Minnesota Renaissance & The Minnesota State Fair 2018

Minnesota Renaissance & The Minnesota State Fair 2018

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 3, 2018

We debated going to the Minnesota Renaissance this year.  It seems like every year we go and say it feels like we've done this before.  But then when you get there and meet fun people like this, you're quickly reminded that this is always a unique experience.

The Kamikaze Fireflies were a new group performing this year.  I believe they would be classified as a "Danger Act" were they to go on America's Got Talent.  The guy balanced himself on top of a bunch of chairs and also juggled fire sticks while standing on the shoulders of an audience member.  I'd like to say that I could do those kinds of tricks, but I can't.  

The Minnesota Renaissance is one of the largest events of it's type in the country attracting more than 300,000 visitors each year.  The festival has been held in the same place for the past 48 years, but is being forced to find a new home starting in 2020.  It's kind of sad because this location has so many unique spots that won't be able to be re-created because they've been being developed for nearly half a century.  It's truly going to be the end of an era.

  

I like watching the guys blow glass.  Hard to imagine people figured out how the heck to do this nearly 2000 years ago.

I didn't remember that alligators had a big presence back in the Renaissance days, but they must have been quite the nuisance.  I wouldn't want to mess with them.

I spent 2 nights in Lincoln, Nebraska this week for work.  They sure have a pretty sky down there.

On Saturday, we dragged Grandma Linda out of the house and down to the Minnesota State Fair.

We didn't do a great job on timing.  Turns out we chose the busiest day in the history of the Minnesota State Fair with more than 270,000 people in attendance.  Not a good call on our part.  It was wall to wall people the whole day.

At least we had a bucket of chocolate chip cookies to help us deal with all the people.  Cookies make crowds much more pleasant.

We like watching the dog show that occurs every year.  Mainly because there's always some of the dogs that will not obey their masters which causes all sorts of shenanigans to ensue.  We like naughty doggies.

We thought we'd take the sky ride to go from one side of the fair to the other and maybe that would get us away from all the people.  Not so much.  Turns out the people knew about the other side also.

I thought I was being pretty rebellious experiencing the Sky Glider when the sign so clearly spelled out that Physically Handicapped people shouldn't do so.  Seemed kind of discriminatory to me, so I stuck it to the man and went on there anyways.

Apparently there's a whole bunch of naughty stuff happening on the sky glider judging from the amount of undies sitting on the rooftops underneath.  Not sure what gets people so frisky up there, but I have to imagine they have quite the challenge making it work.

After the Fair we had some friends over for a BBQ and Boat Ride.  I thought it would be fun to get a picture of our group with my new drone.  Turned out to almost be the last drone picture I took as the winds above the lake are stronger than they appear.  My new drone almost got away from me, but luckily I was able to navigate it back to the boat before it fell into the lake to join our last drone.

We did see a cool bald eagle while on the lake.  It looked like he was trying to tell us something but tough to know for sure.

We got to see Jason and Jen a couple of times this weekend which is always nice.  We had breakfast together then spent some quality time with one another at the casino.  Good wholesome fun.