Things other than State Fairs

In addition to visiting seven state fairs on our journey to Las Vegas, we tried several different restaurants in our "Road Food" book that has recommendations for local cuisine across the US. We had the original buffalo wings in Buffalo, NY at the Anchor Bar, where this recipe originated in the 1920's. They were the best as we don't even like buffalo wings all that much. The wings and drumsticks were huge and meaty and the sauce was tangy, but not too hot. In eastern Pennsylvania, we had spiedies. This is pork or chicken on a stick (skewers) marinated in a delicious sauce that is oily and full of herbs. iIn Detroit, we had the original "coney dog" at the Lafayette Coney Restaurant located right downtown. Detroit has several coney dog restaurants, but this one is supposedly the best. There is even one right next door to Lafayette called American Coney Dog, but it is not as good as Lafayette, according to the food books. We enjoyed a lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Pueblo, Co called Jorge's that was a local favorite. The food was good, but we wished we had eaten at a "real" Mexican restaurant as this one was a bit too commercialized.

We attended the annual Bernard Shaw Festival in Niagra on the Lake in Ontario, Canada. We actually saw three one-act plays by Noel Coward as there were no Shaw plays being performed the night we were there. We stayed for two plays and enjoyed them very much. Niagra on the Lake is a beautiful small town very near Niagra Falls on the Canadian side. It has the most beautiful houses and the small village is quaint and upscale. It seemed to be the place where all the rich folks live or have second homes in this neck of the woods. Reminded us of Greenwich, CT, and even more upscale than Greenwich!

We definitely took the opportunity to taste the local fare wherever we visited and it made the trip a lot more fun than just eating at chain restaurants. Luckily, we managed to not gain back the weight we had lost in Beulaville over the past three months sticking to a diet of low carbs, low fats, and minimal desserts. Of course, if we had stayed on the road much longer, who knows what would have happened!

Colorado State Fair, Saturday 09/05/09

The Colorado State Fair in Pueblo was not as large as we expected, considering Colorado is a large state. We ranked it 6th out of the 7 fairs we visited.

Nebraska State Fair, Friday 09/04/09

The Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln was quite large, but not very interesting. We ranked it 5th on our list. The good part is that we got in free as veterans and family members got in free on the day we were there (Doug served in the Army).

We were surprised to find the CHEESE sculpture.

South Dakota State Fair, Thursday 09/03/09

The South Dakota State Fair was our 3rd favorite fair. It was held in Huron, SD and had a rural flavor that the other fairs did not have. We were even able to park on the street just outside the fair entrance without paying for parking. There was a huge outdoor exhibit of farm machinery that was interesting. We saw lots of farmers in overalls enjoying the fair with their family. This was not one of the bigger fairs, but it was one of the most genuine. Huron is also Pheasant capital "of the world". In Mitchell we were by the CORN Palace. It is a convention center and the walls are decorated by corn parts.

Minnesoda State Fair, Wenesday 09/02/09

The Minnesota State Fair was our favorite of the seven with a number one ranking. It was the biggest of all the fairs we visited. They had a lot of different food and we sampled fried green beans, fried and fried cheese curds. They had just about anything you wanted "on a stick." The dairy barn offered fantastic malts and we indulged in a strawberry/rhubarb malt. The midway was huge with all kinds of rides, most of them too scary for us. We had beautiful weather at the fair and look forward to visiting this fair again. Another reason for the fair being GREAT was that we got to spend time with niece Nancy and grandniece Nola.

Michigan State Fair, Sunday 08/30/09

The Michigan State Fair in Detroit was dead last in our ranking of the seven fairs. It was the smallest fair and the fairgrounds are in bad shape. We were told this might be the last year. for the fair and it is the oldest state fair in the U.S. We were able to walk through the only exhibit hall in about 5 minutes. There was very little livestock and the fair is not supported by the agricultural community. It is held in Detroit because that is the largest population in Michigan, but it is not where the farmers live. We did stop to see the paintings at the Detroit Art Institute and it was quite impressive. The closed CONEY building was next to the fair.

New York State Fair, Saturday 08/29/09

The New York State Fair in Syracuse was our second favorite fair of the seven. The fair grounds are in good shape and there were lots of exhibits. Again, it had rained on our way to the fair, but we had no rain while at the fair. The boat was used by the ERIE canal corp over the years. The other picture is a BUTTER sculpture.