The Kansas State Fair: Fair Food

It takes about 30 seconds after you enter the east gate of the fair to start running into food booths. It took Harry a little less than that to decide that he was thirsty and was getting something to drink.

Not too far inside the gate is a petting zoo. Kristy and I decided we wanted to go through that while Harry was getting his drink. This "petting zoo" had such things in it as a kangaroo, a tortoise, and wallabys, none of whom were interested in being petted. It also had the most embarrassed llama (or alpaca) I have ever seen. This poor thing had a French poodle haircut and sat in his pen looking absolutely mortified.

But there were goats. Big goats. Little goats. Tiny baby, nearly newborn goats. And they are adorable and pettable.

As we left the petting zoo we saw Harry who had not only a root beer but also a polish sausage sandwich. He had eaten lunch about 11:30 so it stood to reason that he would be hungry. Kristy was also talking about needing something to eat. I, on the other hand, had not eaten until about 1:30. It was board meeting day so I had more lunch than usual, especially the macadamia nut cookies with dried apricots and dried cranberries in them Yummm.

As we toured the midway, Harry kept asking what we were going to eat. I kept telling him I wasn't hungry yet. Actually, a part of the problem for me at the fair is that there is so much stuff, most of which is a short cut to a coronary. I have to have time to struggle with my conscience. Pronto pups, the ultimate fair food, have held no charm for me since I got an undercooked one back when I was a teenager.

They have some new, air-conditioned buildings at the fair and one of them is like a big food court. After checking out all (or 90%) of the eating places, Kristy and I ended up there. She got pizza (there's a shocker) and I had the closest thing to healthy food there - a chicken salad wrap and some cantelope. It wasn't that I was trying to be healthy. That just sounded like what I wanted.

I think the problem with fair food is that, not matter what you get, your going to wish you had decided on something else. Get a sandwich, you wish you had waited for pizza; get pizza - a pronto pup sounds better; get a pronto pup - wish you had an Indian taco. I was not tempted by the full course meals one booth was serving. It was too warm for that.

Of course we finished the evening with Kristy getting a funnel cake and all of us having a little bit of it. Counteracted by wrap and cantelope.