The Fair

This weekend we headed over to The LA County Fair in Pomona. We went to the fair last year via T's truck but someone decided to be a dick and swiped his flaming eyeball antenna topper. To avoid being victims of petty theft crimes this year, we decided to join our friends and took the Metrolink from the gorgeous Union Station to Pomona.


Union Station at dusk

Union Station - one of my most favorite places to visit in all of LA. This station was built in 1939 and is considered to be "the last of America's great rail stations". Just take a look at how absolutely stunning it is inside.


This is the waiting area, one of my favorite places to read. They have these giant pleather thrones you can sink yourself into. I used to walk through this hall everyday when I commuted from Pasadena to Santa Monica for work. Seeing the beauty of Union Station made my daily two-hour commute bearable.


This is the main lobby of Union Station. It is closed to the public and only available for film shoots and/or special events. When you see it in person, it's like stepping back into time. Look hard and you might see a ghost or two.


Union Station was designed by the father and son team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, who also designed Los Angeles City Hall, and whose firm designed many landmark Los Angeles buildings from the late 19th century onward. The structure combines Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne style, with Moorish architectural details such as eight-pointed stars. - Stolen from Wikipedia


The Metrolink

Now, it's off to the fair we go!



The LA County Fair is open from September 8 through October 1, Wednesdays to Sundays only. General admission is $15 on weekends but you can stop into any Cingular Wireless store and pick up a ticket for only $9.

So what did we do at the fair? We watched animals sleep, of course!



There were chickens, turkeys, bunnies, goats, lambs, pigs, dogs, horses, cows... even water buffalos from Asia. The fairgrounds is the largest in the country. There's a section for each of the following: animals, shopping, food, rides, horse racing, concert arena, and competition areas. You do a lot of walking around.


Best ride at the fair: the 25 cent foot massager chair

The best part of the entire fair is taking a visit to Dr Bob's Handcrafted Ice Cream shop. They make possibly the best tasting ice cream in the US. All of Dr. Bob's Ice Cream have 16% or greater butterfat content. He uses only the finest ingredients such as Scharffen Berger Chocolates and Tahiti and Madagascar vanillas. What I like best about Dr. Bob's is that the ice cream leans to the flavorful side as opposed to sweet. My favorite, hands down, is the "Strawberries, Sour Cream & Brown Sugar" Ice Cream and I don't even like strawberry ice cream! There's only one other ice cream flavor that is better: Greg's "Roasted Marshmallow" Ice Cream in Toronto. The difference is that Dr. Bob's is consistently good, especially with unconventional ice cream flavors. Last year, I tried their "Walnut" Ice Cream. It was light, refreshing, and delicious. I hate walnuts but I friggin' loved this ice cream!

Dr. Bob's Ice Cream is extremely hard to find in stores. Once they come in, they quickly sell out. Believe me, it's that good. Thank goodness you can order them via mail order. You would never know through their catalogue but Dr. Bob has created over 60 ice cream flavors, including sorbets, sherbets, and non-fat yogurts. Unfortunately, you can only order their most popular flavors through the mail. This is why we go to the fair, to experience the rarer Dr. Bob's Ice Cream flavors. Some examples include: Creme Fraiche, Lemon Curd, Chunky Peanut Butter Vanilla Swirl, and Raspberry Cabernet.

As the day came to a close, the crowds got larger. I guess this is the time when all the drunks come out to party. As we were leaving the fairgrounds we saw a guy with a t-shirt on that read "Laugh, so I can see them bounce." Still, it didn't beat the shirt that we saw on sale in the shopping area of the fair: