a day at the fair

After living in San Diego for almost 22 years, I finally found my way to the annual San Diego County Fair this past Saturday. Interesting experience. The fair was filled with people wandering in every direction at once (no matter how large the space, people will find creative ways to get into each other's ways) and the pungent aroma of foods of all kinds (one stand proudly proclaiming itself "the home of the deep-fried Snickers bar", a dubious distinction insofar as I'm concerned.) And stuff...clothes and candy and gemstones: gadgets, widgets, and doo-dads...filling barn-sized buildings.

And, again, the people...Moms and dads and kids of all ages, salesmen and schoolgirls, bikers and businessmen, and lesbians by twos and threes and fours come to see Melissa Etheridge play an afternoon concert in a space that will give way to thoroughbred horse racing later this month. People eating the aforementioned food and buying the aforementioned merchandise; people enjoying rides on the midway and getting vicarious thrills watching the bungee jumpers hanging underneath a crane topped with a ragged American flag.

A warm (but not too warm) July day in Del Mar ("where the turf meets the surf") taking in the Fair. A good way to pass a few summer's hours.

Quote of the day (seen on a t-shirt in a vendor's window at the Fair): "Any man can be a Grandfather but it takes a special guy to be a PAPA". I like that (he says, smiling wistfully at a photo of his granddaughter.)