( ________ ) On a stick!

Since I was in Oregon all last summer, I missed out on the Minnesota State Fair. Skott went, and tried to prepare me but it is one of those things you just have to see to believe! Since my internship was about one hour from the fair, Skott came up and we went the day after my last day at work.

The thing that I found the most hilarious was all the different things you could get ON A STICK. Seriously! Stuff like:
Pickles, big slabs of bacon, frozen cheesecake, frozen bananas, foot long corn dogs, deep fried candy bars, spiraled french fries, scotch eggs, any kind of fruit, alligator, beef, chicken, turkey, falafels, ..... the list goes on! But my favorite was: HOT DISH ON A STICK.

Now I have lived in the midwest for almost three years and I am still not exactly sure what "hot dish" really is. It is a commonly heard phrase, but you get a different answer every time you ask someone what makes a hot dish. The closest thing I can figure it is, is that mystery casserole/goulash/unknown meat/whatcha-got stew thing you would find at a huge Mormon potluck. C'mon, you all know what I am talking about! :) After seeing it advertised "on a stick" at the fair, I was dying to figure out how this worked and what they considered hot dish. Go figure, the line was atleast 50 people long and I couldn't get close enough to find out. Mystery remains.

I wish I had of taken pictures of these two booths on this one street (yes, the fair is that big! Like a town with street names and everything). One booth boasted: "Everything on a stick!" and the other booth across the street said: "Nothing on a stick!" hahaha

We had a great time at the fair in the morning when it wasn't as crowded. We walked around for atleast 7 hours and I kid you not, we probably saw only 3/4 of it. -and we didn't even go into the Midway area with rides, games, etc. Once it got crowded and we kept getting jostled apart, I was done. Ready to go. Tired of being run over by rude, self-consumed people. Luckily, we took a free park and ride bus. There were so many people that we had to wait in line for at least 30 minutes just to cross the street to get to the bus loading area. Once our bus came, it was a quick trip back to the car.

I couldn't imagine taking kids there and trying to keep track of them. I would be a nervous wreck. Several times Skott and I got seperated and it was amazing how fast people filled inbetween you and before you knew it, you were really far apart. A bit scary, but a great "midwest" experience!

These were my favorite -Scotch eggs. It's sausage wrapped around an egg and then deep fried. Served on a stick with your choice of sauces. We put honey mustard on ours.

We always have to check out the Percherons and draft horses when we go to a fair. My great grandpa always had a team that he used for plowing, hauling, and in the winter, pulling an old bobsled loaded with straw bales and a bunch of kids! Great memories!

This was one of the smallest ones that Skott is standing by: