MN Summer Is In Full Swing

 Rochester, MN

The Olmsted County Fair

The other day Google surfaced a blog to me.  A blogger ranked the Minnesota County Fairs from 1st to worst so I took note and we added some of them to our list of things to do.  Last year we visited 2 county fairs here and loved them and they weren't even in the top 25 so this list of top 10 fairs must be amazing right?  

Our idea of a good fair is good food, seeing animals, and other weird stuff.  We aren't into the rides or the concerts so maybe the top ranked fairs aren't ranked for our tastes.

The fair complex also featured 4 hockey rinks.

What would be your snacking hat trick?  I think mine would be corn dog, hot dog, and popcorn.

We also got to visit the Rochester Hockey Hall of Fame for the price of admission, which was free.  It looks like the Stuart Family has had some success in hockey.

I didn't know animals could read.

We got to see medium sized goats

Tiny goats

This Jazzercize Goat

We got to see beavers cosplaying as rabbits.

Here you can see what the inside of a rabbit looks like.

This rabbit looks like they had been drinking all night and fell asleep leaning on the toilet.

We also got to see chickens.  They had crayons so you could color your own image of a chicken.

We visited the Olmsted County Milk Association.  So Milk!

We bought milk and saw a giant corn on the cob

We also saw lemonade.  I went around the corner to see if they had fudge but they did not.

This cabbage won grand champion.  It's a good looking cabbage.

These bell peppers won Reserve Champion just incase the cabbage can't fulfill it's duties.

Orange you Gladiola I didn't say Banana?

Someone won a ribbon for picking flowers.

Cow!

Donna and I saw some evidence of hoof performance enhancing going on.

We got to meet Nelson, the Underbite Champion of Olmsted County

I learned that there is an alpaca that grows acrylic fibers.

My milkshake brings all the milkers to the yard.

Donna got to meet a baby chick born a couple of days ago.

These facts fail to mention the part about them being invisible!

Donna also got to pet the tiniest baby goat.

This kid was indeed born yesterday.

The fair was a lot of fun but it wasn't exponentially more fun than the fairs I wrote about last year.  Here and Here.  

Torchlight Parade

Later that evening we walked outside to see The Torchlight Parade.  It's a part of the whole Aquatennial celebration here in Minneapolis.  The parade was right outside our front door so we had the stamina to watch it.  

We could see the parade staging from the elevator.

And out of our lobby.

We saw a few dance and drum corps which were the highlight for us.  These kids were so enthusiastic.

This group behind me was giving me a contact high.

The parade is a big advertisement for other county and city celebrations.  I guess Anoka County is known for its Halloween Parade.

Minneapolis is incredibly diverse.  We got to enjoy the Brazilian Dancers.

And the Dragon Dance.

This person went with the Back to the Future II car.  Bold choice!

Woodbury didn't bury the lead at all, Visit Woodbury Days says it all.

We got to see a Loon Mascot because Minnesota!

The Whiz Bang Days name is a bit dated but we might go.

There were also art cars associated with the parade.  This one had 2 working fountains.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Becoming a Pinball Tech, check it out.  I fix the flipper on our Tommy Pinball Table.