State Fair Warm-Up

Everyone knows that the great State Fair of Texas is hands down the best fair going. But only ever so slightly behind is the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, New York. Readers of this blog may recall seeing it mentioned before as something I was very much looking forward to during my vacation, and it was all I hoped it would be and more.


One of the best things about the Dutchess County Fair is the milkshake booth. It is a happy place where you can choose a vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate milkshake which will send you into fits of delight when you drink it. There is Kev with our milkshakes. If you click on the photo and make it bigger, you will see that they are not only milkshakes, but they are REAL milkshakes. Maybe that is why they're so good. Every year there is a poster where they write down how many milkshakes have been sold so far. Believe me, it is a LOT.

Besides the shakes, the best thing at the DCF is the box of fried mushrooms. These mushrooms are WAY better than the ones from Snuffers, which are pretty darn good, so that's saying something. I also had, as you can see, a Karl Ehmer Andouille on a bun, and some fresh lemonade. Good eats, I tell you what. We saw a corn-dog booth this year, but it was not a Fletchers booth, so corn dogs will have to wait until the State Fair. Anyway, I'm not sure the corn-dogs of the North-East are the corn-dogs for me.

We saw lots of farm animals, including the pigs above, and we saw a cool Birds of Prey flight demonstration, featuring this Eurasian Eagle Owl, a Gyrfalcon, and a Harris Hawk. It was very exciting. I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I shall never see an owl in the wild, so the bird show owls will have to do. I am going to look into volunteering at the Birds of the World show at the State Fair this year, so maybe I'll get to hang out with more owls and the peregrine falcon that always flies in from the Texas Star Ferris Wheel. That would be cool.

The best (and only) ride I went on at the DCF was the Fun Slide, and it was indeed a fun slide. The first time, I raced Kev and Kim, and I beat them handily on the green track. I don't win at things very often, especially against Kev, so this victory was especially sweet. Then, I took our nephew Ryan on the Fun Slide. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, and I thought he was going to cry, but after a few seconds of mulling it over at the bottom, he said, "Again?" Sadly, it was time to leave the Fun Slide. I wish they had one of these at our fair.

The Hudson Valley is home to many celebrities, including Katie Couric, the Kingston Trio, and Pete Seeger. I did not see any of them, but I did see Tony Soprano, pictured above with hat, going all around at the DCF. I know that is only his TV name, but I cannot spell his real last name. In other celebrity news, I also saw the GREAT John Wesley Harding at LaGuardia, but I didn't take a photo of him.

So, let's all get ready for the State Fair of Texas, and while you are there, see if you can help me get some talk going about bringing down the milkshakes and mushrooms and fun slide next year.