Thankfully Pete feels the same so today we drove just north of Baltimore to attend the Maryland State Fair. We arrived in time to watch the dairy steers being judged before moving on to a pony gala. The day heated up as quickly as the competition and soon we were sweltering in 95F heat (why do they hold this show in the summer?) but discovered that the vegetable building was refrigerated so went there to join the frozen peas.
The highlight of the day was, without a doubt, the swimming pig show. Although - in the tradition of many a carnival - the build-up was rather more exciting than the payoff, which was basically a piglet jumping into a bath. Still, that's not something you see every day. We cooled down again with an ice cream as we watched a chainsaw demonstration and then made our way back to air-conditioned, urban civilisation.
It's easy to tell who the judges are at state fairs.
Casting a critical eye over the livestock.
But we're really more into machines. Big machines.
Pete finally got his cattle tag! Now we can legally send him to auction.
A sand pit? No, a corn pit! If it gets much hotter there'll be plenty of popcorn to go around.
Roast pork.
Is there any other way to have veggies?
Pony club.
A fully automated singing vegetable puppet show! Hmm.
And vegetables for lunch too.
More vegetables, but ones to be judged.
The very best of the bunch.
Hayfever.
Racing pigs! You could win a plastic pig nose if your pig came first. None of ours did.
Swifty gets ready, and...
...um, that's about it.
Chainsaw magic, although Pete decided it was too loud so we didn't get to actually see what the finished product was. Looks good so far.
Better than aircon.
