Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Day With Big Tex

I did it! I went to the fair =-) A few people were nervous about me going by myself. The only part I was nervous about doing by myself was riding the train and bus to get there. It's been years since I have taken the train anywhere, and I was probably nervous back then, even with a group! Doing it by myself was really intimidating for me! But the traffic would have stolen half of my day. And the parking would have stolen literally half of my money. I had $40 to use for the day, and a lot of the parking is $20. So I put on my big girl panties and rode the rails!

I actually started my day by sleeping til 8, then snuggling with Brett, and then going to Weight Watchers. I chose not to go last weekend because I really needed some rest. My food was good last week, but the previous weekend had been less than stellar, so I didn't know what to expect from the scales. I'm thankful to say I was down 1.4 which brings me to a total of 16.6 all together.

So what did I do after my successful weigh in? I went to the fried food capital of the world (or at least the state). And let me tell you. It. Was. Good.

Here is what happened.

Saturday was not a regular fair day. It was Baylor vs. Tech at the Cotton Bowl. Because of that, the DART schedules were different, adding to my nervousness about being able to navigate my way to and from the fair. And the route was also different. Normally, you take the TRE to Victory Station and then take the green line to Fair Park. Well, to accommodate the extra passengers, instead of using the green line, there were "shuttles" a.k.a. DART buses, at Victory Station and when we stepped off the TRE, they herded us to the buses. The buses took us straight to the fair, but instead of dropping us off in front of the Music Hall, like the green line usually does, the buses took us to the back entrance of the fair. For people going to the game, that was SUPER convenient. And it actually ended up being convenient for me as well!

The back entrance is where all of the rides are, and lots of games, and LOTS of food vendors. There are pretty much food vendors all over the place, but at the back entrance, there are TONS of vendors. It's like the restaurant row of the fair. I had heard people say that the lines for Fletcher's Corn Dogs, the pride of the State Fair of Texas, were super long! Well I went to the first Corn Dog sign that I saw, and I was just lucky enough that they were actually Fletcher's. If it had been another kind, I still would have eaten it. But Fletcher's are the best. The last time that I went to the fair, which was three or four years ago, I got a foot long corn dog. It wasn't a Fletcher's but it was tasty enough. But after my experience on Saturday, I will never again go for anything other than Fletcher's when at the fair. It was the most delicious corn dog I have ever had. And I LOVE a good corn dog!

And the best part is, because I was at the back of the fair, there was no line at all! Okay, there was one lady in front of me. So practically no line. I walked right up and got a corn dog and bottle of water for 15 tickets. Later, while making my way up to the Music Hall, I passed a huge vendor that was all Fletcher's and there were probably 80 people in line. So I got super lucky!

I left the train station at 11 and got to the fair at noon. The musical started at 2, so the first thing I wanted to do was eat. My plan was to find a corn dog first and then the fried chocolate. There were descriptions on the website of the foods that won awards this year, and when I read this one, I knew it was the treat I wanted to find: Fried Chocolate – A white chocolate mini candy bar and a cherry are stuffed into a mouth watering brownie, dipped into delicious chocolate cake batter & deep fried to perfection. The finished product has a warm just out of the oven taste! Topped with powdered sugar and a rich cherry sauce and served with chocolate flavored whip cream.

Hello. What could compete with that??? So I made my way through all of the booths and headed to the section of the park where the guide said this heart stopping confection could be found. I looked and looked, and alas, never found it. The clock was ticking and I wasn't sure how fair I was from the Music Hall, so when 1:00 was creeping up, I decided to seek an alternative. I saw a sign that said ice cream and went to investigate.

Okay. Re-reading the fried chocolate description reminds me that I am sure it is a tasty treat. But I have to say, I don't think it could have been better than the alternative that I found. It was called a Pokey-O. And it was insane. The ice cream booth I went up to had ten flavors of ice cream and ten flavors of cookies. You pick a flavor of each and they make what is called a Pokey-O, but what us common folk would call an ice cream sandwich.

Holy hot fudge sundae Batman! It was SOOOO good! I chose the chocolate flavored cookie, which was called Brownie Fudge, and a flavor of ice cream called Happy Tracks, which was vanilla ice cream with a swirl of fudge and Reeses mixed in. The cookie was so gooey and the ice cream was PERFECTION! Together, they made what is sure to be the tastiest sweet I will eat this year. Possibly for years to come!

With Pokey-O in hand, I continued through the fair. I had in mind that I would be able to take my time and stop and see some of the street performances. Well, I probably would have had time for one or two if I had come across any. But I didn't. I made it to the Music Hall just before 1:00. I was certain that I had chocolate on my face (totally worth it) and didn't think that I had time to go exploring and be back by 1:30, which is when I thought they would start seating. And there were already lots of people inside the building. So I just went inside. I found a bathroom, de-chocolated my face, (it was just a tiny bit of chocolate on my lip) and then found a seat next to a TV showing some behind the scenes from the show. I didn't realize until I sat down that I was a little tired. So I don't regret the choice to come in early even though it means I didn't see any acrobats or break dancers or hula dancers.

I am SOOO happy to say that the musical was GREAT! I have always liked the first Shrek movie. In general, Dreamworks films kind of make me cringe. They are advertised as family pictures, but I find that they sometimes have a bit too much adult humor in them. Not anything that a five year old would catch, but certainly something that a 13 year old would. I prefer Pixar. They just feel like safer choices overall. But when I saw Shrek for the first time, I just really enjoyed it. And the musical was really great. The performers were all outstanding. The actor playing Donkey played Tom Collins in Rent on Broadway for a while. Not the original, but he held the role for a while, and his voice was AMAZING! All of the cast members were good and the sets were especially fun. Every inch of the stage was covered, whether they were in the swamp, a castle, or a field. It was very colorful, as were the costumes. And of course, it was funny. Not every song was mind blowing, but the finale was a ton of fun!

I was seated next to a man and his daughter. She was probably 3 and was adorable. He called her Dani. And he was a hoot! A seriously loud laugher. Two old men in front of us kept turning around and glaring at him when he laughed, but I liked being next to him because it made laughing even more fun!

It was 5:00 when I got out of the musical. I wouldn't have minded some roasted corn, but getting home is what I was most nervous about, so I decided to follow the crowd and head back home. I had tickets leftover, but I gave them to family who was going in as I was going out, so they didn't go to waste. The trains home were CRAZY crowded, but there were DART officers at both stops, so thankfully, I made it home just fine. Brett picked me up from the train station at 6 and I was home by 6:30.

It was a fun day and I am so happy that my husband was comfortable letting me go alone. Next year, West Side Story will be showing during the fair. That is one I can't let either of us miss. But we won't go on a game day. The fair was fine with the extra crowd, but the transportation was like a giant sardine can. Brett would have freaked out.

Church was great again today, and I am going to be positive and say it's going to be a good week. I have some work to do at home and some crafting to get busy on. Next weekend we have lots of fun happening! More about that later =-)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! My goal this week is to make time to walk three times and to blog at least twice. We'll see how it goes!

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Yay! I'm glad you had a great time!