...the Alaska State Fair 2009

Tika had her face painted and her hair done.

Liz and Emily pose in front of the new World Record Cabbage.

Lumberjacks climb to the top of tall poles during the lumberjack show.

Danni and Emily ride the Silver Streak.

Members of the band ShaeLaurel perform on stage.

The Alaska State Fair always involves a big weekend of travel, eating, crowds, concerts, wild rides, face painting, hair fixing, lumberjack jokes, and huge vegetables. And, that's the exactly the way things went down this past weekend. We left for the fair on Friday evening and camped out at Williwaw Campground along the way. We left camp on Saturday morning and drove to Palmer along the Glenn Highway with at least 80 million other fair goers. We took a deep breath and walked through the entrance and began taking in all the fair events. We ate corn on the cob, barbecued ribs, turkey drumsticks, Kettle Korn, candied apples, and snow cones. Junk food for sure.

Emily and Danni spent a couple of hours waiting in lines and riding on rides which they enjoyed immensely. Laura went with another family for a while to play the games and ride the Astro. Then it was time for a concert by ShaeLaurel. They are a family band that plays high energy Irish music and they are at the fair almost every year so we make it a point to see them. Emily and Danni danced throughout the concert and were even recognized as the "ShaeLaurel Dancers" by the leader of the band. After the concert we went to the Lumberjack Show, which was the highlight of the fair for me. The jokes are corny and pretty much the same year after year, but it is lots of fun to watch them saw logs. climb poles, spin on logs in the water, and throw axes at a big round target. The final event of the evening involved finding and taking pictures of the World Record Cabbage which was 120 something pounds. It was huge and would make a lot of cole slaw.

After seven hours of fair time we had to leave. As we walked out the gate the music, noise, smells, and crowds faded into the background. We got in the truck where Laura and Emily quickly fell asleep as we drove back to Williwaw. Everyone went directly to bed when we got back to the campground as we were worn out following a big day at...the Alaska State Fair 2009.