Yesterday, Christopher and I went to the San Diego County Fair. Now, remember that SD County is about as big as 1/4 of Ohio, so this is a big “county” fair, but it’s definitely not the Ohio State Fair. It’s held at the Del Mar racetrack, which seems like an odd place to hold a fair, but it’s about the only place they really could have it. And it seems strange to have it so early in the year, but since the racing season opens in mid-July, it is when, and where, it is.
It’s incredibly popular. I guess the authorities worry about it being a target too because one had to go through metal detectors to get in. That was odd.
They have a few animals but not many. They were mostly in one outbuilding and more like a petting zoo. That is, there were pens of “example” sheep, goats, pigs and cattle. Here are the pigs:

There was another barn with the competition animals, but the public wasn’t permitted in. Boo. Some kids were showing their cows just outside of that building. I didn’t take a pic, but they were all dressed the same–like the 4H had a “jungen” division. Yes, that disturbing. Every teenage girl in pigtails and white blouse and green kerchief…odd.
There was a pretty big a midway filled with barkers and their games and carney-constructed rides that looked nauseating just to watch, much less actually get on. Speaking of carnies, there were Mexican carnies along with the usual scary white ones. Another cultural difference.
Of course, there was obscene fair food. I packed turkey jerky and other healthier nibblies so as not to get tempted by the chocolate covered bacon or “you name it, it gets fried” vendors (fried butter–ew!). There sure was a lot! But I don’t really trust those kind of food vendors anyway–who knows how clean they are. You can’t believe what they say, frankly. Inflated claims? You betcha…I think this booth must be owned by a male for its gross exaggeration:

Anyway, we looked at the woodworking, which was C’s purpose in going since he had classmates from the courses in woodworking he’s been taking at Palomar who had entered pieces. The examples, student and otherwise, were mostly ok, but not great. We both agreed that woodworkers tend to add too much (2 kinds of wood? Nah..let’s try 5!) and focus too hard on the technical (great joints, but the design sucks). There were a couple of “cleaner” designed tables that I liked–more modernist. And the inlay work in some of the Federalist-type pieces was impressive. Overall, though, lots of heavy, gaudy stuff.
Then we looked at the photography. That was painful, mostly, and there was a ton of it. The judges, sadly, fell into the “if it’s cute, it wins” trap far, far too much. A gazillion pics of toddlers and puppies. And there was enough HDR to make me cross-eyed. That trend is already beaten to death. There were a few good pieces, however–mostly Type 55 (Polaroid transfer) or even a few “tin type”-related images. Digital is great, but those “analogue” methods still have more depth.
Probably the best stuff we saw were the flowers–beautiful roses and several examples of the odd local flora. My favorites, though, were the dahlias. I had no idea they could look like this!

How did they ever evolve into these shapes? While I know there has been a lot of breeding by humans, the original plants had to have the basics–how/why did they ever evolve this way? Stunning.

At some point we went into one of the multiple building with the cheesy ShamWOW-ish sales people. There, I was totally shocked to see this, which I totally remember from the Ohio State Fair… in like 1976. I can’t believe they are still trotting this thing out and, moreover, that there were people paying $3 to get its “predictions.”


We did a hell of a lot of walking over several hours, so after we left the fair we went in search of a beer (there was beer at the fair, of course, but $7.50 for a single Bud Light… um, no). We ended up in Encinitas, at a dive-ish bar on the 101. Blind choice, but it ended up being a good one–they offered pitchers of any of their tap beers (except Guinness) for $8! These were good beers too–like Stella and Fat Tire and some local companies’ brews. We got a nice hefeweizen. I like this kind of beer in the summer since it has lots of flavor but is light on the alcohol. Add a big slice of lemon (some do orange, but I prefer lemon), and it’s really refreshing. Turns out that beer helps hydrate better than water, post-exercise.

After one of those we walked the couple of blocks over to the ocean. The marine layer had mostly come in, so the light was very flat but there were breaks over the water. Terribly pretty. I’m not much of a fan of north county, but I could live in Encinitas.


Earlier, as we walked from the car down the main drag of Encinitas (the 101) in search of a liquid refreshment establishment, we saw this store’s sign and wondered if it was deliberate (or if the owners had even noticed):

Anyway, post-beers and look at the ocean, we headed back down to San Diego proper, fighting traffic on the 5 the whole way. Sand Diego is one of the most popular holiday destinations so, well, forget about trying to get into town with any speed this weekend. After all that walking, etc., we were hungry and tired, so we went one exit past mine and got In-n-Out for dinner–a rare but yummy treat for me.
Except for the traffic, and some of the photography, it was a lovely day. This morning, however, my legs are sorer than the day after doing a 6-mile run. We did walk an awful lot, between the fair and around Encinitas, but wow. I think I’ll take another day before I try to do my week 4 day 3 run.