Santa-Cali-Gon

I couldn't stay away from this. I was going to, what with what I'd spent on the County Fair and tickets to the Greatest Show on Earth next weekend. Irish Fest is also this weekend, but it has an $8 admission, so that's $24 for three Lobsters to just walk through the gates.





I bought a lot fewer ride tickets than I'd have wanted to. There weren't unlimited passes available (I hear that's a Monday thing), but even if they were they'd have to be cheaper than the JoCo Fair unlimited ride bracelets, and fat chance of that.





I stayed off the rides except for one trip on the ferris wheel to make the tickets go farther.





They did the Tilt-A-Whirl, then the Yo-Yo. Six bucks to spin your kids around in a circle? Yeah, I know. When you can see their smile from across state lines, it's worth it.





The Himalayan was one they liked last year. I think, though, the carnies have turbo-charged it. Em sat on the outside, though she told me later she'd seen the sticker indicated the larger kid should sit to the outside. I think I could about hear her ribs cracking as Mo was pressed against her, even over the Quiet Riot they were blasting to make the ride more incomprehensibly overwhelming.





Em looked actually terrified on the Himalayan. Mortified. Horrified.

I went along on the ferris wheel. It's an expensive ride and a tame one, but I figured Mo could use some decompression after the Himalayan.




After that and Em went through the fun house (House of Rock, actually), there was tickets sufficient for them each to ride one more ride. I thought I'd prepped Mo for this, all the way back to the line for the ferris wheel, explaining how many tickets were left, about what that translated to at three or four tickets per ride.



But after the Bumble Bee, she started pointing at another ride and I told her nope, out of tickets. We can still walk around the fair, check out the booths, I told her.



At which she had a screaming fit that lasted all six blocks back to the car. Maybe the unlimited ride bracelets I bought at the JoCo Fair were a bad precedent to set...