So, I went to the strawberry festival last night for the first time, even though I've lived in Florida my whole life. It was pretty much a fair or carnival where they have a few strawberry themed "things", but it wasn't as much about strawberries and I'd imagined it would be. It only took an hour to get there. I didn't get there until about 7 PM and they closed at 10 which was fine, because I wouldn't have wanted to stay all day anyway. Everyone seemed to be there with family/spouse... it was pretty crowded, even at night. I went alone, which I wanted to do.... I can't stand going to places with people and waiting for them to look at stuff and ride things while I get bored.... I have ADD and a short attention span and tend to move quickly through places like this. I know how annoyed I get when I got to thrift shops with friends and they want to spend 20 minutes looking at books and clothes... I race to the vacuums, scoff at the condition and prices, and then glance at the kitchen stuff.... I'm back to the car within 3 minutes of walking in the door, so I'd have been miserable had I brought someone else with me last night.

I did indulge a little bit because I don't eat like that anymore and the strawberry festival only happens once a year. I did not buy any strawberries. They looked awful, and the one I sampled had no flavor and wasn't sweet at all.. much like the ones I have rotting in the refrigerator right now from the supermarket.

I *almost* bought a floor steamer there (having just returned a terrible Shark to Target because it left streaks (well, it added streaks, it left dirt) on the floor, but it was a company I'd never heard of and I knew they would be gone if I had any problems. I was surprised to see a lady selling my favorite iron there... the Oliso, and we struck up a very pleasant conversation about irons. I asked her what the difference was between the orange one she was selling was and the blue one I have that I got from Joann's was... she didn't know, so I "helped" her :o)

Having been now, I would not go back again. It was nice to get out of the house and do something different, but it just didn't thrill me. I must have spent about 50 dollars between the 5 dollar parking charge, 10 dollar admission, and all the junk food. There was even a tip jar in the bathroom. I did not put money in it! Nobody flushed for me (no auto flush sensor there... which is good... the silly things fire away when you're still in the middle of "stuff", and when you finish and need to flush, there is nothing you can do to activate the silly thing) or helped me wash my hands... what was I supposed to tip for anyway?

So, without further delay, a few pictures of my time last night :o)

First, was strawberry short cake. The strawberries were slimy, the cake was small, it was mostly whipped cream. Probably the worst strawberry short cake I've ever eaten.

Next, they had a demo station set up for waterless/grease-less cookware. I came too late for them to have been showing it off, and I wish I'd gotten to at least see the demo. I've never used it before, but I wonder how it is. Do any of you know?

Next up, we have an 18 inch corn dog. Who eats that? I did get one, but the one I got was the smallest one the had... and it was truly terrible. The batter was bland and greasy and not crispy... awful! I took 3 bites and threw it in the trash. Much like the shortcake, I didn't know how terrible it was going to be until after I'd tried it. Such simple things to have been so badly done!

I got a chocolate covered strawberry and a white chocolate covered strawberry... they were both good... really good! It was refreshing to get something that wasn't nasty. I wore a cream colored jacket and as I bit into the chocolate one, the juice spurted out and now there is a beautiful red splotch right on the front :o)

Ice cream waffle sandwich with powdered sugar.... ice cream dipped in that chocolate that gets hard upon touching something cold. It was pretty good (though the ice cream wasn't good quality, the rest of it made up for that, it was more of a contrast between textures thing). It totally fell apart as I ate it, and I knew I was going to drop it on myself, but didn't. The only part I didn't was the stick and the strawberry husk.

Ride shaped like strawberries.

Waxed hands... creepy if you ask me. Reminded me of my paraffin bath.

Here is a sampling of some of the nasty foods available. Some of these burgers were truly disgusting... definitely heart attacks on a plate.... not to mention chocolate dipped bacon, chicken fried bacon, and deep fried butter. I just could not bring myself to indulge an any of those things, though the chocolate bacon was pretty tempting. I've had deep fried Oreos before, as well as deep fried dill pickle slices... they are both too gross for words.

Candles that smelled how they looked.... they look pretty realistic, and the waffle one really smelled just how it looked... they didn't follow me home.

This was a foot massager that runs for like a minute on 25 cents... It was the only thing I "rode" and I did it twice. It was so powerful, my feet were numb for 5 minutes after!

Right before I left, I got some boiled peanuts (took a picture after getting them home, there wasn't a good place to do it there). I asked the people there if I could sample one before buying them. The lady said, "You must be from somewheres up north, huh?" I told her that I was a native, that I make boiled peanuts myself and know how the are supposed to taste and have gotten too many bad ones in the past to buy them again without sampling. She understood and let me try a few... they were good. Salt was perfect and they had a little bit of heat. I plunked down 4 dollars and started back for home.

It was OK, however, different than what I expected. Anyone else been?