We arrived at the fair around 8:30 a.m.. If you arrive early enough you can drive in and park within the fairgrounds. Every year hundreds of teenagers sign up to work at the fair. Here are a couple who are working the parking lot.
	If you park in the fairgrounds then if you buy anything you can bring it back to your car instead of having to carry it around all day. It is a meandering drive along the streets of the fairground to eventually reach this large parking lot. The large building in the background is a building at the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. This is just some anonymous woman passing by.
	This is my State Fair date.
	I have lost 25 pounds since May. In previous years my back has hurt so much that we have had to find a place for me to lay down on the ground. I started on Vioxx about six months ago and my activity level is almost normal. Today we will walk around for over 8 hours and I will never need to rest my low back.
	This parking lot is huge. On the left you can see part of the fence around the Grandstand and it's large paved oval racetrack. We will walk along the path directly in back of Margaret until we come to Heritage Village.
	This is one of many little shops in Heritage Square. Of course we go look at the rides and the food, but we always spend most of our time looking thru the shops and information booths. Enlarge the picture and look ahead and see "John Cartwright Railroad Art". Man, you can't get enough railroad art.
	Ever wonder where all those little cutsie signs your see at people's houses come from?
	We are still in Heritage Square. This shop is all about taxidermy. Sadly, this shop reminds me of the moose head I had to give away (see my home page).
	Margaret is checking out the old time photo shop. We have decided to get our portrait taken early in the day before we start to wilt in the heat. Most of the people working this booth had Russian accents.
	Here is the color version of our picture. We also got a larger version in black and white with a frame. It cost something like $75 total.
	I didn't see any "freak shows" like you used to see a few years ago. Here, next to the Wall of Fame, was this poster for Madame Twisto. Okay ...
	I snapped this guy's picture because he looked so bored - he was probably waiting for someone who was shopping - look likes he gets recruited to be a "carrier". That's a Minneapolis Star and Tribune plastic bag - lots of organizations give away bags so you can more conveniently carry your junk around.
	Just a man and his baby. Now we leave Heritage Square behind us.

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