I grew up here in North Carolina (in Durham, if we’re being precise), and as a kid, one of my favorite times of year was the beginning of fall. Specifically, I loved October, because my family and I would always go to the NC State Fair together. After graduating high school, I moved down to South Carolina for college, and although I might have come up one year for the fair, it was usually too hard to coordinate. My parents were never sure exactly when they were going, it was somewhat of a long drive for me anyway (four hours), and, being a college kid, I always had a ton of school work preventing me from dropping everything to take a spontaneous trip to Raleigh. So (I know, get to the point), when J and I moved back to NC for graduate school, the first thing I thought about (seriously) was the fact that we’d get to go to the 2009 NC State Fair. Yesss.
Ferris Wheel at NC State Fair 2009
We ended up going on a Thursday a few weeks ago. It worked out perfectly, too, because it was Food Lion Hunger Relief Day, the one day that you can get in free if you bring four canned goods. (To graduate students, free = YES, PLEASE, if you didn’t know). Mainly we just spent time walking around and exploring. I showed J the Village of Yesteryear, where tons of artisans and crafters have booths displaying their wares; we checked out the barns and I squealed over all the animals; we took advantage of the outstanding people-watching (arguably on the order of that People of Walmart website), etc. etc. Oh, and we almost missed the rabbits, since they were in a separate building from the other animals. I just happened to see them as we were walking by to go somewhere else. People. This would have been a cri.sis.
After shying away from the booth with all the weird fried stuff (candy bars, Oreos, sticks of butter, and such as) on account of the huge line, we ended up snacking on chicken tenders (he), fries (me), and fresh lemonade (us). Then, before leaving, we decided to ride the Ferris Wheel. It’s pretty much my favorite thing ever, for a few reasons. First, it’s relatively tame as rides go, but still gives you that oh crap, danger feeling as you’re going up and over the top. Also, you’re up really high, which gives a great view of the whole fairgrounds.
Everything the light touches, Simba.
Plus. What stereotypical make-out location is better than the Ferris Wheel? I challenge you to name it. At the very least, they make great places for photo-ops.
We are a stereotype. Also: self-portraits are hard.
This ride in particular turned out to be really cool, too. See, we had to wait in line forever because right when we were almost to the front, the operators had to bust out their tools and fix a part on the wheel. (Slightly unsettling, but I firmly believe that the fear of death legitimately adds to the excitement of shitty carnival rides). When we finally got on and the wheel started to rotate, there was a loud explosion sound right as we were passing the part that they just finished repairing. Well. Luckily for us, we soon realized that the ride wasn’t actually falling apart. The explosion was fireworks! Awesome! We got to watch fireworks from the Ferris Wheel! It was perfect! They were still going when our ride ended, so we stood around and watched until they were over.
Needs to be a postcard. Just sayin.'
So, in summary: I love the fair. I love living in North Carolina so I can attend it. And no, this post was not sponsored by said state fair (although I wish it were; I could use the dollaz).
As a proper goodbye (and so the title of the post will make sense), I’ll leave you with a photo from Halloween last Saturday. Wake Forest threw a party for the graduate students at Burke Street Pub, and we heard there was free beer, so we hit it up with a few people from J’s program. Turned out to be pretty interesting (fun?) (way too crowded?) (really loud?), and also reinforced my growing suspicion that I’m a 74-year-old trapped in a 23-year-old’s body. The whole time, I was thinking: Man, I’d rather be sitting on my couch in my sweatpants, knitting and watching scary movies with J and the cat. But that’s a different discussion. Anyway, we were ZOMBIES!
BRRAAAAINNSS!!
Enjoy me and my undead boyfriend haunting your dreams tonight, suckers!
