Minnesota State Fair.

On labor day weekend, we spent one morning out at the Minnesota State Fair. The only time Bill and I had ever gone together was a couple years ago and with 5 other people, while that was fun, we didn't get to do all of the things we wanted.

This time we took the bus and went early. We hoped that taking the bus would relieve us of finding parking and then trying to find our way back. We went early to hopefully avoid the extra busy part of the day, which logically seemed like it would be afternoon. Both of these things seemed to work out well, so we will probably use the bus again and go early in the future.

Stop #1: Miracle of Birth Barn

And then we wandered awhile...

Stop #2: Summit on a Stick

Stop #3 International Bizarre
This was one of the places I really wanted to check out the last time we were here but didn't get a chance. It wasn't as great as I thought it was going to be... Sadly, not even great enough for a photo.

Stop #4 Ocean Spray Booth
They were handing out free samples of some juice. It was delicious. But where ever anything is free, the people are pushy and rude. I offered Bill $1 to go and hug the giant blow up bottle of juice, but he declined.

And some more wandering...

Stop #5 Leinie's Lodge

Stop #6 Food Building | Cheese Curds

Stop #7 Agriculture Building | Crop Art

Stop #8 Agriculture Building | Corn Judging

Stop #9 Agriculture Building | Vintage Seed Sacks

Stop #10 Agriculture Building | Orchids

More wandering...

Stop #11 Fine Arts Building
We did go in. The Fine Arts Building might be my favorite place at the fair, but I didn't take any photos inside. It just wouldn't be the same... But they had this funky "mural" outside.

Wandering again...

Stop #12 Corn on the Cob
Bill is going to hate me for this one...

Stop #13 Horse Barn

Stop #14 Swine Barn
I'm sure there is more to the name of the barn, seeing as there are sheep & goats in it too...

There was some sort of piggy judging contest thing... Not really sure how I feel about people whacking pigs with sticks...

And it was piggy nap time...
And I almost got run over by two random pigs running through the pins...

Wandering...

Stop #15 Corn Dogs
Just waiting in a really long line. This was at around 12:30, so it was getting busier and the lines were getting a lot longer.

And then we decided to make our way home. We had a good time, but it was warm and there was a lot of walking. And it was starting to sprinkle. We also had plans that night, so we decided to call it quits to go home and take a nap.

My only regret, not getting cookies at Sweet Martha's... but we'll be back, probably not for a couple years...