Oh, yeah. You betcha

This past weekend I went to visit a dear friend of mine, Jacqueline, who I met a couple of years ago while we both lived in Arizona. Ironically, around the same time I was offered to come back to Nevada to work, she returned to do the same thing in her home state of Minnesota.

I went back to see her in April and not long after that I saw something on the Travel Channel about the Minnesota State Fair, one of the largest, if not the biggest, one of its kind in the nation. I asked if she’d be interested in going if I flew back and thankfully, she was very enthusiastic about it.

I’m a bit of a planner so I checked out the fair’s website and something that jumped out at me was the food. If you’re on a diet or eat nothing but veggies, this is not the place for you. It stated there were 300 food vendors selling 500 different food items. The one tidbit that I noticed very quickly was that of those 500 food items, more than 80 came on a stick. Yup, you read that right, 80. My head started spinning. How is that even possible? There were so many, it had its own category on the webpage.

There were the traditional stick-worthy items like corn on the cob, corndogs, and caramel apples. But this was not your traditional weekend carnival. They’re professionals. Included in the stick category were deep-fried cheese, waffles, salmon, alligator, pickles, and shrimp to name just a few.

But two that caught my eye was the one-third pound piece of fried bacon on a stick as well as the frozen key lime pie wedge …on a stick.

The bacon booth was fairly easy to spot and by spot, I mean smell. But unlike bacon, you don’t often get the wafting scent of key lime pie floating through the air. Among the six miles we walked that day was the quest to find this sweet treat. Finally, there it was. It was as though the clouds parted and a sunbeam from above accompanied by harp music was pointing right at the booth, which was not easy to find and was very small. Not being a fan of regular chocolate, I was happy to see they offered a second choice, white chocolate. I ordered one of each and trust me, it was worth the wait. Frozen pie covered in a thick layer of frozen white chocolate. If a rainbow had a flavor, that would be it.

In all that day, we figured we tried eight to 10 different food items. And while the pie was awesome, I’d have to say that my favorite item was the garlic cheese curds. And while they did not come on a stick, I didn’t hold that against them.

I love rides at Disneyland but I’m not a huge fan of carnival rides as I have gotten older. It was probably best because with all that food in our bellies, just about any ride could have become a Vomit Comet. Nothing more macho than throwing up on the merry-go-round.

The following day we went to this huge, annual Renaissance Faire about 45 minutes away. I’ve never really gotten into that scene but I had a lot of fun and was impressed with the passion some have for it and the attire that goes with it. Some of the costumes were very elaborate and must have been miserable to wear in 85-degree weather with humidity to match. For some reason I expected Minnesota to be nothing but frozen tundra year-round and everyone getting around on either snowmobiles or dogsleds like Yukon Cornelius in “Rudolph.”

And yes, we ate more food, but sadly, tasty treats on a stick were suddenly a thing of the past as almost none came on a stick, which made ye olde Sir Ron a sad lad. Hey, maybe I’m into it more than I thought. HUZZAH!

The moral of this story is, if you’re planning on eating your weight in junk food, be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes because all the miles you walk, counterbalance all the tasty treats.

Until this time next year, Minnesota. Would I go back? You betcha.