You're About to be Redirected to the New Home of Ground Control to Major Mom: The Iowa State Fair...or..."What Did They Try to Fry THIS Year?"

This past weekend we paid a visit to the Iowa State Fair. In 2008 and 2009 we drove right down the road to Lincoln for the Nebraska State Fair, which was fun when it was nice and close. This year, the state fair will open up on August 27th at their new home at Fonner Park in Grand Island, NE, which is about 2 1/2 hours away from here.

The former State Fairgrounds in Lincoln will become the Nebraska Innovation Campus, a university-private industry research center. Similar to N.C. State's Centennial Campus, and Penn State's Innovation Park.

Since Nebraska's State Fair moved relatively far away, we decided to check out Iowa's State Fair, near downtown Des Moines, about 130 miles east of us.

I think this might be the biggest state fair I've ever attended. I've only been to 4 of them: Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska and now Iowa's. The old buildings reminded me of the historic buildings at the NC State Fairgrounds. There were numerous midways, and we had trouble finding the little-kid-friendly rides. Unfortunately, it was incredibly hot, and I think were all that much crankier from it.

Enjoy some pictures from our day at the fair!

Timmy did a leaf rubbing and taped it to a display area:

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

In the "Varied Industries" building, where various native-to-Iowa companies can show off their goods, Timmy enjoyed a tattoo scavenger hunt. I can't believe I let him wear Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclone tattoos! When all was done, Timmy was wearing 12 tattoos on his face and arms!

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

The boys each did the Turbo Jump, which is like bungee-cord-assisted trampoline jumping. Hopefully these videos work:

Then we made our way to the animals. Horses and cattle. Unlike in NC, we could pet these animals, so long as the owners gave the okay.

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

While I didn't eat any of the fried foods, it's always interesting to see what foods are out there. How 'bout some fried mac 'n cheese?

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

I saw this at the NE State Fair last year, it's rather interesting. It's beef topped with a scoop of mashed potatoes, garnished with cheese, dark gravy and topped off with a cherry....tomato.