The wonders and dangers of your state fair

We spent about eight hours at the final day of the State Fair of Virginia yesterday. I'm still tired.

I love fried food and I love Oreos, but I couldn't bring myself to have one of these. I'm more of a fried Twinkie or Snickers man myself.

The temperature stayed in the low 90s and the humidity wasn't quite mid-summer levels, but it was rough. I'm still tired.

State fairs are mostly crafty and agricultural in nature. The technology exhibits that I saw dealt with fast cars or tractors. There are competitions for every domesticated animal in the United States, it seems. Same for plants. On the craft side of the fair, the ingenuity in quilting and many of the art projects were stunning. The judging had to be difficult and the ribbons well-deserved.

Quirky displays of "extreme canine" and "comedy high diving" were popular, as are the ubiquitous pig races and demolition derbies. The Civil War demonstrations in the Heritage Village are an excellent diversion. Equestrian competitions were still going strong on the fair's last day.

But we really go to state fairs for three things:

1) the midway and all the cheap, cheesy little thrill rides,
2) the carnival games where we're willing to spend $30 to win a cheap oversized stuffed animal that won't fit anywhere in the house, and
3) the unhealthiest food on the planet this side of straight poison, but is it good.

I personally had an Italian sausage, a bag of kettle corn (split with the wife), and a pork chop on a stick. We also had pizza, fried pickles, and more than a gallon of sugary soda. No fried oreos or fried Pepsi (fried dough with Pepsi syrup.)

Luckily, we stood or walked for the whole eight hours.

I'm still tired.