A Fair day

So. I went to the LA County Fair yesterday. Did you know it's the largest county fair in the US and maybe Canada? Well, it's huge. My complementary parking pass allowed me to take a long walk across a wide expanse of nearly molten asphalt.

Once I got through the security check I met Lisa. She was sipping a beer that could not have still been cold by that time. It is still quite hot here even though Fall has landed. The entire Fairplex is paved with cement or asphalt. The buildings are marginally air conditioned.

We went first to the crafts exhibits. We went in the front door and I thought I was on the Home Shopping Channel, live. So many booths selling so much junk. Gadgets and stuff you'll wonder why you bought once you get it home. The crafts part has been relegated to the back end of the building along with a stage for the high school music groups. It was a serious job getting through all the vendors and strollers and unconscious visitors but we made it without being tempted once.

It's been years since I last went to the Fair. I don't remember the displays being so crowded. It was difficult to really see the items. There were some nice looking knitted and crocheted items. Lots of afghans! I didn't see anything that really excited me though. I think I was expecting to see some more or less experimental designs but so far as I could tell everything was knit from commercial patterns. All very safe and functional.

The quilts were pretty spectacular though. Lots and lots of wild colors and clever juxtapositions of fabrics. Didn't much care for the machine quilting that most of them favored. In my day this would not have been allowed.

In another building there was a living room that had been originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It had been duplicated from a 50s decorating magazine. Except they had to flop the room to fit the space. Not terribly exciting to me since I don't care all that much for FLW. There were several other really tacky rooms too. And you could get your picture taken on the actual stairway from the old Brady Bunch living room set.

There was a photography exhibit in the same building. Pretty neat I guess but I'm not a photography sort of person so I just looked at the stuff and let it not leave an impression on me. I was glad to go back outside where at least the air was stirring a little.

Then we went through the floral building. Lots of massive displays by floral and garden designers. We didn't spend much time there as the humidity was pretty high and things were all beginning to look alike.

The Education Expo, the project Lisa is in charge of, was huge. I forget the exact numbers but they didn't have enough room for all the submissions. This is where the high school students get to show off their art work, science projects and even their writing skills. There was photography here too. "Just too much teenage angst" in some of them, as Lisa pointed out. Disgusting to report but there had also been some pilfering done by visitors. I was really impressed with the scale of the exhibit and how well it all hung together. Of course, Lisa is brilliant.

After the Fair we went to Acapulco's and had some margaritas and a good catch-up visit. Turned over the latest pair of socks.

The drive home was a disaster. I've no idea what was wrong but traffic came to a near halt just after I got on the freeway. Took two hours to get home. It should have only taken half an hour. I was exhausted and just wanted to rest. So no knitting yesterday.

It's officially Fall. I hope someone notifies the person in charge of weather to start lowering the temperatures accordingly.