As my luck would have it The Durham Fair was held this past weekend and the weather forecast for one of the most popular fairs in Connecticut was not looking good with a forecast of rain for the entire weekend.
My granddaughter's mom and stepdad work the fair circuit in Connecticut each weekend from the end of August to the middle of October and my husband and I get to spend every weekend they are working with our 6 year old granddaughter Brooke. If the fair is not too far away I will pick a day (usually Sunday) to bring Brooke to the fair to see her mom and stepdad and of course to let her go the rides and play a variety of games.
The Durham Fair is one of my favorite fairs and I was not feeling too optimistic about our being able to go with the torrential rains we had on Friday and Saturday and the forecast for Sunday looking to be 50/50 on whether we'd see some sunshine. My conversations with Brooke's mom were not too enlightening either as the constant rain was causing the fairgrounds to become flooded in many areas and mud-soaked. The thought of drudging through the muddy fairgrounds with a six year old was not exactly my idea of a fun day.
When we woke on Sunday morning the skies were still a bit dark and gloomy and the threat of rain looomed overhead but that didn't matter to Brooke. Her first question to me when she got up was were we going to the fair as I had promised? I quickly turned on the radio to get the weather forecast and was ecstatic when I head that the front causing the rain was heading away from us and we could expect a sunny Sunday afternoon!!!
Brooke could hardly contain herself when I told her we would be going. Isn't it amazing how fast a child will eat and get dressed when they are filled with excitement about where they are going? We decided to wait til early afternoon to leave for the fair to give the grounds what I hoped would be a little time to dry up from all of the rain. Hey you can't fault me for trying to be a little optimistic here, can you?
It normally takes me about 30 minutes to drive to the fairgrounds from my house but that wasn't going to be the case today. It looked like every person in the state had the same idea I did in light of the great weather because when we got about a mile away from the fair, the traffic was an absolute nightmare and I knew trying to find a place to park was going to be a real challenge.
By this time Brooke was on the edge of her seat as we creeped down Route 17 in bumper to bumper traffic asking me every 5 seconds how much longer before we would get there becasue every second longer she was stuck in the truck was one less second she'd have to spend at the fair.
Someone must have been watching over me as my prayers to find a place to park were answered when a car just hapened to pull out of one the lots that was completely full and only a short walk to the fairgrounds.
It took us about five minutes to walk from where I parked to the fair gates and I found myself almost as excited as Brooke was to finally get there.
First things first we had to find the fried dough and lemonade concession stands that Brooke's mom and stepdad were working at to let them know we had arrived. If you've ever been to the Durham Fair or any fair for that matter, you know how many different kinds of food vendors there are and it was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack to locate their two stands.
Not to worry, eagle eye Brooke spotted the fried dough trailer within seconds and we headed down the muddy trail to announce our arrival.
As we neared the Doughboy, Brooke was overjoyed to see her Uncle Jeff (my son) inside peparing and frying up the delectable fried dough pizzas that you can purchase with sauce and cheese or powdered sugar.
Next stop was the lemonade stand to see MOMMY! Not being familar with where the exact location of the stand, Jeff gave us some direction where to find it on the other side of the fairgrounds. We trudged through a trail of mud and up a steep hill before Brooke spotted the lemonade stand.
Yippee!! Now that we've seen Mommy, it's on to the rides and games. I was meeting Brooke's Grandma Fifi, a couple of her friends and their children to spend some with us so Brooke would have someone to go on the rides with her. There was pure excitement bubbling out of every one of those kids as we got closer to the area where all the rides were.
Just so you all know, Brooke is a daredevil if I've ever seen one and has no fear when it comes to some of these amusement rides. She's gone on vacation to Disney in Orlando and has been on the Mt. Everest and Tower of Doom rides that made me shiver when I saw the video clips of them on the Disney website.
The first ride they all chose to to on was the Wild Wind. As each ride had a different height requirement, this was one that Brooke could go on with her little cousins and Uncle Chad (who is 10).
After a quick 2 minutes of thrills and chills watching them on the Wild Wind, it was on to a ride that is called Cliff Hanger. This was one ride I was apprenhensive about but Brooke can be very persuasive when she wants to be so I agreed to let her go on it if Uncle Chad was with her.
Of course I saved the best for last which was the Pirate Boat ride that swings back and forth in an almost perpendicular motion. This time the height requirement was taller than Brooke was and meant that she would have to be accompanied by an adult. Bet you can't guess who the lucky adult was? I am not a huge fan of this particular ride but Grammy Donna didn't want to disappoint that beautiful little girl whose eyes were begging for me to say yes. I'll let the video I tookspeak for itself and let you guess whether I felt thrills or chills after this ride was over.
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Copyright © 2008 by Donna Bigda, All Rights Reserved ...* Hair Raising Fun At The Durham Fair!*
