Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time for some BIG FUN! And if you’re going to have BIG FUN then you’re going to need a FUN PASS…that’s right, it’s CA State Fair time!

The fair opened on 15 August in sunny Sacramento - a whirlwind of rides, deep fried food, people who shouldn’t be seen in public, and of course, the livestock exhibits. David is a mega-fan of the fair, and since his birthday is in just a few days I decided to put together a little surprise part at the fair.

A group of us converged at the main gates on the evening of the 16th, just as the temperature was starting to cool for the evening, and then the nine of us took on the fair. David wanted to start with the midway, and since it was his birthday party, we pretty much followed him wherever he wanted to go, and the first stop - Moscow Circus.

Moscow Circus is usually our first stop at the fair - it’s a 3 story fun house with all sorts of wild and crazy moving platforms, spinning discs, rotating stairs, zip lines, and a huge 3 story slide on one side. Here’s a panorama of the complex…

After that we hit the rest of the midway, including the log flume (I got soaking wet), the g-force simulator that spins you around like a washing machine, bumper cars, roller coasters, slides, and pretty much anything that didn’t entail flying or spinning upside down.

As the sun began to set in the west, we decided to go for the smaller of two Ferris wheels. Neither of us are big on heights, but this one didn’t go as far into oblivion as the main wheel (which David mistakenly rode a couple years ago and nearly freaked out), and I wanted to get some aerial pictures of the fair.

Patrick and Brandy were in the cart behind/in front of us on the Ferris wheel, and as you can tell from their expressions, it was an exciting ride ;-). The wheel actually went relatively fast both forward and backward, which the main wheel does not - so there a bit of white knuckling going on.

After we finished with the midway, we hopped on board the monorail and took a scenic trip around the entire grounds. As we passed over the food court, huge plumes of BBQ smoke wafted into our noses and we knew where we had to go next. BBQ Tri-Tip and Pork BBQ galore…probably the most popular food venue at the fair and it was DElicious. After that we went off to the livestock area to see a cow that had just given birth, and then a pig that had about 10 piglets 3 days prior.

Irony? Absolutely.

Pretty soon it was time for the fireworks, so we found a spot to watch them - the display starts at 10am and run to about 10:03am. It’s not very extensive until the last day, but it was enjoyable none the less.

Everyone had a great time and we got to celebrate David’s impending 40th birthday. If you’re in the Sacramento area be sure to hit the fair some time in the next couple weeks - there’s a ton of stuff to see and numerous rides to keep the excitement up!

Cheers!

This sarcastic entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 10:07 am and is filed under Entertainment, Friends and Family, Sacramento. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.