Oklahoma

Leaving the New Mexico state fair, we caught some debris from the road and got a big stone chip in our windshield. Aside from that unpleasantness, it was a fun trip to the Oklahoma fair. We overnighted in Tucumcari (famous Tom Cruise scene from Rain Man) and ate dinner at an old Route 66 diner. While our hotel was not on Route 66, David made sure that he did his Saturday morning run on Route 66 just for bragging rights. The mountains quickly faded into plains full of unattractive clustered windmills. Near Amarillo, we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch and graffitied a car in the parking lot just for that purpose (they have an onsite spray paint truck – yep, just like a food truck). We also stopped at the Slug Bug Ranch on the other side of Amarillo – kind of a parody of the Cadillac Ranch. We also saw the ‘Leaning Tower of Texas’ from the highway. (Route 66 along I-40 is a tourist trap haven!)

We stayed in Oklahoma City on Saturday night, so we could get to the fair when the gates opened on Sunday morning. Being a weekend fair day, the crowd was a little light when we got there but was easily the most crowded of the trip by the time we left. It turned out to be the warmest as well, but it was tolerable, as all of the buildings were air-conditioned. The first stop in this fair was the combined 4H and FFA building. We are always amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of these kids, and Oklahoma is no exception. Their animal exhibit was amazing, from the live scorpions and bugs to the goat pen with a manmade mountain. Among the project displays, we saw the usual but interesting assortment of art, science, and crop displays. What was new for us was the larger projects that were here. Whole metal utility trailers, iron bench swings, and other big welded stuff.

Lisa was very taken by the pony ride here. Instead of the usual ring of ponies tethered to a carousel and plodding around in a circle, these ponies had a sizable trail they followed.

Outside of the buildings there was plenty to see in the way of monuments to people and history of the state and the fair. There were several fountains and a waterfall as well, and Lisa took way too many pictures, as usual.

There was a huge indoor car show which included the latest models from the big automakers, and a group of gorgeous classic cars as well. In the same building was a mini-golf course designed to keep the kids occupied. Speaking of kids, this fair had more than most in the way of fun kid activities, in buildings and out, including “dinosaur” rides and other dino related things like digging for bones, etc. The same building had a pig train for kids to ride as well.

Inside one of the buildings was a cotton candy vendor (not uncommon) that was making cotton candy sculptures for display while also tending to sweet-toothed customers. Across the three fairs on this trip, we resisted the cotton candy this time. This same building also had several vendors selling underground tornado shelters, reminding us that we were in a far-away place.

The Home Arts building had a lot of well-displayed crafts. There were the usual crafts such as knitting, quilts, paintings, woodworking and the like, but also more uncommon items, like table settings, decorated cakes, and even decorated pumpkins (made to look like a giraffe, and even the Stay Puff marshmallow guy from Ghost Busters!)

The Oklahoma State Fair had several great shows to entertain the whole family. They had the well-known ones, like pig races, that most fairs have, but also some more unique ones like “Pirates Raid the Plaza” and “Wild West Showcase” (in the Oklahoma Frontier), which we only caught the end of. It was worth going over, as Lisa was able to see some (horse) trick-riding, giving her the “horse fix” she needed for the day.

Outside of the show, and FFA/4 H buildings there were not a lot of animals to see…a small number of cows, sheep and goats, and we were able to catch the tail end of some sheep and goat showing. All three fairs we attended had petting zoos, but we did not go in this one. Lisa did find a few Clydesdales in one building that were in their stalls.

Early in our visit we grabbed a ‘Strawberry Crepe’ which was probably the best fair food among the three fairs on this trip. We also had roast corn and sirloin-on-a-stick.