Minnesota State Fair 2016

I loved the Minnesota State Fair last year. This year, I loved it even more! Mostly because it was so pleasantly cool and overcast the day we went. It was just the perfect weather. And we saw the coolest stuff.

Michaela and I drove down early from St. Cloud and started the morning with a bucket of cookies.

Breakfast of champions!

Next we went to the Eco Experience. It was so neat, we probably stayed in there for over an hour. We looked at all the displays about different aspects of Minnesota and the environment.  Recycling, water quality, wood burning stoves, biking, beans and agriculture, weather and climate change, wind and solar energy, and more. It was great. I took a survey about my feelings about the wood burning stoves exhibit (I was shocked what a difference a good stoves make, but no, it won't impact my lifestyle or habits at all in the next year), and I won a small canvas tote bag. Perfect timing, because next we went to the fine arts pavilion, where I won a ribbon for being a fine arts detective. I put the ribbon in my small bag. 

They had so many more props, I could have taken a dozen pictures at this bike in the Eco Experience. It's okay, I didn't.

The fine arts pavilion was great, it was an art museum full of great paintings and sculptures. Michaela and I completed the scavenger hunt (thus, the ribbons), and also voted for our favorite piece.

Paul Bunyan made out of recycled shirts and jeans was cool...but a bit creepy, still.

Next stop was corn on the cob.

Then to the International Bazaar, to watch a Filipino-American dance troupe. Some of the kids did the tininkling!

Ben and Ellory met up with us and we wandered in the crafts pavilion, and then decided to check out the 4H pavilion. Ellory and I were amazed! It was amazing! All these kids' work- from photography, to wood working, to posters on infectious disease, and much, much more. There was going to be a live competition a little later on with teams of kids presenting their Rube Goldberg machines that had to crush a can and toss it in a recycling bin. Unfortunately, Michaela and I had to go before the demonstrations, but it was still neat to see the kids prepping their machines. We caught the parade going past, which was more amazingness! Stilts! Fire trucks! Marching bands!

You can't do the fair without taking a picture in a thing...what are these things even called!?

Michaela and I hit the road around 2. My fitbit was really happy with my step count for the day. The weather couldn't have been better. The cookies were delicious. Another successful year at the Great Minnesota Get Together!