatures too. The cows on the right remind me of my cats. How so? Check out the cow on the far right propping it's hind leg on the other cow.



This cow had such soft looking fur. The only problem is, the sawdust clings.



Cows hangin' out. I like to pretend i know a lot about cows simply because of my college roommate. The solid color cows are the BEEF cows. The polk-dot cows are the MILK cows. Impressed? I think everyone whom i've told at least three times is impressed.

The Great MN Get-Together III

I kept getting splashed and i couldn't figure out why. I turned around and there was this guy enjoying some water and then shaking his head, causing water to splash on me.



Having a stroller in the poultry barn (and any building for that matter) means it's an abbreviated trip through. We went up and down a few aisles and saw a few varieties of animals, but as soon as the first exit presented itself, we exited the premises. We found ourselves just on the other side of the State Fair's only grocery store. This is for sure one of the only places i have NEVER been at the fair. So, we decided to go in.



There was no ramp to get in but it was easy enough to carry the stroller, with livvy in it, up the stairs. It is a very small place with a very narrow aisle allowing only one way in and only one way out. It reminded me of your typical small town grocery store. What's cool about the place, there is a deli in there and you can get a fresh salad, freshly brewed coffee etc. I myself got some fresh coffee and we got Olivia a sucker for when she started to get antsy in the stroller. I found out that quickly that the exit was very narrow and so i had to reverse course to get the stroller out of the building. I guess that's how the guy controlled inventory loss.




Off to the Horse barn. This is the one barn where it's kind of hard to see the animals. All the horses are typically in their stall or in the show arena. We are certainly free to walk up to the stalls and look in, but with Livvy being in the stroller, we didn't feel a great need to peer into them.



Some horses were easy to see. This one must have had the luxury sweet, fan included! Stay tuned for more pictures. I must warn you, tomorrow is the last day of the fair. So if you're planning on going, it has to be tomorrow! :)

The Great MN Get-Together II

As i mentioned before, the MN State Fair has farm animal shows. Such as sheep shows! I suppose the stands aren't THAT packed where i could have squeezed in to watch and learn about what is being judged.

In the Poultry Barn, we not only have your typical chickens, roosters, and turkeys; we have ducks! There's also geese too! So basically, any poultry you can think of is in that barn. Although i must admit, i forget that there is more to poultry than just chickens. It's really neat to see all the different types of chickens, roosters, geese, ducks, turkeys, etc. They can actually be quite colorful in plummage.

It's kind of funny because they do have rabbits in the Poultry Barn. Makes sense because they wouldn't fit in with the sheep, horses, or cows. The rabbits are really fun to look at too. Some are small, some are big, some are beautifully solid color, and others have patterns.

Olivia snuck her hand in before i could completely stop her. While the fair doesn't discourage you from touching the animals, you also want to be careful. It almost looks like this little bunny thought Olivia's fingers were carrots. Not only careful in the sense that animals will bite if given the right reason, but then you have to remember to wash your hands afterwards. I know, you would think people would wash their hands afterwards... but you DO remember me telling you about the girl with the melty twist cone in the cow barn? Yeah...

The Great MN Get-Together

It's that time of year again! The MN State Fair is in full swing. You can find pretty much anything on a stick and pretty much everything is fried. The State Fair marks the final visages of summer where kids desperately wish for just a few more days before school starts.

In case you haven't heard, the MN State Fair is kind-of-a big deal. MN has been puttin' this thing on since 1859. It's the type of event where people will attend it every year of their life and every year of their life they SWEAR they are going to try new food and then end up never doing so. Like me.

My routine at the fair is as simple as the food i'm going to eat. Like Fresh French Fries! for example. I don't care if i can get them at a restaurant everyday, or make them myself (ha!), it just plain tastes better at the State Fair. Even more importantly, the fries have to be from the RIGHT stand. Oh yes, there most certainly are multiple fry stands. For example, the picture you see above? I don't get my fries from there. Nope! I have to go to the building by the Midway, that has the yellow sign, with black letters. THOSE are the fries i get. I'm sure the ones in the picture above are good, but the whole point of the Fair is to get THAT specific about where to get the common food.



One of my favorite places to go as a kid was the all-you-can-drink milk barn. At that time it only cost a nickle (or was it a quarter?) to drink as much milk in one visit as possible. One of the things i discovered later in life is that getting a BUCKET of Sweet Martha's Cookies to take to the all-you-can-drink milk barn makes the milk taste even better!! I don't go there unless we are with friends though. My husband is lactose intolerant and therefore seems uninterested in going to this stand. Not sure why...



Of course there are animals at the State Fair. It wouldn't be a fair without them. Visiting the animal barns is definitely something to strategically plan into the fair visit. I find the earlier we go, the better. Hundreds of people go through these places and walk where the animals walk, so you can imagine over the course of the day what that must be like. Not to mention the later in the day it gets, the hotter it gets. I don't take food into these places. In some barns you aren't allowed to. Makes sense right? Well, apparently the 10-year-old girl with a huge, melty twist cone didn't get that message in the cow barn where it expressly says "no food".

I should pause here for a moment. The State Fair is THE place to go if you want to people watch; simply because everyone goes to the Fair. Everyone.



Okay, so back to the animal barn. We hit up the Sheep Barn first. They have sheep that have woolly coats and they have sheep with no coats. I should point out that these animals aren't here to just look at by fair goers. Nope, these animals come from farms all over MN and are shown at the State Fair. So you have the typical shows like dog shows and cat shows, but at the Fair we have farm animal shows. I myself have never watched one but that's because the stands are oober packed with watchers already and i would have NO idea what is being judged.

One bit of advice, if you can leave your kids in the stroller in the animal barns, the better off you may be. It's either get poo on their shoes or on the stroller wheels. I'm not sure which is best. I do know that i don't want my 2.5 year old who loves to pick up rocks, trying to pick up a rock in these barns...

Don't worry, i have many more pics that i'll be posting. Until next time!