Sunday, August 5, 2012

Quick Trip to the @IndyStateFair

I had a great morning at church.  It wasn't without challenges but there were some great and important things that happened.  So I was feeling good when we got home and I got a crazy idea...

Let's take the 1:30 train down to the Indiana State Fair and get a little taste of opening weekend!  Jeff had gotten called into work all morning so he wanted some down time.  Fine by me- perfect opportunity to ask my best State Fair buddy to join me and Christy was eager to get down there!

Sorry for the picture quality- the lens on my cell phone was dirty!

We just made the train and the kids, as always, loved the ride down.  We immediately hit the Dairy Bar for grilled cheese and milkshakes.  YUM!  The Dairy Bar has to be one of the best deals when it comes to feeding the family.  We had 2 Moo Chew Meals- a special american and pepper jack grilled cheese sandwich and an incredible lemon milkshake.  $5 each.  Teagan had mozzarella cheese sticks- $3.50.  Zach had the kid's meal for $4- grilled cheese sandwich, apples, milk, and a crazy straw.

Next, we took a trip to the new DuPont Food Pavilion.  This is a building focused completely on Indiana food.  I enjoyed it.  Best of all is a Market in the center of the building that features Indiana Artisan items like honey, hot sauce, marshmallows, jellies, and so much more.  I bought a raspberry-dark chocolate jam and carrot cake jam (carrot, pear, pineapple, and carrot cake spices).  Can't wait to try them!

We wanted to see some animals so we made a trip through the cattle barn and watched a cow getting cleaned up to be shown.

Next it was a visit to the International Pavilion.  This year, the focus is on Italy.  While it didn't seem like there was a lot when we first walked in, we ended up enjoying a bit of time here!  We learned how to play bocce, saw a beautiful gondola, heard a singer (who also happens to be a gondola guy on the Canal in Indy), and tried rosemary lemonade and blood orange lemonade from Little Eataly (a local food truck).  The kids also got to dress up like a gladiator and a Roman citizen from long ago.



We went to see if any baby cows had been born and enjoyed a cute little guy named Dean who had just been born a few hours prior!

We got a free sample of Turkey Hill ice cream and sat in the shade for a bit.  We went to watch the dancers on the Ford Dance Stage.  Then we saw the Clown Band on the shuttle and had to share a ride with them!



We ended the day with shake ups.  The kids got orange and I got lime and Christy got a lime and orange blend.  Unfortunately, the very nice young man who was making them couldn't have been following the recipe correctly because our refreshing drinks were actually more of an intensely sweet syrup.  Thankfully, we were racing to catch the train home so we saved the drinks and diluted them at home.

The train ride back was fun.  Something about riding a train is so relaxing and so special.  The cost of the round trip to the Fair went down this year so it is $9 per adult ticket and $6 per child (2 and under ride free).

I'm eager to go back with the kids for a longer day soon.  And I hope to find a day I can go without my kids so I can really explore and enjoy!

Unknown Mami
Photobucket

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I have several friends in Honduras who are from Indiana. I knew that the fair was a big deal. Thanks for giving me a bit of insight on why it is a big deal. I loved the pic, too, by the way.

Keetha Broyles said...

We lived in IN for 26 years and never once took in the state fair. What WERE we thinkin'?

Katherine said...

The Iowa State Fair opens later this week. This will be the first year since we moved here that we won't be able to go (because of my awful work schedule) and I'm very sad about it. I love the State Fair!

Claudya Martinez said...

I would love to go there! Looks like so much fun.

Garret said...

Wow, a great post. I was actually excited while reading it. LOL. I wish I had been there too. Surely it would have been 10 times funner with me there. Right?