The Dang's: WR: Fishing and State Fair

Since I was sick with a cold or something last week and over the weekend, we didn't do a whole lot. Friday we had a delicious grilled dinner that included our favorite blue cheese grilled potato salad. so good.

On Saturday, we spent a lot of time deep cleaning the house, and then relaxed. I also called my mom to wish her a very Happy Birthday!

That night, we finally watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which was delightful. However, my other two family members did not feel the same. Chester barked at every single horse, goblin, creature, etc, and there were a lot of them. Adam thought it was boring. Whatever. I loved it.

It finally cooled off on Sunday after all the extreme heat we've been having. We took advantage of the break in heat to go fishing. We went on Demontreville Lake and the adjoining Olson Lake. It was a really fun time.

Adam caught three large bass, which I helped him net. It was great.

I spent most of my time reading.

I contemplated fishing, but I didn't want to hurt any fish for my amusement. Instead, I put my feet in the water and was delighted when bluegills started nibbling on them. They were so cute!

After a few hours we headed home. Then I went over to my sister's dorm room. We worked on putting up Command Strips for her wall art, and then headed back to our house for dinner. Chester was so excited to see her!

Adam made homemade dough and we grilled pizzas. It was a little chilly but fun.

I took her back and walked her in so could hang up the wall art. Most of the Command Strips worked this time. Good thing too, because I was ready to lose it if they didn't!

Monday was our big State Fair day. We left our house a bit after 10 am and headed over to the State Fair Park and Ride lot. It worked out really well and we were to the Fair by 10:30.

Our first stop was at the French Meadow Bakery for the famous dough-sant. It was a croissant prepared like a doughnut. The line was long but moved quickly, until you realized you had to wait in a second line to pick up your food. It was pretty good but a bit dough-y inside.

Next, we headed over to the DNR building to check out the new fish tanks. Adam enjoyed pointing out the different fish types to me.

We stopped at Australian Potatoes and split Australian Fries with cheese and ranch. Adam enjoyed them, but I thought they had too much batter. I remember liking them better in a previous year. We split a root beer to wash it down.

Then it was on to my favorite, the Miracle of Life barn. I love all the baby animals. It's usually the only animal barn Adam will go to.

The little piglets were my favorite. So darn adorable! I could have watched them for hours.

At the Ag/Hort building we checked out all the displays on Brewing Beer, as well as flowers, the crop art,

and the giant pumpkins. The adult winner was 881.5 pounds! The next closest one was 331.5 lbs. Wow.

Around noon, we headed over to the Education Building so I could get my UST bag at the 12:30 giveaway.

I had been texting my sister, so we headed back to Axel's at the Food Building to meet up. Adam got his usual deep fried slider and very much enjoyed it.

There we met my sister and her friend Ali. Ali is one of Christine's good high school friends, and now they go to college together too.

Christine got the Cocoa Cheese Bites also from Axel's. They were cheese curds coated in Cocoa Puffs and then deep fried and served with a chocolate dipping sauce. I tried one and thought it was really weird, but Christine liked them which is all that mattered.

Adam wandered off to find beer, while Christine, Ali and I went to get dessert. I got a red raspberry Hawaiian ice, while they both got the Mini Donut Batter Crunch ice cream by Izzy's from the Hamline Dining Hall.

We visited for a bit and then said our goodbyes to the girls. We headed off to the north part of the Fair where we wandered around and checked out various displays like the Buick GMC and Toro ones. We did a fair amount of people watching as well.

On our way back to the main part of the Fair, we encountered the parade and Adam grabbed another beer. Then we split a wild rice cheeseburger from Wild Rice Specialties. It's greasy, but one of my favorite things to get! I also grabbed a fresh squeezed lemonade.

We were pretty full, so our last food stop was at Heritage Square to get a candied bacon cannoli at Ole's Cannoli's. I actually really liked it!

We tried to see the giant swine, but the pig barn had just closed at 3. Bummer. Maybe next year.

Before leaving the Fair, we stopped in the Dairy Barn to check out the butter sculptures. Since it was the last day of the Fair, there were a lot of sculptures to see.