Fall leaves at the Fairgrounds

This year may well be the prettiest autumn in my memory. The weather has remained pleasant long into the season and we haven't had one of those mid-October storms that blows all the nice leaves off the trees.  We went again to the Fair where flowers are still blooming!

Winter Carnival Snow Sculptures

It was a cold, windy, sunny day here in the Twin Cities but it's expected to get even colder next week. We used the clear skies as an excuse to cross the street into the State Fairgrounds to check out the St. Paul Winter Carnival's snow-sculpting contest.

About a dozen 10-foot cubes of compacted snow were delivered onto the Kidway of Machinery Hill this week, and today was a working day for the sculptor teams to put their creations together.  This year a new feature was added; a giant snow slide that Wynn and I took a ride on (very fast and no way to brake...)

They had speakers up around the perimeter of the grounds playing Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers tunes - it's cold enough now as I write this in the evening that I can hear the music, and we are about a mile away...

That's Wynn and Baba in the orange sled!

 

Click on this picture to expand - notice the little grey clay model on the snow chunk in front - that's the pattern the sculptor is trying to achieve with the big piece

Using her language skills at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Kind of a bleh day outside, and we had a bad case of cabin fever, so we went out to lunch at United Noodles and stopped by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (also in South Minneapolis).  The MIA has the largest collections of Chinese and Japanese art outside those countries of any museum in the world - so we always have something new to discover. Traditional clothing from various ethnic groups in China, above.

Ceramic figurines of a wedding party, as gifts to that wedding party, over a thousand years old.

 Outside of how amazing the artworks are in their own regard, we particularly appreciate the MIA for helping us present and talk about Wynn's birth culture in a wonderful way. If we lived anywhere else in the U.S. we simply couldn't do this.

As an unexpected bonus, today the museum had activity stations in various places where people could handle items from the collections (or reproductions) and talk with curators and academic specialists. In the Chinese exhibit we got to hold 3,000-year-old artifacts, learn more about ink and brushes, and Wynn talked for about 5 minutes IN MANDARIN with this curator!  She did very, very well!

State Fair 2013 - all over now

The gates were not opened right away after the Fair ended; we had to wait a few days to get back on the grounds. Much of the teardown has taken place but there are still many reminders...

Scene that started the famous balloon-popping episode...

We'll be seeing you guys a few times next year! Those crepes were awesome!

 

We've never taken Wynn out onto the actual Midway, and from looking at the puddles of ... whatever that stuff was almost a week after the Fair had closed ... we WON'T be even when she's 18...

This donut-making machinery could make so many people so happy throughout the year. Like me and Shadow.

 

The grass really never had a chance this year with it being so hot and so dry so long into August...

Our own little Inception moment...

 

Minnesota State Fair - Fifth (and final) Time Out

The heat has been unbelievable for this late in the season! But we still had tickets to use up, so one last time to the Fairgrounds!  Breakfast was eaten! A political statement was made! Art was seen! A comedian was watched! A ride was ridden!

Oh these were so so good.

 

After breakfast we walked up Carnes toward the Food Building - picked up a bag from WCCO Radio - and the next building up from that is the MN Republican Party. There was a fellow out front handing out balloons, and before we knew what was going on he'd given Wynn one.  We continued walking across Underwood and stopped in the open seating area by the gazebo near the Ag Building. We explained who the Republican Party was and their positions on political and social issues, and told her that they were against the Vote No campaign from 2012.  She thought for a moment and asked for a pinback button - and popped the balloon!  (To the cheers of the people sitting around us!)

 

A noticeable amount of student art in the Education building this year coming from Asian kids!

 

A full morning - a tired girl and her parents. School tomorrow...

State Fair 2013 - Fourth Time Out

Evening visit - some mighty fine pie, a tour through Pioneer Square before it gets torn down, and the realization of a goal that Wynn had worked toward all year:

Getting Wynn and me in the mood for Pumpkin Pie Season!

We watched the glass-blowing demonstration for about 10 minutes - Wynn was really interested in how it was done

 

Ever since last year's Fair, Wynn has said she wanted to save up her own money so she could buy a strawberry smoothie from this stand. She was very good about putting money aside as she earned it during the year, and was SO happy to pull out $5 to pay tonight.

They are really the best smoothie at the Fair, our girl knows quality.

That's the look of satisfaction from a job well done!