Dooo The Puyallup!!

You can do it at a trot, You can do it at a gallop;
You can do it real slow so your heart won't palpitate...just don't be late... Do the Puyallup!!

I've been attending the Puyallup fair my whole life and once Pat and I got married, I started dragging him to it too. It is tradition and marks the beginning of a new school year as well as the coming of the fall harvest. Being city dwellers, it is an opportunity for us to see farm animals up close and rub elbows with the 4-hers and grange folks. Vendors, carnival rides and games round out this fair experience which is one of the largest on the west coast.

While "Doin' the Puyallup" is not near as exciting as the train trip to the Taj Mahal, which was occupying our time last year, we were thrilled to share this time honored attraction with Devi. She chanted "Animals...pet, pet!" all the way there in the car, which only heightened our excitement to take her.

In a steady trot, we headed for the livestock area, pausing to admire the eight darling piglets born on September 1st to the very exhausted looking mommy pig. Devi's comment, "Piggy's eating, mommy?"

Her tiny "Moo, moo" echoed through all the cow stalls we passed in route to the fair farm petting area. As a parent, it is funny to watch Devi try and work up the
nerve to actually touch the animals. She has no problem touching

and laying all over our big dog at home, but somehow these animals are different for her. I know she wants to pet them in the worst way, reluctantly sticking her arm out and jerking it back to the safety of her side again, trying to convince herself that it is okay. In the end, the pygmy goat and the sheep got a little lovin', but not much. After oogling over the bunnies and chicks, she learned that turkeys say gobble, gobble (a new favorite phrase) and we headed toward dinner.

Nothing beats fair food - or at least the smell of it! Something about curley fries that have spent half the day under warming lights, and fried onions floating in grease mixed with the sweetness of cotton candy and carmeled apples just evokes a hunger that no man, woman or child can deny. At least we couldn't! Devi tried her first krusty pup corn dog and loved it...she would have eaten the stick too if we would have let her.

Once fueled, we couldn't resist Devi's pleas to "ride the pony?" so she and daddy chose the tamest horse on the merry-go-round. Pat said later that she had a death grip on the bar and was talking to the horse as they went round and round..."neigh, neigh!"

Now for the controversy. Pat and I always try to guess how many pounds the biggest squash will be. The idea is whose guess will come the closest without going over. This year we were surprised to find several categories of squash and pumpkins. Apparently, gourds have gone hybrid. Now there are the regular seeds, giant seeds, and the giant giant seeds producing this years winner of 1034 pounds!! We didn't even come close. Our guesses were in the 684 and 836 range. Hard to believe that a vegetable can grow that large. Awesome.

We ended the day with a bag full of Fischer Flour homemade scones with melted butter and raspberry jam. Just enough to give us a few to eat immediately and a few for breakfast as a reminder of our fun day. Devi ate her own right out of the bag. Yum!!

As dusk came, we headed for the exit gate with full bellies and jelly faces. By the time we reached the car, Devi was saying, " Bye-bye fair. Mommy, nigh, nigh?" Yep, goodbye and good night. We DID the Puyallup!

Sheep...pet, pet!!

First Krusty Pup...oooohhhh!

1034 pounds-o-squash