This weekend, Susan and I went to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, about 3 hours south of Denali. On the drive down, we continued to seek Denali, but it was not to be. Although we are members of the 30% Club (only 30% of the people who come to Alaska see Denali), "the high one" continued to be shrouded in clouds. Another time... We borrowed a friend's car and stayed at a B&B. A wonderfully comfortable mattress and a REALLY good night's sleep, followed by lemon ricotta pancakes in the morning. Delicious all the way around.
The Alaska State Fair is Thursday thru Monday, so we had only one day to take in all the sights, smells, and sounds. We found some hilarious signs along the way (at the end of this blog), but started with a Lumberjack Show just off the midway.
Although felling trees has changed over the last 150 years (from crosscut sawing to Stihl chain saws), this competition covered the full range of techniques used throughout the years. Chopping has always been important to all sawyers:
The finished product:
Very entertaining to watch the axe throwing:
To fell a really tall tree, sawyers had to climb the tree
and then stand on a board to chop it:
Once the tree was down, the lumberjack had to get it down river to the saw mill, so walking on logs in the water was a big deal. At the Lumberjack Show, the sawyers didn't have to fight the current or worry about the water being too deep. But they did get wet!
15 second video of log rolling
Since I'm a crosscut sawyer, my favorite part of the competition was crosscut.
20 second video of crosscut
Any state fair has vegetables and lots of animals. With nearly 24 hours of sunlight at the beginning of the growing season, Alaska vegetables just get bigger! This pumpkin took the blue ribbon at 2,035 pounds. Yep...over a ton of pumpkin. Second place was 734 pounds.
Although not in the competition, the rhubarb and Brussels sprouts were large as well.
And of course there were prize winning animals. It was fun to watch the 4-H kids guiding their turkeys to the judging area. And the pigs were large too, just asleep!
And what would a state fair be without an alligator. I don't get it either, but a woman was showing off her 4 foot long gator.
There are no snakes in Alaska and only one amphibian, so why an alligator? Anyway, another favorite at the state fair were the signs. This one says it very explicitly at the front entrance:
We did not try these. Not sure what to think either. Peanuts? Would we find this in Georgia too?!?!
We did eat the quesadillas (very good!), but did not try the Alaskan oysters.
And every state fair either has or should have this officer:
There were many hilarious (and offensive) signs and shirts, but I narrowed it down to these 2:
We had a fun time at the fair, and we still had a 3 hour drive back to Denali. But I was able to squeeze in one more trip to the Dairy Queen in Wasilla. The season in the park is winding down and we are looking forward to being home...soon! Fall colors have invaded the Interior, and I look forward to sharing the spectacular foliage.
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