Day 2 At the Fair

Day 2 at the MN State Fair is brought to you by the color yellow (for ponchos) and the letter “r” (for rain). I don’t mind a rainy day at the fair because the crowds are smaller and being prepared solves most weather related issues. I was surprised at the size of the crowd for how terrible the weather forecast was for the day. We didn’t hurry to the fair because of the weather and we ran into a problem I have never encountered at 9:15 – parking was FULL. I know my way around the area and was able to find us a shuttle utilizing street parking because the shuttle lot was also full. Day 1 also saw parking issues at the fair and several off-site locations.

Pro Tip: be prepared with a backup and a backup to your backup parking plan for the fair this year.

Day 2 is typically a much more casual day for us at the fair and today was no exception.

We planned on a lighter food day because of how awful I felt yesterday and had no food planned until lunch. When we arrived we walked through the Merchandise Mart and the Creative Activities buildings. We spent extra time viewing art in the Education building due to the thunder and pouring down rain. I’ve never taken time to enjoy the art in the Education building before and I was impressed with the high quality and amazing talent displayed. We spent time talking to a high school student in the robotics program. If you haven’t watched the robotics competition in the north east corner you should! We moved on to the Eco-Experience building and there is a great exhibit on LED lighting! If, like me, you frequently look for a black-market source for old-school lighting this exhibit will help you determine which LED light you will hate the least.

We had lunch at the Salem Lutheran Church Dining Hall where I had the meatball sundae and a Swedish egg coffee. I’ve had the meatball sundae before and it is delicious. I’ve never had the Swedish coffee before and I was impressed; this is my new go-to coffee at the fair.

The rain slowed to an annoying drizzle so we headed to West End Market for shopping. The West End has a great collection of shops and I always buy a MN themed t-shirt; I have a few options and will make my final selection and purchase on Tuesday or Thursday next week. We watched glass blowing at FOCI – if you haven’t watched a demo of glass blowing you should. We returned to the Grandstand because I had to check on a purse I missed on day 1 and re-visit the Adam Turman booth for a t-shirt.

Shopping makes me crave tacos so we stopped at The Mexican Hat for a taco salad. We spent the next 90 minutes at the KFAN booth listening to the Bumper to Bumper show and guest Andrew Zimmern. If you haven’t heard Andrew Zimmern talk about his love for the MN State Fair and MN in general you should listen to the podcast of the interview.

We, again, found great free entertainment at Dino’s Gyros and picked up a new 2018 food, the Messy Guiseppe,  from Mancini’s down the street. The sandwich was good, the sausage a bit MN spicy, and I wished the bread had been toasted.

That is all we ate! I just talked to my Mom and we both wish we had grabbed a Greek salad to go from Demetri’s.

Tomorrow is a much needed day off for me. No Fair and no blogging. I’ll be back Sunday with a possible trip to the fair and a post on surviving rain at the fair. Next week will bring a post on shopping at the fair.