Saturday, as a tropical storm was bearing down on Charleston, Claire, Adam, Nina, Uncle Trey, Maybelle, and I went to the fair. Why? According to Adam, "The fair is the best day of the year!"
I figured that the worst case scenario with a visit to the fair on a rainy, gusty day was that we'd be eating funnel cakes while shivering under vendors' tents. Instead, we had a sort of best case scenario: it wasn't raining, but everybody stayed away, so we had no lines for any rides. None. No lines. Adam, Nina, and I have ridden the roller coaster the Crazy Mouse several years in a row, and we've always had to wait and wait and wait--up to 45 minutes or an hour. This time we walked onto the ride, rode, and then walked around to the entrance and rode it again.
(The second time we rode, Nina did not sit next to me, because she observed--correctly--that I scream the entire time.)
It was also a kind of best case scenario because this year, Maybelle enjoyed just about all of it. In previous years she's been terrified of animals and wary, if not terrified, of rides. This year she was fairly open to the animals, and she really enjoyed the rides.
Nina and Adam were both incredibly sweet--for rides that were too small for adults to ride, they rode with Maybelle.
Maybelle rode the merry-go-round twice--once with me, once with Claire (after the first time made me a bit sick to my stomach).
Claire and Trey both expressed admiration for my dad's rule at the fair--no rides that go in circles or leave the ground--but Claire broke that rule twice, once by riding the merry-go-round and once by going on the skyride with me and Maybelle. The skyride is like a ski lift. It takes you up hundreds of feet in the air with only a bar across your lap. Once we got up there, Claire and I were both a bit terrified, clutching Maybelle's body so that she couldn't move at all. Fortunately, Maybelle thought it was pretty cool.
Trey didn't ride a thing. He took tons of pictures and enjoyed the best part of the fair: food. Collectively I believe we ate elephant ears, funnel cakes, sweet potato fries, corn dogs, gyros, and one turkey leg. Maybelle ate two containers of yogurt. She still wouldn't even try the funnel cake. So we have one more thing to work on for next year's fair.
4 comments:
Awww - I loved this post! I laughed OUT LOUD at the part about your screaming the whole time you were on the (whatever the roller coaster ride was called). You've ALWAYS done that! (I think I did, too, when I rode those things - that was years ago!!) I'm so glad Maybelle is learning the fun of the fair. Thank you for sharing this.
ok, I am pretty sure the sky ride was not hundreds of feet in the air -- maybe, like, 35 feet?
But the fair was fabulous fun (except for the alpacas, now those were creepy.)
What a joyful day and so perfectly reflected in those photos! I love that Maybelle didn't want to touch a funnel cake -- hilarious!
When I was a kid at fairs, I was mainly interested in rides. As an adult at fairs, I'm mainly interested in looking at farm animals. And perhaps checking out a show choir.
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