Oregon State Fair - 2010

We’ve gone to the fair every year, this year was our first State fair.

There was a huge dinosaur exhibit with about 20 dinos in “real” size. They made noises and moved. For a nominal fee of $6.00 (holy &^%@#& some of those prices were outrageous!) you could get on one and ride it around, sadly we didn’t let them.  You could also pay $15.00 to have your picture taken in a fake dino egg. *insert eye roll* Those people were seriously out to pick our pockets the legal way.

Scared faces – the T-rex was going to eat them!

Lucy wasn’t a very big fan of the exhibit and was actually shaking when we left. She didn’t make any noise and must have thought as little movement as possible to keep her safe. I didn’t know she was scared until the end when the lights were back on. This was the look she gave me.

Annual family photo!!

Joe picked the dump truck for his ride!

Molly wasn’t only too short to ride but WAY to freaking short to ride. She was very sad!

J took Sam on the “bear Affair” which they’ve gone on every year!

Molly ended up using her ticket on a little fishing game!

She won a monkey!

We did have a blast. While the kids’ admission was free, each adult was $11.00 and each ticket for a ride $.75! That doesn’t seem like a ton until you see the rides are 5 -8 tickets each. FIVE DOLLARS FOR A RIDE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? We let the kids each pick ONE ride and walked around seeing things. The “Age of Dinosaur” exhibit was $5.00 for each adult and kids 6 and under free. There were lots of free things for the kids to do; a catch and release (which we did NOT do. I have serious reservations about the ethics of those programs), free smores from the boys scouts and not to mention ALL the animals!!!

We didn’t look around too much at the displays because we went and watched the Chinese acrobats (Sam thought they were Ninjas!). That was one of the coolest most amazing things I’ve ever seen! I SO want to see circ de sole some time, this was just a 20 minute taste. The sheer body strength those guys have is amazing!!! Sam was gasping and clapping and hollering with the crowd. He wants to be an acrobat when he grows up now, scientist is out the window! 

By the time the show was over it was getting dark. We stopped for a treat; fair scones. yuuuum. I’m not sure the calorie content but I could guess it was a lot. Scone, butter and raspberry preserve. It was delicious. We bought two and it was gone within seconds. Funnel cakes were around $9.00, elephant ears were $6.50 and the scones were $1.50.

I swear, we could have gone broke on the one visit!

Things to remember for next year. There’s only one day when they sell ride “bracelets” other days you have to pay per ticket. For the first 5 days of the fair Safeway sells general admission tickets for $7.00 instead of $11.00. Bring a bigger memory card, I forgot to pack my other one and only ended up being able to take these 13 pictures and I’m a picture taking freak!

Remember to pack more water bottles, more snacks for the kids and maybe the wagon, their little legs were real tired by the time we found our car.

We really had a great time though, our other option this afternoon was going to the Barnum and Bailey Circus which is in town. We probably would have spent less but this was more fun and we wouldn’t have gotten the scones!!