Hope everyone here in the States had a happy 4th of July! With any luck you had your share of fireworks, fire trucks and marching bands. With drum majors. We hit the parade in Larkspur, which is one town north of ours, and it was good fun. Of course, it’s a little different out here. Our marching band was extremely well turned out, with a perfectly sharp, stern drum major and terrific sound. They had the most phenomenal baton twirler out front who was thrilling and precise; the baton flew forever and never hit the pavement. So, you say? We had that. What’s the big deal? Well I’m going to go out on a limb and venture that your baton twirler was not an effervescent man in his 50s. Just a guess.
We got to see our friends who are just home from an amazing stay in Prague – to sum up what I’ve heard, you should buy your tickets today. Their beautiful girl is walking now and such a sweetheart it was hard not to steal her away. We also saw the parade with Susie and Finn, and their little girl is due any day now – I have some serious money on their child being an angel as well. Sometimes you just know.
Yesterday we really kicked off the holiday weekend – buckle your seat belts, because we went to the county fair. I am a major county fair lover – it has everything and then some. We met up with our friends Amy and Peter and their boys and had such a great day.
This year the fair theme was “Cool Green Fun” and an amazing effort was put into keeping the fair environmentally friendly. Solar and biodiesel power for buildings and sound stages, biodegradable or compostable food containers, recycled material exhibitions, electric cars – even the award ribbons were made with environmentally sound materials. It’s great to see such an enormous venue taking big steps towards protecting the environment.
Here’s an event with something for everyone: rides, music, demonstrations, food, quilts, jam, roses, baby pigs, gigantic pigs, dancing, science, bonsai, cows, ice cream, fireworks, tupperware. Tupperware, for crying out loud. A county fair basically says, “Bring us anything – anything at all – and we will judge it for you.” It rocks. Here’s a snapshot:
So let’s see… we have a black silkie that actually belongs to some friends of ours who live just around the corner – they were showing a few of their chickens and their dog a well. Then the ferris wheel. The wall of winning cookies & cakes. Quilts. Cars. Bareback riding exhibition. Darth Vader and a storm trooper. Jam.
Woah there, you’re thinking. Back up… Darth Vader? Well it wouldn’t be Marin without him, frankly. There was a whole section of the exhibit hall dedicated to Star Wars related craft. They did it right, though, with amazing costumes and huge guys inside them – very impressive. It was cracking Amy and me up to watch Darth walk through the hall flanked by two storm troopers – she and I took one look at them and wanted to bolt. The little kids, though, were chasing him like he was a Teletubby. Kids. No sense whatsoever.
There also was an experimental science exhibit called the Wizard’s Challenge – it was fantastic. One truly diabolical item, though – a 20 foot rotating tube with a metal walkway running straight through the middle. You can see a photo of it here. Looks innocent enough, but the second you step inside, the walkway appears to slant a good 45 degrees and you find yourself gripping frantically to the railings to keep from falling. If you look at the picture, the adult looks like he’s walking pretty casually with a water bottle in his hand; that’s because he’s focusing on the walkway to combat the tilting sensation. The boy, on the other hand, is looking up, and hanging onto the railing with both hands, because once you look up your eyes tell you you’re about to fall. It was absolutely insane. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.
All in all, it was a completely satisfying day.
