WASHINGTON STATE FAIR TRIP (Day 2)

Hunter and I spent the day at the fair.  

I learned an important lesson about myself while at the fair:  Thrill rides are not as thrilling as they used to be.  With my equilibrium growing old, along with the rest of my aging body, I discovered that thrill rides can cause motion sickness.  I almost threw up today.  More than once. But I didn't.

The reason I didn't was because, while at the fair, I quickly developed a four-step process to avoid the kind of vomiting that is caused by riding on barf-inducing carnival rides when you're beyond your sixty-fifth birthday.  

Step one:  Close your eyes.  

While sitting beside Hunter on a ride called "Evolution", I felt my stomach responding in a negative way to the extreme turning and spinning.  I got dizzy and felt myself getting sick.  So I closed my eyes.  It worked.

Step two:  Pray.

Our next ride produced a similar abdominal response, so I again closed my eyes.  It didn't work quite so well this time.  So I shot a fervent four-word prayer heavenward.  "Don't let me barf!"  It worked.

Step three:  Take drugs.

The next ride that Hunter and I shared together was equally challenging to the lower regions of my anatomy.  But I had noticed earlier that one of the booths at the fair was selling Dramamine.  I bought some.  It worked.

Step four:  Quit.

The Dramamine helped, but I was growing queasier with each ride.  After sitting beside Hunter on several rides, I finally told him that I couldn't handle any more.  And he was perfectly happy to ride without me while I watched him from from my safe perch on earth.

Eventually, the day ended.

Hunter and I arrived at 10:00 a.m. when the gates opened.

Soon after entering the fair, Hunter milked a cow.  A plastic one.

I tried to get Hunter to pose beside a llama, but he was convinced the llama
would spit on him.  So he posed from a safe distance.

We competed in a laser gun war in a dark maze.  Hunter not only won, he creamed me with a lopsided victory of 78 to 51.

Hunter and I each played two games.  He won both of the games he played and earned
a couple of prizes:  A monkey and a sword.  I lost both of my games.

Hunter rode "Evolution" three times. Once with me and twice after I applied step four of the above mentioned steps.

Hunter strapped into "Evolution".

There he goes!

Yeah, he's up there!  And I'm happily watching him from the surface of the earth.

Another ride that delighted Hunter and that did not delight me.

Hunter on "Sea Dragon".  He's the one at the highest point in this photo.

Yeah, that's him!  Blue shirt, arms up, mouth open.

Something caught my eye here.

Something caught my eye from another view of this booth.

Step 3 above.

Hunter's shoe got stuck on this slide so he rolled down instead of sliding down.  He did not get hurt, so I guess his landing was quite hilarious.  The three people on the left and at the end of the slide thought so, too, when
Hunter finally bounced to the ground at their feet.

Hunter had his eye on this building all day long, remembering it from previous years at the fair.
Sound activated light up apparel.  Hard to find at just any store.

Hunter left that building with a sound activated light up shirt and a sound activated light up mask.
Batteries were included in the purchase price.

Hunter watches his cotton candy being assembled.

The human tongue is a useful instrument for removing cotton candy from various parts of the face.

We left the fair at 4:00 p.m. and visited Dairy Queen on the way home.  I would have bought a burger at the fair, but I wasn't feeling in the mood to spend $14.00 for a hamburger plus extra for fries and a drink.
Plus, I wanted to eat with somebody who knows how to impersonate a walrus.

I was glad to find out that our day at the fair corresponded with a day in which Hunter has football practice.  It was fun watching him go through the drills with his team.

57.

57 either yelling or yawning.  After a full day at the fair, I would guess the latter.

57 tackling.  He's actually quite a good tackler.

As the sun went down, the practice ended under the lights.  Then Hunter and his mom went home
and I returned to my motel room.

WASHINGTON STATE FAIR TRIP (Day 1)

This week is mostly about Hunter.  

I don't see him as often as I'd like to see him and this year I've been able to see him twice.  Once last month at Naomi's birthday party and now this week for the Washington State Fair.

We're heading to the fair tomorrow morning and staying as long as Hunter wishes to stay.  Just the two of us.

Today was a traveling day.  I left home at 6:00 a.m., made a brief detour for a surprise doughnut date in Woodburn, checked into a hotel in Puyallup, ate dinner with Tracy and Hunter at Red Robin in Bonney Lake, and now it's about time to sack out and get some rest for the big day tomorrow.

I don't usually try to scare my grandkids, but sometimes I just can't help it.  It's fun!
Bethany already told the story on her blog.

After consuming doughnuts and a maple bar, Bethany and the kids left for the park and I left for Puyallup.

Hunter and I waited for our meals, Tracy snapped a photo, and Emily couldn't join us because she wasn't feeling well.

I will soon be snoozing in one of the smallest motel rooms I have ever slept in.  Just big enough for one double size bed.

PETER, PAUL AND MARY AND SCHWINN

My eleven-plus-year-old elliptical exerciser succumbed to old age last month.  I gave it away on Craigslist to someone who had the energy and ambition to resurrect it.

Meanwhile, Debra did a bunch of research online and, based on her research, we chose to replace the old elliptical with a new Schwinn 470 Elliptical.  The old one came assembled years ago.  The new one needed about four hours of labor.

It took about an hour just to get it out of the box before the four-hour assembly began.

Assembling things is not one of my favorite things to do.  I sometimes get confused trying to follow instructions that are not written in America.  Then I get frustrated.  Then I perspire.  Then I get grouchy. 

So today I launched a pre-emptive strike against a potential bad attitude by having Peter, Paul and Mary help me to stay mellow throughout the entire project.  I started with a Peter, Paul and Mary station on Pandora, but that station played mostly music from other elderly artists. 

So then I went to YouTube and found some videos that played only Peter, Paul and Mary music.  That kept me entertained and mellow while assembling our new elliptical.  The project is now done and I, amazingly, have a pretty good attitude.

Keeping me mellow.

Simultaneously assembling and staying mellow.

It works.

It has a blue display for tracking the workout.

The old one is gone.