County Fair Adventures

Yesterday, I took my daughter and two friends to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. But the excitement started even before we left the neighborhood.

So we’re sitting at this green light, with car horns honking and the lead car not budging a centimeter. Last in line, I swung around and drove past the other cars. In situations like this, I just have to look and see who’s driving the offending vehicle. In this case, no one, because the old—and I mean really old—geezer had slumped forward over the steering wheel. 

Quick as we crossed the intersection, I parked and told my daughter and friends to stay put. I sprinted back to the street, where the stoplight had changed, of course. So I had to wait and run past speeding cars to get into the intersection. About this time, the light turned green at the cross street and grandpa, who must have been asleep rather than dead, sped through the intersection. Oh well. I’d rather act than let some old guy’s ticker tock out. 

As for the main attraction: This year’s Montgomery County Fair targeted sneaks like me—OK, so maybe it only felt that way. In past years, the fair separately charged for parking and admission. Seeing as how parking cost more, and we always parked somewhere else, I found the admission cost to be reasonable enough. This year, the fair combined parking and admission—a high seven bucks per person, which meant $28 for me and my small troupe of tweens. Ah, the joys of spending nearly 30 bucks to stand and bake in 33-degree heat and balmy air or for the privilege of spending more money on food and rides.

I carried my wife’s Canon Poweshot S500 digital camera rather than my Canon EOS 20D, seeing as how I let the big camera’s battery run down. I took fewer pictures, seeing as I had no telephoto. Naturally, the woman standing in front of me in the fair admission line had a Nikon D2X strapped `round her shoulder. Rub it in lady.