the Missus, young daughter, young son, and I visited the Los Angeles county fair on its final weekend the past Saturday.
Unfortunately for the other fair-goers in our group, I checked my company phone just before we were ready to leave to drive to the fair and discovered that a titanic career-ending calamity had occurred the night before (not that I plan to have a career with this company, but still..) which put me firmly in the grouch zone.
I pretty much steamed all the way to the fair but managed to leave it behind when we got there. When we checked in to buy our tickets, the nice lady somehow spotted the Missus and I to be seniors so we got in for free. Young daughter used her military ID and the ticket lady was happy to use my retired military ID to get young son in, so none of us had to pay!
We needed to rent a wheel chair for the Missus as she has stress fractures in her foot and isn't supposed to walk. Thus the point of today's rant and roll. The fair was mobbed, really mobbed, and about 99% of the people there ware completely oblivious to the Missus in her wheelchair. Trying to get through the crowd, both outside and in the exhibit buildings was a real effort. People just didn't see us and would walk in front of us as we were wheeling along, or stop short, or a group of people would block the entire aisle and not register that the wheelchair with the Missus was trying to come through.
All of that grief was balanced though by the few saints who held doors open for us, stepped out of the way, or held back others so we could come through. God bless them, one and all! It opened our eyes to what the wheelchair bound must put up with.
The kids rode a few rides, we ate lots of mega-expensive food, young son and the Missus went into the Lorikeet experience where YS was mobbed by the tiny buggers who pecked him over and made it into a love fest. Birds just seem to like him!
We ended up by seeing the vintage trains and then headed home. The line waiting to come in at 5:30 in the afternoon had to be a hundred yards long. The group Chicago was playing on the stage in the evening so perhaps that was the draw.
We've been to the fair before with the children when they were small, and hopefully we'll get to go one more time before we move out of California.
There's nothing like a fair for fun!
Unfortunately for the other fair-goers in our group, I checked my company phone just before we were ready to leave to drive to the fair and discovered that a titanic career-ending calamity had occurred the night before (not that I plan to have a career with this company, but still..) which put me firmly in the grouch zone.
I pretty much steamed all the way to the fair but managed to leave it behind when we got there. When we checked in to buy our tickets, the nice lady somehow spotted the Missus and I to be seniors so we got in for free. Young daughter used her military ID and the ticket lady was happy to use my retired military ID to get young son in, so none of us had to pay!
We needed to rent a wheel chair for the Missus as she has stress fractures in her foot and isn't supposed to walk. Thus the point of today's rant and roll. The fair was mobbed, really mobbed, and about 99% of the people there ware completely oblivious to the Missus in her wheelchair. Trying to get through the crowd, both outside and in the exhibit buildings was a real effort. People just didn't see us and would walk in front of us as we were wheeling along, or stop short, or a group of people would block the entire aisle and not register that the wheelchair with the Missus was trying to come through.
All of that grief was balanced though by the few saints who held doors open for us, stepped out of the way, or held back others so we could come through. God bless them, one and all! It opened our eyes to what the wheelchair bound must put up with.
The kids rode a few rides, we ate lots of mega-expensive food, young son and the Missus went into the Lorikeet experience where YS was mobbed by the tiny buggers who pecked him over and made it into a love fest. Birds just seem to like him!
We ended up by seeing the vintage trains and then headed home. The line waiting to come in at 5:30 in the afternoon had to be a hundred yards long. The group Chicago was playing on the stage in the evening so perhaps that was the draw.
We've been to the fair before with the children when they were small, and hopefully we'll get to go one more time before we move out of California.