Iowa State Fair

Have you seen those Lifetime movies where the couple has been together for 11 years and then the wife learns something shocking about her husband?

I’m the star of that movie!!!

After 11 years of being Natchelle, my world was turned upside down.  A hidden past came forward.

Nate is almost 32 and had never been to a fair.  What???  How could this be? I wanted to know if he really grew up in Iowa. I couldn’t even trust that his name was Nate at this point.  Mind blown.

I love fairs.  So very much.  The food.  The animal shows.  The crafts.  The smells.  All of it.  Growing up, the Webster County 4-H fair was the highlight of my summer.

That’s me with my reserve champion market hog.  That’s a pretty big deal when you’re a young 4-Her.

That’s me with my duck, Roger. She (yep, that’s correct) won best pet.  Such a good duck.  Ike would love her.  I later received a red ribbon for my hair.

So, clearly the fair is a huge part of my past.  And come to find out I married a man who had never ever been to a fair.  It was time to make that right. 

We joined one of my very dear childhood friends and her husband at the Iowa State Fair last Thursday.  Nate’s life will never be the same.  And I can now remain married to him.  Long live Natchelle.

Within minutes of walking into the fairgrounds it became clear that we needed to have some sort of food on a stick in our hands or we may risk being kicked out.  We grabbed some corn dogs, cheese curds and a lemon shake-up and joined Santa.

Nate was still doing okay at this point.  We did a little wandering after our first food stop.  We checked out the wine tasting, some antiques and some crazy entertaining duo.  We then headed to the animal barn to check out the sheep in disguise.

Nate didn’t find it nearly as entertaining as my friend and I.  I love the sheep barn.  The constant “baaing” makes me laugh.

We arrived at the pig barn just in time to see the biggest boar being led to his cage.  I played city girl and snapped a photo of this 1100 pound beauty.  I mean, can you get much better than this???  The pig didn’t want to move.  I liked his style.

We then hit up the fried dessert stands.  An Iowa State Fair must.

Nate had a fried Snickers.  I had a fried Milky Way and my friend had fried pineapple.  All of which were amazingly glorious and disgusting all at once.

I then took a nap.

This post is going nowhere fast.  I swear I’ll have some kind of real post…next month.

So, that’s the tale of Nate’s first fair experience.  Overall he said he didn’t hate it.  He thought it would be more redneck.  He thinks he can wait another 32 years before he goes ago.  Ohhh, Nate.

Are you a fair fan?  Were you in 4-H?  Ever have trouble naming a duck?