We expected big congestion on the freeway offramp to the Cal Expo grounds in Sacramento.
None. We thought there'd be a long line of cars out on the street waiting to park with lots of uncomfortably hot folks in orange vests waving orange flags at us in the dirt. Again, zilch. I guess we've been conditioned by the San Diego Del Mar experiences. We parked on concrete under a huge canopy of solar panels--nice. It was definitely hot, but quite breezy, which helped. No line at the ticket window. So easy. Then we figured that most folks probably come in after work and the kids like the fun zone after the sun sets. And most people wisely wait until it cools off a bit.The Expo grounds are huge and include Raging Waters waterpark and a race track. Lots of permanents structures and misted covered areas with tables. Even a lagoon. It has an old-Disneyland feel about it, complete with sky gondolas and monorail. We got our bearings with a map, bought some lemonade and headed off to the commercial buildings and county exhibits. We'd missed the commercial pavilions at the Nevada County Fair (very limited), and we were itching to buy some new gadgets. There was a new mop! Didn't buy it, but new mops (this one uses steam) don't come along every year, you probably already know! We did buy: puncture-type wall (Hercules) hooks (from the guy that said he invented them in the first place), tortilla warmers, amazing Rhino glue ("glues anything to anything"--I'll have to run a Rhino vs Gorilla competition sometime), and a 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton queen-sized sheet set with deep pockets ($20!!). And fudge. Talked to the Shopsmith guy (we have one, already) and got a couple of pointers and free pattern cds.
The exhibits were a bit disappointing. Somehow, we thought they'd be, well, grander, or something,
than we were used to seeing at the county level. The creme d'la creme. But, alas, they were somewhat underwhelming. Especially the arts and crafts. Turns out, the pieces aren't taken from the winners in all the counties. These pieces were all submitted as if to any other regional competition. And, where were the gems and minerals? We did learn a couple of things. There was an area where each county could put together a big, promotional display. Nevada County, and quite a few others, were total no-shows. San Diego County--shouldn't have bothered--lame. But, who knew California had a Lake County, and an Alpine County? Glenn? Tehama? And California is trying to be the first state to recycle polystyrene. Cool! Also, somebody made a very nice Cal. grizzly bear all in Legos, that they put in the toy exhibit.We went (comparatively) light on the dinner. The Chinese food plate was a good deal. I'll be skipping the eggroll-on-a-stick, next time. Too pasty. There were new fried options. I hadn't seen fried avocado, frog legs, pickles and/or olives at a fair before. But if it can be put on a stick, fried, dipped in chocolate, or all three, I should expect to see it sometime, I guess. At the Texas State Fair, this year, according to an article in the Nevada County Union, big winners included Deep Fried Lattes (fried pastry topped with cappuccino ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream and instant coffee powder), fried chili pie, fried guacamole (it's breaded, fried, and served with ranch dressing or salsa), fried cookie dough (now, we're talkin'), fried peach cobbler on a stick, fried sweet potato pie, and B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding. Last year, the "smash hit", there, was fried Coke (!!!).
We liked it! We watched the Commodores for awhile, and a good 50's rock band was playing while we munched our Chinese food under the misters. We were also reinforced in our, up until now, purely theoretical opinion that older white women should never do hip-hop. In public. Please. We'll go back next year. The Hercules Hook guy also sells these nice little potted plant stands.
