PWC Fair

I always remember going to the county fair as a kid. The Demolition Derby was always my favorite. What's not to love about watching pimped out cars race around a dirt track beating each other up? My sister always says you can take a girl out of the country, but you can't take the country outta the girl.  I do love me a good ol' country derby. Yeehaw!

So, when I happened to see in the newspaper that the Prince William County fair was having its derby on a Friday night this year,  I pulled out my cowboy boots and daisy dukes (ha!) and trudged by family right there yonder to the good ol' county fair.....heeheee, I really don't have cowboy boots, and I'm pretty sure I outgrew my daisy dukes 20 years ago, but I did make sure the kids wore their sneakers.  

As soon as I told the kids that we were going to the fair Dan got super excited- not about the derby but about the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel? I was a little surprised where he got this idea, but then I remembered we have a book about Dora going to the carnival fair and, sure enough, she & Boots ride the ferris wheel.

While I'm generally not a fan of fair rides, Daniel was so excited about the idea of going on a ferris wheel, I couldn't squash his enthusiasm by telling him he couldn't ride it. I was secretly hoping that once we got there, amid all the other attractions (like the derby!), he'd forget about the ferris wheel. 

No such luck. Dan Credle is not one to forget about things when he has his mind set on something. Forget forgetting about it. He wasn't only not going to forget about it, he was downright perseverating over it. We couldn't do anything (including the derby) until we rode that ferris wheel.  

And, oh, the ferris wheel. Oh, oh, OH, OH MY. The pitiful ferris wheel. 

I remember going to the fair as a kid, but I don't ever remember EVER seeing a ferris wheel quite as rough as this ferris wheel. I'm pretty sure it was probably the same ferris wheel that was at the fair when I was a kid. The same steel.  Same seats, same latches, possibly the same attendants, who I might add were not helping us feel any better about boarding this decrepit ride.  They were slipping and sliding around chuckling and talking smack, while meanwhile the senior attendant, who I might add was looking mighty senior, was smoking and hacking away as he sat in his booth running the wheel. 

Oh.

My.

Noone's ever fallen from a ferris wheel, right?

Sigh.

Belle was all smiles.

Do you sense the worry in my face?
See me holding to the side with one hand and holding onto Dan with the other?

Dan doesn't look too concerned does he?
I was trying hard to hide my fear.....I do hope my children are more carefree than their neurotic mother.

Watch Anabella's face in this next set of pictures....

See the derby over there....which, by the time we got to it, it was too late to find any seats so we couldn't half see.....next year we are going to JUST the derby. Nothing else. Derby only. No ferris wheel, no livestock, no fried food, no ducks, no big cat shows......we are sitting in the stadium and watching the demolition derby. Period. 

This was the 'shew, we made it!' selfie taken just as we were about to get off this crazy thing.
That's me thinking 'shew, we made it!'
Dan was just thinking man, that was cool! And, of course, he wanted to ride again.

Did I mention it cost us $24 to ride the ferris wheel? $1 per ticket and it took 6 tickets per person.  We could have paid $30 for bands for the kids to ride unlimited, but we weren't about to let them ride anything else after seeing the shape that wheel was in.  And honestly I didn't really see any other rides suitable for them anyway. Not that we really even looked. 

We did do the ducks. Is that as classic a fair attraction as the ferris wheel and demolition derby or what? The best thing about the ducks- everyone wins.  Dan picked a light up sword which never quite worked, but he liked it anyway; and Anabella chose a flaming dolphin, which I think is still in the van. It was pink, of course.

Next, we ventured to the next best classic fair attraction (to the derby, of course) and that was the animals:  

They were a bit reluctant at first, but ended up getting pretty comfortable petting ol' Betsy here.

That's it for my pictures, but the kids enjoyed seeing all the other animals as well and then our final stop was the Big Cat Show. Another OH MY. 

I could hardly stand it. The showman had two tigers and a lion and he was making them perform little tricks such as jumping onto a barrel and through a hoop. I couldn't help but think of that book Water for Elephants about how some trainers mistreat circus animals to get them to perform (I know it's wrong to judge but I couldn't help thinking this guy was one of those trainers), and after all the junk we'd eaten over the course of the night combined with the adrenaline rush from that crazy ferris wheel ride combined with the smell of manure from the barns we'd been trekking through, I honestly felt like I was going to be sick to my stomach if I had to watch another second of this wild cat show.

Fortunately, the kids weren't too impressed either, so they were easily swayed to move onto our next and final good ol' all American fair attraction....the cotton candy! (My husband is seriously a big kid.)

Yes, just what we needed at 9:30pm after this fun filled evening at the county fair- a little sugar high and sticky fingers & faces to go with the dirt and germs that were already caked over the rest of their little bodies right down to their mud caked shoes.

What's not to love about a good ol' county fair?!

Whose idea was this anyway?! 

Next year we go JUST for the derby.