Let's see if I can't bring you up to the present without getting too lost in detail or skipping stuff altogether.
With several years of success in the Calhoun County Fair ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger decided to enter a half-dozen pictures in the big time. Well, the bigger time: the Jackson County Fair, notable as the county fair that sometimes brings in a roller coaster. Not this year, though. Still, they did take her half-dozen photos --- she would pick ten for the Calhoun County Fair, the week after --- and despite some stress at the work in getting them mounted and delivered per spec, they were there, and shown, and judged.
When we went to the fair to enjoy the day we parked in a lot within two of the walls of the onetime state prison in town, and walked just far enough away to be worried about getting lost on the way back. (We did not get badly lost.) And we got there to see an old friend: Adam Radatz, magician, formerly of Darien Lake amusement park, formerly formerly a long time ago of Cedar Point Halloweekends. He was doing a fun show we joined in progress, noting how he showed the way he did one trick --- having a banner already on stage showing which of two things an audience member picked. He'd had a banner with the other thing elsewhere on stage, so the real magic was working his way naturally on stage to match the audience pick.
After the show we did go up to him and re-introduce ourselves and if he remembered at all the people who four years ago said they remembered him from twelve years ago at Cedar Point (it was only bunnyhugger who had seen him there, but I imagine we blend together in people's recollections) he didn't act like we were being weird. I thought hard about buying something from his merch table, but it was all kiddie magic stuff for sale. Which, you know, it's not like I have any actual magic skills besides finding things bunnyhugger has misplaced, so I have to start somewhere.
Now to the exhibition. The Jackson County Fair has a rather good-sized building for its exhibits, one big enough to host an artificial waterfall and 'river' within (they turn the water off outside exhibition times), and labelled 'streets' to help people navigate. Even enclosed rooms that are done up to look like shopfronts, which made good spots for exhibits they did not want people to stand too near. This is a big fair compared to Calhoun County.
There were many more photos than I expected, even knowing how big the fair was. Like, photos are already threatening to take over the whole of Calhoun County Fair's exhibitions but this was even more than that, many temporary walls overflowing with pictures, over and over again. And another section for kids on top of that. Also a not-as-large section of drawings and paintings, with similar spread of categories.
Ah, but, what about the judging? bunnyhugger and I both had picked a couple of her pictures as sure to be winners. They both lost. However, the rest of her pictures got some award, even if I think two of them were fourth places. I forget, at this reserve, but don't worry, bunnyhugger remembers and will say in her comment on LiveJournal. She can hold her head high, having got a great finish in her first try at the more bigger leagues. And started to plan out what she might do for next year.
So just because we've reached the finale of the fireworks show doesn't mean we're done with California's Great America, does it? No, as we got up quickly to this:
We hopped into line for GoldStriker, the lift hill for which you can see here, beside the observation tower. And we'd get several rides in, as the lines were never too long for this.
From the queue, which runs inside the structure of the ride, we get this nice view of the carousel.
And here's what the station looks like by night.
bunnyhugger waits her turn. I believe the kid in front of her was one of the team that all took their shirts off while the train went through the tunnel and put their shirts on as we got back into the station. Might be wrong. It was one of those night rides, though.
Anyway here's a last look out through the station to the main body of the park.
And after our session on GoldStriker we got up to the carousel. Here's the upper level mid-ride. It's not the fastest carousel, since the thing is like twice as heavy as a carousel 'should' be, but it's got novelty to make up for that.
Trivia: When Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth, died in 1590, he was buried at night in order to foil creditors who might have impounded his coffin. Source: The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir.
Currently Reading: Space Craze: America's Enduring Fascination With Real and Imagined Spaceflight, Margaret A Weitekamp.
