The State Fair

On Wednesday, I got to travel with Vivian and a car full of lovely young ladies to the Nebraska State Fair (putting up with plenty of "single girl talk" along the way). This is likely going to be the last year they have the State Fair at the location in Lincoln, where it's been held for the last 109 years or so. The air was thick with the smell of farm animals and greasy funnel cakes, and the sounds of carnival barkers and nauseous rides. It all brought back memories of my trips to the Nebraska State Fair in years gone by. They had plenty of bizarre fair food to enjoy, from deep-fried peaches to a hot beef sundae made with scoops of potatoes and a cherry tomato on top. I was almost brave enough to try that. I didn't try to win any giant stuffed animals, but we did get to watch a couple pig races before heading on to the main event.

The whole reason we came to the fair was to see a free concert put on by Third Day. It was allegedly going to start at seven, but a late start and a long opening act pushed it back to well after eight. Every seat in the arena had been taken hours in advance, so we were forced to peek at the stage from the perimeter of the theater, where it seemed all the guys over seven feet tall were trying to do the same. Vivian and I were able to squeeze between some of them to watch the concert. Then, when the band pretended to be done for the night (right before an encore or two), several people took them seriously and started to leave. Vivian and I were quick enough to grab some second-row seats with fifteen minutes of concert remaining. That was great.

Vivian and I took a trip on the Ferris wheel before heading back to Omaha. The funnel cake in my stomach had barely digested, so I was feeling a bit queasy by the time we got off. It was loads of fun, though. I'll have to remember to get all my rides in before even trying to eat some of that fried grease again.

Watch the video from our trip to the fair