Fair Enough

All of us have in our lives defining moments that we forever refer to as "before" and "after." Our lives are divided into "before I had kids, and after" or "before I started meditating, and after" or "before I discovered fiber supplements, and after." Yesterday I added a new dividing point to my life: before I ate a deep-fried Twinkie, and after.

Yes, you guessed it, we were at our skytrillionth visit to the annual Lancaster County Fair. We already had patted the baby goats, admired the Belgian horses, oohed and aahed over the prize-winning 4H produce, toured and imagined living in various RVs, ridden crazy rides, given our life savings to the carnies in exchange for stuffed animals, pumped our kids' inheritance into the Coin Dozer machines, and savored the Robillards' ever-amazing apple crisp. And still something was missing. Then we spotted this:

 
What? Where do we sign up? After a few minutes of bubbling-oil time, we were presented with our delicacy:

Wow. Before you all clutch your hearts in sympathetic coronary distress, let me assure that you we five split one Twinkie, and that was plenty. But man, it was awesome. Hot and crunchy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, with that delectable "cream" filling still intact. And of course dusted liberally with confectioners' sugar. Oh, behave! 

But wait! There was another first yesterday. Having decided somehow that the Ferris wheel did not go high enough above the fairgrounds:

we decided to take a helicopter ride. You may recall that last year Andy, Steph, and Pete did it, but Julie and I begged off. Not so this year:

 

I am not sorry I went, but I was also not sorry when I landed safely back on earth. It was very windy up there (remnants of Hurricane Earl, we were told), and that was only exacerbated by the fact that the chopper had no doors. It was really, really bumpy! I felt just a little queasy even after we landed, but everyone else loved it. So add that to the list of things I've done once and thus never need to do again: ski, soar, ride in a helicopter. I won't add the Twinkie to that list just yet.... (And, for the record, those deep-fried Oreos didn't look too bad, either.)

Comments

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Coin dozer! I love that game! Do you win real quarters or tokens? I am all about cash money! Am very impressed about the helicopter- well done!

[raych]

Deep-fried ice cream is on my life list, but that doesn't mean I'd turn down a deep-fried oreo if it presented itself.

[Sandy]

Did you eat the deep-fried Twinkie before or after the helicopter ride?

More importantly, I love how your family has annual traditions. I've learned (largely from your blog) the great value in doing the same thing year after year --regardless of the activity itself. It binds everyone together and creates a family lore. Tonight we had our annual "ice cream for dinner" to say goodbye to summer. Kids were scandalized when I first proposed it three years ago...and now it's a family tradition.

[Stephanie]

Julie looks very happy up there.

[Karen]

Sara, the reason I got hooked on the Coin Dozer iPhone app was because of the real thing at the fair! You put in quarters and hope to get back quarters or occasional other goodies. I got a few dollars bills even this time, but otherwise it was a very poor showing. See here: http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2007/09/fair-enough.html . I don't expect to win money -- I think of the money I pour in as an "entertainment charge" for the fun of playing.