The Del Mar Fair - Shake Down

First of all I am NOT calling it the "San Diego County Fair" because I still don't understand why they decided to change the name after years. All natives still call it the Del Mar Fair. Anyhew..

Patrick and I flew in from Vegas around noon on Sunday and then met up with his daughter, Ciara, at the Fair - she was with her mom who generously gave us free tickets and great seats to the Mariachi Festival there. After fighting traffic and parking for ages we finally got inside, ate something (ummm P introduced me to funnel cake), tracked down Ciara and sat down to listen to the talented performers. I could have stayed longer, obviously - being a musician and singer myself, and P was definitely being very patient - he's Irish and all. Ciara, on the other hand, was being a typical kid and was NOT patient about watching the festival but wanted to go on the rides. :) We watched just over an hour, that was about her limit and then we went to the carnival section of the Fair.

Two words: Shake...Down. That is what P and I say when things are expensive but you have no alternative. For example: Ciara's private Catholic school - Shake Down. Car insurance: Shake Down. Las Vegas: Shake Down. You get the picture..

So, we bought some ride tickets (shake down) and of course the rides took anywhere from 4-6 tickets. Ciara is still young so she wanted us to go on rides with her. "Too bad..honey...too bad!" as my gay friend used to say. I did go on 1 ride with her - "The Storm" - since her dad is um..well, ride-challenged. he he he We screamed our fool heads off and it was fun. She then went alone on a big slide that you sat on a piece of carpet to make you go even faster. P and I laughed watching her face because she did NOT look happy at all!! hehehe


After the ride tickets quickly vanished and a botched attempt (shake down) to win a stuffed animal I tried distracting Ciara by saying, "ooo let's go look at the animals!" Actually there are a many great things to look at at the Fair. We went into large halls to look at the home decor booths, plants, and some photography before getting to the livestock. We loved the pigs - they totally resembled Fred-the-basset-hound's long body, short legs and squishy butt.

Lastly, we came across a circular pony ride to which Ciara immediately begged to go on (more shake down). I have to admit that I couldn't let P turn down her wanting to go on a pony ride (with my own love of horses). Even though she was the biggest kid there and has been to pony camp before she still had fun going in circles. I commented to Patrick that it brought back wonderful memories of my paternal grandfather, "Grandpa Martinez" who took my sister Sara and I every Sunday when he'd visit from Calexixo to the circular pony ride in Bonita (where the Pier 1 Imports now stands, right before the entrance to the 805 North freeway). *sigh* That is probably one of only 3 or 4 much memories of my abuelito and is my earliest memory of falling in love with horses. :) I shall never forget his introducing us to horses - a lifelong love... Back to the fair - it definitely was nice to go back again. I realized that I had only been twice in my life. Once as a kid with our 4-H Club - my sister Sara won a prize for calligraphy that was displayed with a ribbon. And the last time I went was about the age of 20 to also go check out the free concert in the racetrack midfield of Mr. "Rico Suave" himself: Gerardo. Yes - I DID just admit to that! I definitely won't be letting another 15 years go by without going. I'm sure Ciara and P go every year anyway. It's such a nice sense of community there for our rapidly growing city. And it was a true pleasure to see the animals and art that I used to be so involved with in my childhood. There really is something for everyone - as long as you've got deep pockets!!