Game Days and Fair Nights

There are two things that signal the arrival of fall to me...football (and football weather), and the State Fair. Football weather is those days where the air is so crisp it snaps,the sky is a deep azure blue with nary a cloud in sight, the trees are smoldering with the blaze of red, orange and gold leaves, and you don't feel like you can breathe deeply enough to take it all in. It takes me back to Saturday afternoons in Kenan Stadium, cheering on the Heels, which they need a bit of this year. But hey, they're young, they're learning, and there's always the Carolina fan's standard fallback of "waiting till basketball season."

Too bad I can't say the same for the rest of my boys--I didn't even watch the Panthers game this afternoon, which was probably a good thing, and I'm currently watching the Eagles continue their season's demise at the hands of the Cowboys. The Cowboys! At least there's the SuperCooper Bowl to look forward to...

On the other hand, the State Fair is always highly anticipated, and somehow doesn't disappoint. We had the chance to go twice this year, stocking up on fried food, vertigo-inducing rides, the sights and smells of various farm animals, and our fireworks fix for the year (right Melissa?), as well as taking in a concert by Mercy Me and Aaron Shust. We had a rather adventurous year...we sampled some of the deep-fried novelties--I recommend the deep-fried oreos over the chocolate chip cookies, but we didn't try the deep-fried PB&J, twinkie or moonpie (I think it helps if you like the food in it's original form first)--we saw a sheep fight in one of the barns, the boys saw a people fight in line for the Gravitron, and we almost got taken out by a dozen cops descending on a pickpocketer. Good thing we were at the fair, since I don't know who was policing the rest of Raleigh that night...