Zoo Boo!

Today we attended a Halloween celebration, called Zoo Boo, at Como Zoo. Micah went as a pumpkin. We went as the parents of a pumpkin. Sadly our camera's batteries died and we didn't get any photos. But I'll try to describe it to you. There were a great many volunteers, dressed in costumes ranging from tigers, monkeys and cats, to Darth Vader and Batman, stationed all throughout the zoo. As we moved through the zoo, we were given various treats (healthy as well as not-so-healthy). Micah had a great time. And I had a bearable time. However, the thing that amazed me was the fact that all the people in costumes were volunteers. That's something I love about Americans; their enthusiasm for festivity. I get the feeling it would be very hard to convince many Australians to participate in such an event for nothing.

My New Favourite Season

I like autumn in Minnesota. The name 'fall' seems quite appropriate over here. All the leaves change colour and start to fall; it's all very pretty. But it's more than just a pretty sight; supermarket shelves become laden with pumpkin-flavoured and caramel-coated delights; so far we have tried pumpkin pie yoghurt, pumpkin spice bagels, pumpkin bread and caramel apples. I'm still hoping to try the pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. There are also numerous festivals around this time of year.

Yesterday one of my work colleagues and his wife took us on a fall-themed adventure. First we tried to go apple picking at an orchard. Apparently, this is a really popular fall activity in the mid-west. I was just expecting an apple orchard with a person selling bags to put your apples in; I had forgotten that this is America. It was a real event, including goats, hay-rides, toy tractors for kids to ride, a train pulled by a tractor and heaps of apple-themed products for sale. Here, we tried kettle corn for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was.

Next we headed to Stillwater, a small town about 30 km (18.6 miles) from St Paul. This is a lovely town with all of Amy's favourite specialty shops: chocolate, spices, tea, and wool. There also happened to be an autumn festival underway when we visited. The over-sized vegetables are truly a sight to behold!

We also saw Wisconsin across the St Croix river.

We went to Nacho Mama for lunch and, since I had never had them before, I ordered the Baconated Jalapeno Poppers stuffed with cream cheese. They were one of the spiciest things I have ever eaten; but they were delicious.

 Our last stop before heading home was at one of the state parks. I forget which one. Unlike the national parks, the state parks are not affected by the non-functional Federal Government. We took a short walk around one of the lakes and it was beautiful. There's not much more I can say about it.

The Minnesota State Fair

A little over a month ago Amy, Micah and I attended the Minnesota state fair. It was huge. We were there for the whole day and there were still parts we didn't see. For my followers from Tassie, it was like a combination of Agfest, the Hobart Show and the Deloraine Craft Fair, except there were no show bags; that was probably a good thing though. We started our day viewing the old tractors (right).

Then we moved onto the Little Farm Hands Exhibit: an excellent exhibit designed to teach children about farming and where food comes from. After Micah had collected, among other things, a fake egg from the chicken coop, wool from the wooden sheep, a plastic apple from the wooden apple trees, and an empty milk carton from the cow, he took their 'produce' to 'market' and got 'paid' '$1' which he could then spend at the 'grocery store' on ice-cream, fruit juice, or a real apple. Micah chose the apple; although perhaps this was because the other items were too high up for him to see.









However, what the State Fair is really famous for, is its food. Most of it deep fried and on a stick. We tried deep fried cheese curds (see right), Big Fat Bacon (see below left), cannoli, snow cones, fudge, and a Hawiian Pretzel. We also took advantage of 'All the Milk You Can Drink for $1' (below right) and combined it with a cone of Sweet Martha's Cookies.

The most amusing thing we found was Australian Battered Potatoes. 'Authentically' served with sweet chilli and sour cream or ranch and cheese. Let it be known that I have never seen potato cakes served with ranch and cheese in Australia. Still, the proprietors had the Wiggles and Slim Dusty playing, which was authentic.

We also saw butter sculptures (left), a parade, complete with marching bands and giant cows (below), and Micah and I went up a tall tower and saw the fair from above.

Just before we left, we came across a stand called 'Walkabout Hats'. There was a sign encouraging people to drop in and say 'g'day'. So we did. We expected to find Americans selling hats made in China, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a South African man selling hats made in Australia and the US.