The fair I'm talking about would be THE fair around here, The State Fair of Texas, known for a wide array of fried foods and anything goes when it comes to fried. This year some new fried treats included fried bubblegum and buffalo chicken flapjacks. Before going, we found a list of the 25 Best Eats at the Texas State Fair and decided which ones we would like to try. It's nice to have a game plan because the fair can get quite expensive if you don't. There are many things to do besides ride the rides and play games. Last year we loved going to the Women's Museum and there are a list of several others that we still have to go to. There are many pavilions and a massive car show inside the Fair, all for free or cheap.
Before getting to the food we found the car show. The Jeep section had a cool climbing wall for kids for free:
And you can sit in all the newest cars. Audrey and Ella tested out the trunk space of the new Fiat, which BTW is super cute but still a little too small for our needs:
Ella was begging us for food after walking around the car show for a while so we set out on our food tastings.
First off, we found the kraut balls in the Hans Mueller Booth on the east side of the Cotton Bowl. Our family favorite of the day for sure. I wish we would have gone back for more.
If you don't try anything else new but this it will be worth it. The booth was located in front of the Cotton Bowl close to the entrance of the Midway:
Next up, we found our way to the Coca Cola Food Court:
There are many, many booths with all kinds of foods but we were on a mission. We found the Greek booth and asked for a giant dolma.
We tried and tried but Audrey would not touch it. The above shot was not posed. This was her natural reaction to having the plate set down in front of her. The rest of us, however, loved it. This was Ella's favorite of the day for sure. The look can be deceiving on this one. We got a lot of looks from passersby. In case you don't know, a dolma is a grape leaf stuffed with beef, lamb, and rice.
We walked out of the Coca Cola Food Court in search of what I was really excited about, tamale balls. After a bit of searching for the Exhibit Hall we found it. I'll have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed. They were just okay. Too spicy for the kids and a little dry in my opinion. Oh, well, the rest made up for them.
At this point in the day it started to rain. We had stopped at Tar-jay before coming to the fair and picked up some ponchos because the forecast showed a high chance of rain. I'm so glad we were prepared. We asked others how much they were charged at the fair for ponchos and we were told they paid $7 each!
We stepped out into the rain and walked around for a bit and found the Museum of Nature and Science. What a great way to spend an hour while waiting for the rain to stop. Admission was only $1.50 and the kids loved it. Bob the Builder was even walking around that day. Now, my kids are a little old for it but all the little ones seemed to love him.
The rain subsided and we found the next item on our list, salsa balls:
These were good too. Audrey liked them the most. It tasted liked nacho cheese mixed with salsa with an outside layer of crunched up nacho cheese Doritos. Not bad. These were found in the Magnolia Beer Garden.
We let the kids ride a few rides at the Midway but several were shut down due to the rain. The most famous of all the rides, of course, is the Texas Star.
The last food we tried for the day, our dessert, was a Fried Latte. In reality, the ice cream is not fried, but it was so tasty it did not matter:
Cappuccino ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with coffee flakes, atop a sopapilla. Great dessert to end our day of food samplings! And, I have no idea what THAT face was about. She was just being silly for the camera.
Our last stop for the day was a must. Have I mentioned that Audrey is OBSESSED with pigs. She would give anything to have one but our little suburban home just won't accommodate a pig, much to her dismay. So, we have to settle for occasional petting zoo piggies:
And Ella was happy feeding a baby goat, or kid, of course.
The petting zoo is also free with a small fee for the food.
We left having had a great, relatively inexpensive, day. I actually liked going during a rainy day. I think many people did not come because of it so the parking was good and the lines weren't bad. This is our 2nd time in 2 years to go as a family and I think we will just have to add this to our rotation of things to do every year now that we figured out how to do the fair.
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