Corn Palace Days

School started last Monday.

The Corn Palace Festival started on Wednesday.

The teachers must just love all the tired kids with cotton candy hangovers this week!

Every year about this time, Mitchell's Main Street shuts down between 7th & 1st, the rides and game booths are set up, and the deep fryers start bubbling. Every evening the sounds of live music from the Corn Palace stage drift across the nearby streets, and kids, parents, and doting grandparents weave their way through the milling crowds stuffing their faces with corn dogs, cotton candy, and caramel apples. (All it's missing to make it really fun are the animals....)

Rides aren't my thing, and I'm not much on crowds (I don't like them any time, but they're especially awful when they're made up of people I may be expected to recognize and talk to - I really hate small talk!, but Friday night is "junk food" night around here, and fair food certainly qualifies. The kids (and T) like the rides, too.

Super Shot (after)

Last year M wouldn't ride the "drop" ride (I don't blame him!), but this year he's been waiting for it. As you can see from the big grin, it was a thrilling experience.

Way up!

Evil Ride!

H & T ventured on this one, too, which actually didn't look too terrifying, except for the height. I can attest to its popularity, but if I have to ride something, I'll take one that stays a bit closer to the ground. M doesn't do stuff that spins (Tilta-Hurl, anyone?) after a previous bad experience, so he and I watched and documented (and kept track of everyone's stuff - I need to wear something with more pockets! I had car keys, cell phones, an eraser -don't ask - gum, T's wallet, cameras.... Good Grief!)

I have to admit, I was really looking forward to the elephant ears (a.k.a fried dough/funnel cake), but by the time we'd hit both ends of the midway twice, I ready to head for home. Too many people, too much noise, and I prefer to get my thrills on something four-footed and furry. That's quite death-defying enough for me!