Adventureland

Other than the summer vacations we had lined up, I decided in the middle of winter that it was my summer goal to visit an All American Fair. The only one I could think of was the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY. I'm not sure if part of my interest in the experience stemmed from the movie Adventureland, but I was looking for something no fair in Canada can provide. But trying to convince people to come with me was pretty tough. I think it was my promise of hand dipped corn dogs that eventually persuaded Nuno around and my promise to Katie that it would be So Bad It's Good. I think until we entered the gates of the fair, Nuno and Katie were ready to blame a waste of one of the only decent Saturdays this summer on me.
Then we walked in and we were just like kids! The stands were retro and colourful.
The food selection was incredible and hilarious. Probably the most shocking/thrilling was to find deep fried Oreos, Twinkies, HoHo's, Mallow Cups... I'm sure if you brought in your own candy bar they'd deep fry it for you.

The rides are rusty, dated and probably so unsafe... Even for MJ!

Although it crossed my mind before going, I suspected that I wouldn't be able to ride many rides in pregnancy. BUT THE SWINGS! Yeah, I was a bit bummed about that.

Finally I found a ride that I could enjoy. The scary ferris wheel.

Being afraid of heights and riding this rusty ride almost did me in. I'm so petrified here.

Katie had no problem enjoying it.

And Nuno just knew a whole lot better than to get on.

At the midway you could win a Smurf in reverse or a Finding Nemo Care Bear. But the games proved to take a lot more skill than Katie or Nuno could muster to win. But Katie did manage to win at a dart game and took home a great framed Micheal Jackson memorial poster.

Well, the only thing disappointing about the fair was that we didn't hear Rock Me Amadeus. But it was totally worth every buck we spent there. Come to think about it, I probably won't need to return to the ECF for another 4 years. By that time our son will be the perfect age to get his first taste of an American Fair and all the sticky, sweaty, smelly, vomity, deep fried memories it provides.