Blue ribbon day was fair enough

Spent the afternoon and evening at the Tulsa State Fair. Made the mistake of not bringing a stroller for the four-year-old. The problem wasn't so much that she got tired of walking as that she would stop holding hands and start off to the next place she wanted to go. A stroller would have contained her. When she heard one of us say we were ready to leave the petting zoo, she headed for the exit. She didn't get far before someone spotted this lost little girl and asked if she knew Mom or Dad's phone number. She said yes and pulled out the index card we had tucked into her jeans pocket with both our cell phone numbers. Reunion occurred moments later.

The highlight of the day for the parents was seeing that the eight-year-old won a blue ribbon for acrylic painting, junior division. He had really been hoping for a prize and was thrilled. (There's a $5 prize, and he was excited about that, too.)

The highlight of the day for the kids was getting their picture taken (free!) with people in Star Wars costumes. The costumed characters photo op was part of Star Wars: The Fan Experience, put together by the Tulsa Fan Force. (The club's logo features Yoda in western gear.)

That was about the only free thing we did today. We spent a buck a piece on a reptile exhibit east of the Youth Building, which was actually a pretty good value. In addition to snakes, tarantulas, lizards, and turtles, they had a baby coatimundi and a pheasant, which was about the prettiest bird I've ever seen -- iridescent blues, greens, reds, and golds.

The kids spent nearly an hour painting a small ceramic piece ($2 each). We were sorry to see the building blocks area gone -- Joseph really enjoyed that in years past. We walked through the animal barns and looked at the Angus and Longhorns and Bramhas -- saw a frustrated longhorn calf on a too-short rope butting his head against mama's side trying to get her to move just a little bit to the right and bring dinner within reach.

We visited the petting zoo and the birthing center, where we saw some adorable three-hour-old kid goats, with their sweet faces and wagging tails.

We bought 20 ride tickets for $15 bucks. Since we'd been to Bell's a few weeks ago and will be heading to Silver Dollar City later in the month, we would just be doing two or three rides each today. Joe loved watching the high flipping and spinning rides but wasn't interested in trying those himself -- he did the fun house, the "Mardi Gras" mirrored maze, and "Starship 2000", a spinning ride. He was disappointed to discover that he's an inch too short to ride the midway's Himalaya on his own.

Fair food? Some, but not much -- a corn dog, a hot dog, chocolate-and-sprinkle covered marshmallows, pork chop dinners.

I was pleased to see Jennifer, the patron saint of travel where I work, volunteering at the Republican Party's booth. You may have believed that St. Christopher was the patron saint of travellers, but I find that when business travel troubles arise, I direct my supplication unto Jennifer, and lo, problem solved.

We were at the Republican Party booth when the four-year-old spotted "dancing animals!" -- a clever sales display of animal marionnettes. We came home with two.

Not nearly enough time to browse through old magazine ads -- an extensive collection for sale, sorted by product type. I did get to look through the gas and oil ads. There were several Sinclair ads from the '40s featuring Dino the Dinosaur as the star of a comic promoting Sinclair's line of farm lubricants and pesticides. One featured a herd of cows, beleaguered by biting insects, crying out to Dino for aid. Dino came to the rescue with a can of Sinclair DDT.

We were all beat by the time we left, but we had a good time. I can't imagine not going at least once every year.