Carnies and Combat Boots

Well, we finally made the trek to the fair last nite - in it's final hours. I was a little miffed that it was almost $20 for the boy and I to get in and then another $20 for tickets to the rides, especially since it was, seriously, the last 3 hours the fair was going to be around. Plus, I'm pretty sure that every ride operator there was either drunk or stoned last nite, which really makes me think it should have been free. As a payoff, I did get some free entertainment, even if we had to pay for the rides. For example, this:

Yes, that would be a woman in cut-off, frayed denim shorts with combat boots. And just to make the scenery more delightful, she also had a Marlboro hanging our of her mouth, which made the entire ensemble all the more attractive. And no, that's not a burly man next to her, that's her "partner" who clearly has just as much regard for appropriate public dressing. For me, the draw of the fair is not the rides, because I get ridiculously motion sick; I can't even watch a train pass without getting out of the car to vomit. For me, it's really the people watching.

The kid of course, had 40 tickets burning a hole in her pocket and was bouncing off the pavement, begging us to go on rides with her. I, of course, refused, given my condition. She did manage to coerce the boy in to hopping on the Cliff Hanger by telling him that she'd go on the Sea Dragon later - she reneged on her agreement only moments later.

Now, I'm not sure if you can fully appreciate the contraption that they are standing in front of, but you actually lay in those green things and you fly around. The kid thought it was a great idea until she actually got strapped in. In the seconds before the guy was going to flip the switch, she started screaming, "Mumma! Mumma! I wanna get off!" So, I told the guy to unhook her and she immediately burst in to tears. I'm not sure what was going on with her, given the fact that she went on this over the summer, all by herself. Anyway, after the jagged sobbing stopped, we settled on this ride - as a family.

Yes my friends, that is a giant tugboat. Picture two adults and a child, crammed in to the back row. Now, remember my motion sickness issue here, because it is a critical element of the night. The boat appears to only rock back and forth, at least to the layman's eye. The boy and the kid however, knew for a fact that once it gets going back and forth, it also spins. No one bothered to tell me. Nice, aren't they? After a lot of swearing at both of them, I headed for the nearest dark corner. Upon pulling myself together, I got bratty and demanded a caramel apple. I took one bite and the kid got the rest.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. The fair is such a dirty and trashy place, but it's a good laugh. The kid burned through her tickets on the bumper cars and a kiddie coaster, not quite satisfied, but at least pacified. At least we ended the night on a sweet note.