A while back Child's Play posted this challenge: share your favorite National Park, or local sight see adventure.
Iowa's one and only National park is about 8 hours from here, we've been but only for my work and only for a couple hours when Lil'Bug was about 10 months old. It's neat, but not nearby.
1/4 of the entire state is inside a National Heritage Area called Silos and Smokestacks. It's really just a gimmick to tie together some tourist stuff. The website has a neat online cirriculum thing for kids called CampSilos. The travel section has a really cool history program.
Ok..... now for the place....
We do have the Iowa State Fair (and it's grounds are part of that National Heritage Area....). The Iowa State fair is different from other fairs? Maybe.
We have the butter cow. I'm not kidding. An entire life size cow made from butter.
The artist also does a second sculpture, also life size, also butter. Last year it was Harry Potter, I kid you not.
Amazing hot dogs. I know, I don't eat hot dogs usually BUT every year I eat corn dogs and hot dogs all day long at the fair. Mmmmmm....corn dogs. They also have amazing lemonade and this pineapple freeze thing that is simply divine. They also serve fried Twinkies and Snickers but I have never eaten one.
Aside from that, last year we got to see a real live pig deliver piglets. That was cool. There are shows all day long every day and lots of stuff for kids to do hands on. That's neat.
The traditional food contests were also neat. This year I am going to enter my raspberry jam. I want to enter an "ugly" cake too, but I just won't have time (or really the skill, just the morbid and gross ideas....). We enjoy seeing the animals and vegetables.
And then, when the day is all done, we head home exhausted (and belly sick from the fried food of course....).
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See, I was completely disturbed by the Animal Learning Center. So much so that I don't think I'll be going back this year. Randy can take W if he wants, but I'm not sure I'll go in. Animals naturally seek out solitude when having their babies. How disturbing must it be to them to be having their babies right...there. Right in the middle of a very noisy, crowded room with bright lights and people moving about and starting at you. I watched a goat (or was it a sheep?) mommy in labor for a while while Wally stared at the baby chicks...poor thing. It just wasn't right.
ReplyDeleteOh, the ISF is wonderful! I went every year as a child and take my kids now. Our favorite is the Iowa Chop on a stick...oh yum! We always bypass the fareway as there is always so much to look at. We love the chainsawer and the scrapbooking area. I always say I am going to submit a scrapbook page for judging and always forget.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for this years fair!
Juno
I've always wanted to go to the ISF. My love for fair-food and fair-rides and fair-shows is so great, that even at 8 I knew what the ISF was and that someday I'd go. :)
ReplyDeleteOne day...
Heck, with all the travelling we've been doing since unschooling, it may be sooner that later. ;)
Thanks for sharing this, and good luck with the raspberry jam. Mmmmm!
I see there's supposed to be GREAT Christian artists at the ISF this year! I hope my family will be able to make it!
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