the fair
saturday, ken and i met up with ken's friend, bill, and his wife, joy, and we went to the midsouth fair. it had just opened on friday. 8^)
the cool thing about this fair, besides it's huge size, is that the theme park, libertyland, is connected and admittance to the park is free when you enter the fair.
that doubles the rides. counting the ones in libertyland, there were 3 tilt-a-whirls and 2 scramblers/sizzlers.

traffic was awful do to U of M football game at the nearby liberty bowl 8^P
ken and i went around the block for over thirty minutes. he's mentioned that is was the worst parking situation he'd seen and he's lived in chicago for a year! 0.o finally we got lucky and found a spot on someone lawn near one of the entrances for $10.
these people near the fairgrounds make a killing charging you to park on their lawns. you can tell they've been doing it for awhile by the expert way they guide you on their lawn.
"little further, little further. ok, go the right. woah."
by that time ken was happy to pay $10. at first he thought it was too high. lol but driving around that congested block sure changed his mind quick!

we met joy and her mother at the entrance and wait for bill. joy's mom eventually went off on her own. where to, i don't know. i didn't see her again that night.
it was almost an hour later before we saw bill. both he and ken commiserated about the traffic and we went to hit the rides.

first, we went to see libertyland's newest, the rebellion. basically it took you up real high and dropped you real fast. if was fun, but not a ride i'd want to do over and over and over. afterward we hit the twister which was over too quickly. 8^(
then the boys saw it. the crazy ride that they rode the last time, the power surge. joy and i wouldn't ride it last time and wouldn't ride it this time. it was funny watching ken give me the "bat your eyes and pout" face while he tried to get me to ride it. it wasn't working. then we did the orbiter which is like a scrambler on in incline. ken said it got to his stomach more than the power surge. go figure! then it was the huge farris wheel, a classic. can't go to the fair and not ride either the carrosel or the farris wheel. then we found another crazy ride that ken was actually able to convince me to go on, the fire bolt. imagine the huge pirate ship ride, only on the end instead of a ship is a circle of seats that around. now imagine it doing that and the motion of the pirate ship ride and you have the fire bolt. it was fun, but a learned that i'm not as found of the sensation of falling out of my seat as i used to be. man, i'm getting old!

after the rides, the smell of the fair food got to us. roasted corn on the cob, steak gyros, ice cream and get this, deep fried candy bars.
we tried one out of curiousity. not bad, but i don't think i'll be eating another one soon. talk about heart attack city! o.0
we saw the exhibits and then had to head home. i think it was the happiest i've seen ken in some time. i'm glad we could go.

sunday was slow, reading while ken worked on a huge project. i hope he does well on it.

time said his keen_ account is now active. i wonder if ken's new one for monday the 13th is, too.