The House on Oak Valley: 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.