Ventura County Fair

We didn't make it to the Ventura County Fair last weekend, so we went this weekend. It's about 40 miles south of Santa Barbara, so it made for a nice little day-long excursion. We started off with lunch at the mall in Ventura, where we could park for free and catch the free shuttle to the fair, rather than having to battle traffic and pay for parking AT the fairgrounds itself. The shuttles? Big yellow school buses, just like the kind Allan and I used to take when we were younger. Boy, did that bring back memories, and I tell ya-- the interior of the buses seemed a lot smaller than I remember :-P

Here are the two boys, one riding sky-high (literally!) as we make our way to the shuttle pickup point:



We didn't end up going on any rides or playing any games in the carnival section of the fair, but we did end up seeing all kinds of interesting exhibits, such as the art exhibit done by schoolchildren in the local area (some very impressive oil paintings from middle-school kids!), a show where we were regaled with a folk tale while a blacksmith churned out horseshoes to give away to 5 lucky audience members, and of course, a variety of animals, mostly farm animals. Todd got to see cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and goats, all up close and personal. Great way to personify all those animals he sings about in "Old McDonald" :-) Our favorite animal exhibit? Why, the turtles, of course! Todd really enjoyed seeing real turtles, some larger and some smaller than the stuffed turtle he carries around with him everywhere.

The last exhibit we visited was the fish aquarium, where Todd immediately spotted the clownfish in the tank near the entrance, and exclaimed: "Nemo!!"

We also stood by the sidelines as a group of Clydesdale horses came by on parade, pulling an old firetruck wagon. The wagon was complete with fireman and a Dalmation, very old-fashioned ;-) And it was the first time I'd ever seen Clydesdales up close, I knew they were big horses but didn't realize HOW large they were until I was standing about a dozen feet away from them!

For a break, we sat in the shade and enjoyed the strumming and singing of a bluegrass band called the Iron Mountain Boys. They had some CDs for sale, and also perform for hire at events, so we grabbed one of their fliers, as we enjoyed listening to them immensely.



And of course, what county fair would be complete without its share of vendors? We wandered through the showrooms, chock-full of all kinds of vendors, some demonstrating their products to interested onlookers. One of my favorites was the vendor who sold hand-made porch signs with creative designs and ways to display family names, such as "Barrett's Bar" or "Olsen's Outback". I thought something like "The Knight Castle" would be especially appropriate for when we get our own home in the future. But when I took a closer look at the already-made signs on display, I found that we already had a ready-made one on display:



Wonder if he would've given us a discount for buying the sign off the display rack instead of having to carve one out for us right then and there ;-)

We stopped off back at the mall for dinner at Red Robin before heading home, and enjoyed a lovely sunset (Todd remarked: "what's that red thing?", not realizing it was the sun in beautiful red and orange colors as it got ready to dip below the horizon and go to sleep) along the way.

All in all, a very fun family day :-)