What is it with Alaska? Ever since we have arrived in this
state it has rained! Not quite non-stop,
but enough to make things dreary and damp. To add insult to injury, the sun
will pop out in the morning for an hour (unless it’s pouring), just to provide
a little teaser before the clouds close in again. Guess it's typical for this time of year though.
Well, rain or not, that hasn't stopped us from taking part
in the local activities. Arriving at the right time, for once (we have been
doing a good job of arriving at the wrong time), we made it to Palmer in time for
the final weekend of the Alaska State Fair. The Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su)
Valley is known for its gigantic cabbages and vegetables due to the mild
climate, glacial rich soil and super long summer days. The
fair provides locals the opportunity to compete to grow the biggest vegetables
possible. Cabbages, pumpkins, squash, carrots, you name it. They’re all super-sized.
The fair is very agriculture oriented, and there were many 4-H animals on display
(Lily quite liked the pigs and found the turkeys intriguing), an equestrian
competition as well as the standard “fair” going rides, games, and food. The
kids got to choose a couple rides each (I had great fun with Lily getting a
nice cold shower on the whirlwind in the rain. Whee! Um, not.) We sampled some of the food (corn fritters with
honey butter are my new friend), checked out the reptile exhibit, took a look at the King Tut exhibit featuring
replicas of artifacts found in his tomb (the kids were extremely unimpressed,
but I thought it was pretty interesting), and watched a ventriloquist act (this
was a hit with the kids and we came home with his DVD). We spent the afternoon,
and much of the evening there, but eventually the wet & chill got to all of
us and it was time to head home.
 |
| Big veggies! |
 |
| Morgan vs the snapping turtle |
 |
| An almost 1200 lb (I think) cabbage |
No comments:
Post a Comment