Ordinarily, when I take over blogging for a day, it’s for one of a very few reasons: 1) to talk about Chelsea behind her back, 2) to show off something cool I shot at night, or 3) to make you salivate. If you know the McG’s at ALL, you’ll recognize that a blog about our trip to the Texas State Fair is clearly a category 3. We totally played hooky from school and work, left our cameras at home, and iPhone’d the whole day like everybody else!

This year’s Big Tex Best Taste award winner was the “Fried Shrimp Boil,” so obviously, we tried it as soon as we walked through the gates. They had fried meatloaf, too, so we gave that a go. The shrimp boil was pretty solid–I’d give it an 8/10–but the fried meatloaf was essentially a crappy steak finger, so I’d walk right by that one…

We got really lucky all day walking up to areas where there was going to be a show in a matter of minutes… I don’t remember the name of this troupe of acrobats, but they were pretty phenominal!

We never went more than a few minutes without trying something else… Jack spotted fried chocolate covered strawberries, and fried biscuits and gravy, while Dot insisted we give the fried Frito pie… you can witness their reactions for yourself:

The new car pavilion is one of my favorite places to stop. I mean, it has all the sweet new rides, and A/C.  Jack found his favorite pretty early on (the latest Dodge Viper), while Dot’s tastes differed slightly. Meanwhile, I was busy taking #datass pictures of the 2015 Stingray.

Let’s take a moment to be real, here. Dot has asked about a fried PB&J sandwich around once a week since last year’s fair. When we finally found them, homegirl DID NOT SHARE. Fortunately, they’re right next to *my* favorite–the fried Jambalaya.

You never know what you’re going to get to sample in the beer & wine area. I don’t remember ANY of the names of these three beers, but there was only one that we found tolerable, so I don’t guess you’re missing out.

MAPLE. BACON. CANDIED. PECANS. That is all.

Remember how we kept stumbling across great shows? We happened upon the Killdares’ stage right before they started, and even scored a couple of Adirondack chairs! Jack and Chelsea got their annual turkey leg (this time it was bacon wrapped!), and Dot proceeded to steal and eat the WHOLE THING. Obligatory creepy butter sculpture pic:We’re not really “caricature people”… I look silly enough in real life. But when we found this artist doing incredible work, we HAD to get one of the kids. Then one of us. If you follow us on Instagram (@mack_mcgowan or @chelsea_mcgowan) or Facebook, you might’ve seen the time lapse I posted yesterday of the artist working on our kids. Seriously beautiful!Chelsea didn’t win big, so we’re still available to take your photos…OK, so NOBODY won big. But we had a ton of fun at the Midway!So that was our trip to the fair. If you haven’t gone, um… GO. EAT. Thank me later. Come back tomorrow for more regularly-scheduled programming–namely, Kylie & Tyler’s wedding!