"You can do it at a trot, you can do it at a gallop...

You can do it real slow so your heart don't palpitate,
Just don't be late,
Do the Puyallup!!"

Yes, it's that time of the year again, time to "Do the Puyallup". The Western Washington Fair began over the weekend and will run for 2 weeks. The official kick-off started on Friday, with a cattle drive down Meridian Street in downtown Puyallup. It's the 6th largest fair in the USA, and one of the oldest. This is the 106th year. Brian and I are taking Thursday off to go and take advantage of the many delicious food stuffs, crafts and to see all the animals. Some fairly big name musical acts play each night at the Fair, but we don't have tickets for any of the concerts. I entered a cross stitch project one year, and the following year I entered a beaded Christmas ball ornament. I didn't win or anything (I've heard that, unfortunately, it's who you know and that it's very political). I didn't care that I didn't win, I just wanted to participate. Here are a couple of pictures of the fairgrounds: That's Highway 512 at the bottom of this picture. Puyallup has grown into a large city over the years, but has expanded around the fairgrounds. The downtown area has maintained it's charm with old buildings and antique stores. The South Hill area is all malls and traffic. Sort of like what Bonney Lake is becoming.

The skyride you see in the above photo was first used at the Seattle World's Fair in the early 60's, the same fair that gave us the Space Needle. We took the skyride one time, but it was pretty rickety and the landing was anything but smooth; we came skidding in sideways and Brian was really happy to exit the ride!!