Sept. 13 — Start early at The Fair; savor scones

Sally Zeiger Hanson / guest columnist

The Destination: The Puyallup Fair, Days 1-4

Here are some things I learned from my mom about the art of Doin’ the Puyallup:

A Start out early in the day to avoid the crowds.

A The scones that you buy at the booth under the grandstands are the best in show.

A It is possible to park for free.

A Nobody with a lick of sense needs to go on more than three rides in one day.

Here’s the tip I would add to my mom’s list:

A Take off your watch.

This is a major tenet of the One Day Vacation state of mind. There’s nowhere else you need to be. Let yourself be absorbed by the sight and sound sensation that is The Fair.

My son and I got our season passes, complete with photos, at the Gold Gate on Friday. We are serious about our Fair fun and are reporting our finds on our blog each day and in this column each Thursday.

Here are some highlights from this week:

Old Favorites and New Finds

There are some things that we do every time we go to The Fair. I think coming in the Red Gate and starting with one hot scone from the booth under the grandstands officially tells our brains that it is now time to have some fun. We visit our family’s candlemaking booth in the Crafts and More building near the Coca-Cola stage. Also, we love the high school art exhibit on the ground floor of the Pavilion. We always stop by the Wilcox Dairy barn to sample the eggnog and chocolate milk. We check in on the piglets in the Pig Palace. We marvel at the funny gadgets being sold in the Modern Living Building.

This weekend we discovered lots of new exhibits that are great. The carver-of-giant-pumpkins outside the Pavilion is a hoot. He will custom carve one of these 500-pound beauties for your next special event. We enjoyed the Pierce County Sheriff’s K-9 show. Cy and I are big rodeo fans but we’d never seen the rodeo at The Fair before this weekend. We got lucky that the friendly staff at the Green River Community College offered us box seats for the 1 p.m. rodeo. Needless to say, our spot in the sun was a glorious place to spend our one day vacation. The cowboys, the stock, and the arena are impressive. We saw some of the best competitors in the world complete with playbacks on the big screen on either side of the stage. Eight seconds is never quite long enough to take in the whole spectacle. I am definitely going to make plans to buy my tickets early next year to be sure we’re in the arena when the fun begins.

Hands down, the most powerful new display is the African village presented by World Vision. This engaging, interactive, low-tech exhibit illustrates the life of one 2-year-old girl in Africa. Walking through the tent, you get to sit on a bed like the one in her home, try on shoes that are made from tires, see the dirty water that she drinks, pick up the bundle of firewood that her siblings carry home and actually see a table set with the three tablespoons of food that feed her family for the week. We’ve been talking about this experience non-stop in our home.

Tips for Getting Some Rest Along the Way

Cy has been teasing me that my favorite ride is the Foot Jiggler machines that are located conveniently all over the fairgrounds and a deal at just 50 cents. I thought that since he is only 7 maybe he never needs an excuse to sit down during one of our marathon Fair visits. But then I noticed that he is always declaring that the Sky Ride is his favorite ride when it is time to hike clear back across the fairgrounds, again. Readers on the blog have contributed a number of restful solutions for Fair Fatigue. One artful reader suggested finding out when The Coats or The Konzelman Family (both groups are from Puyallup) would be performing and arranging your day so that their shows coincide with your need to sit down.

Coming Next Week

I am not convinced that 17 days will be enough time to discover all the fun that The Fair has to offer. Next week we will be exploring the Midway rides and games, investigating the gadgets that are for sale and eating lots of fair food in the name of research. You can contribute to this project by posting your comments on www.onedayvacations.blogspot.com. I look forward to seeing you at The Fair.