Category: Animals

Twenty Things We Saw At Another Fair

August 25, 2013

After the fair last week, one of KLS’s workmates suggest we visit another fair, about 90 minutes south of here. Everything about it was supposed to be bigger and better than Altamont, including the rides.

We had to go!

So go we did, to the Duchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. We got there shortly after it opened and stayed for more than six hours. Quite simply, this fair had more to see than could ever be seen and more to do than could ever be done.

We tried though, and here is some of what we saw:

1) County fairs celebrate agriculture and farming, so is it a surprise to see something like the above? What about…

2) The JCB ‘dancing diggers’ performance. Such hydraulic power! Such structural integrity! I have never seen such a beautiful performance of choreographed excavators before!

3) We saw a robot named Oscar…

4) And an old master painting a masterpiece onto a mirror!

5) The food selections were mind boggling. KLS had a crab cake platter, and I…

6) had a lamb gyro. I was planning on getting a corn dog later but… I’ll get to that…

Lets talk about the animals! There were a bazillion of them there, representing countless different species, for example:

7) Porkers…

8) A tiny horse…

9) An evil giant bird…

10) An insane, metal-eating armor-clad sheep…

11) A lazy bugger…

666) And Satan!

We also saw camels, long-jumping hounds, rabbits, fowl, monkeys and even two coatimundi!

13) Here we see KLS next to the prize-winning Christmas tree. Every type of plant you could imagine was being shown and judged including…

14) A room full of flowers!

15) That’s the prize-winning Dahlia. Can you grow them this well?

16) Speaking of prize-winning, here’s a remarkable piece of art we assume is The Greatest American Hero:

And of course, we saw the rides! Unlike Altamont, rides were not included in the entry price and cost about $5 each. There were dozens of them in all shapes and sizes, three of which I was very interested in riding. They were:

17) ‘The Claw’, a contraption with so many axis of rotation it may outdo The Zipper! Looking at it, I knew it would ruin me 🙁

18) The ‘Sky Diver’, a sort of leveled-up Ferris Wheel in which you’d spend half your time upside down!

19) The ‘Fire Ball’, known to aficionados like myself as the ‘Superlooper’. I hadn’t ridden one in 30 years and even though I feared it would ruin me the pull of nostalgia was strong. I sat KLS on a shady seat, shuffled off and before I could change my mind purchased a ticket from a grizzled felon, hopped on the ride and buckled myself into the front seat. Here’s what I looked like immediately afterwards:

20) Yes my friends, I was ruined. Even now, almost a day later I can remember the dizziness. I curse the god that makes me sick on all these wonderful rides I love :< After, I noted that I was significantly older than almost every person riding any ride. Have I outgrown these things? I hope not. Post-fireball illness aside, the fair was spectacular. We will certainly be back next year :)

Twenty Things We Saw At The Fair

August 17, 2013

It was time once again to visit the annual Altamont fair! It doesn’t change much from year to year, but I can’t resist the lure of the rides! Here’s twenty things we saw today:

1) A new ride, called ‘Pharoah’s Fury’. Basically a version of the Pirate Ship, this was notable for the 90 degree maximum incline that created sustained zero-g. KLS was screaming almost non-stop. A very fun ride 🙂

2) Another new ride, called ‘Vertigo’. I was impressed with how high it was! Unfortunately, since it’s a rotator, I didn’t ride it due to motion sickness.

3) All the old favourite rides returned, staffed by the usual gang of creepy ~~murderous ex-felons~~ carnies. We saw a guy ‘fixing’ The Zipper using a piece of string (not a joke!)

4) I saw KLS eat delicious fries with me, shortly after I had eaten a hamburger myself.

5) We saw this device, but for the life of us couldn’t work out what it was called or what it was supposed to do:

6) We saw a tiny, tiny goat:

7) And a kangaroo with a joey in it’s pouch. She bent down to eat some grass and the joey ate as well!

8) We saw a very special duck…

9) And an evil looking chicken…

10) And a happy sheep… in a barn full of happy sheep 🙂

11) Over in the art contest displays, we even saw Doctor Who!

12) Nearby, the first prize winning scarecrow wasn’t perhaps as scary as you’d imagine:

13) Here is a princess being defended by a dragon:

14) Heading back to the midway, past the vendors selling spa’s, blenders and insurance, I found an unusual sight!

15) We didn’t go on that many rides, mostly because they almost all go in circles. The Ferris Wheel is always fun though. Right next to it this year was a ‘cryptozoology museum’ with some extraordinary art hanging out the front:

16) Oh, I almost forgot! The giraffe was back:

17) As was the circus we saw last year. We didn’t go since we were a bit tired and it was very, very hot.

18) The games on the midway are as dubious as ever. Surprising prizes this time around included live goldfish and knives!

19) The animals are fun, but for me the fair is always about the garbage food…

20) And the big, noisy, scary and quite possibly life-threateningly dangerous rides:

I just wish I was 12 again, so I could ride them all without getting sick 🙂

Claudine & The King Of Goats

August 11, 2013

Last night I went down to lower city for some more exploration, this time by night.

As it turns out, we visited Quebec (purely by chance) during ‘The Festival Of New France’ and the city (especially lower town) was full of people in period costume, such as this:

And this:

There was a particularly large density of them in lower city last night, including some actors playing roles. This next shot shows a fishmonger pulling has cart into the darkness:

And here’s a bear!

The fireworks were lengthy and spectacular. Everyone in Quebec turned out to watch them 🙂

The next day, our last in Quebec, started with a visit to The Citadel.

This fort atop the highest peak in the city was built by the British to defend Quebec from the Americans. It was never actually attacked, and although an active base is now open for tours.

Although a bit rushed (due to tourist volume I suspect) our guide Claudine did a good job and we learned a lot. But were I to distill the experience to one image it would be this:

Holy Moses a goat in armor! This is (a statue of) Batisse the mascot of the regiment posted at The Citadel. The first Batisse was a gift from The Queen and the bloodline continues to today’s goat, who takes part in the changing of the guard every day! Batisse is a high level goat!