Long day at the end of summer

I rode my bicycle at more or less the regular time.  TOPWLH was off tending to her other duties so I rode alone.  It was a bit hot and quite a bit windy.

The wind was from the southeast.  With direct south pretty much off limits due to the big goings on at the Fairgrounds I was pretty much stuck with the Capitol loop in reverse, a ride I have taken many times and one that usually provides some rewards.

I finally got MY first look at the new HHH plaza on the Capitol grounds.  As I was advised elsewhere and earlier on the inter tubes the statue was way easy to find.

I like the statue, the overall plaza features some strong statements of principle made by the Minneapolis mayor, United States Senator and Vice President of the United States during his 30 year career in public service.  It is a very nice spot but for me, my favorite Minnesota progressive remains the subject of another of the Capitol grounds statues, Floyd B. Olson.

Look him up, I am betting there is a Wikipedia article.  In addition to his other accomplishments, Governor Olson is distinguished by having a bronze pig football trophy named in his honor.  Take that Hubert Horatio.

Here is a key factor in riding when it is hot and one which it occurs to me I may have been neglecting.  Hydration.  Here is a NewLOOK at a public source of water, the drinking fountain at Langford Park in Saint Paul.

Very nice park, thanks for having the fountain turned on, it helped a lot today.

Later on when TOPWLH got home I unexpectedly (for her) played my we can have dinner at the Fair card.  It would probably have been cheaper to have dinner at any other place but the Fair comes once a year and today ended up being my only opportunity to go.  We had dinner at the Fair.

I have posted this place a bunch of times this summer.  It is the site of a former church dining hall which closed after 50 years of service after the Fair last year.  I have ridden by a bunch of times and had most recently theorized that it looked like an Old Mexico or similar Mexican restaurant.

Hats off to the geology guy (and grape growing hobbyist), it is the new home of the Minnesota Wine Country exhibit.

According to TOPWLH her friend Bonnob got an extremely small glass of wine (which was advertised as the LARGE size) there earlier this week for only $12.

We stopped by the DNR building to see if Heather was there.  She wasn't but we did get a look at one of my favorite Fair displays, the artwork created from materials recovered from the public waters of the state.

This one is called "Scuttled".

I haven't been able to get onto the Fairgrounds for about a month so it was good to be able to find the Cattle Barn and get a temperature report.

85 at after 6pm is totally a confirmation of the fact that today was quite a bit hot for this time of year.

I went into the Swine Barn to see the state's largest boar.  I have been doing that for lots of years, I have seen lots of really large pigs.  Today was the first time that I can recall when I saw this:  The state's largest boar stood up.

Usually he just lies there.

I don't know what made him stand up, but there it is, the state's largest boar up on all fours.

Anyone want to guess what he did next?

OK, trick question.  He laid back down.

Of course.

I encouraged TOPWLH to take a cell phone picture at this spot on the Midway. 

The phone that she has used to be mine.  At the time I acquired the phone there were lots and lots of advertisements on the TV with a celebrity endorser, Ozzie Osborne.  She has Ozzie's phone and that's Ozzie's likeness gracing the front of that attraction. I am a bit clueless about what the attraction is but I do know that she was not aware that I was taking the picture.

In fact, later on she asked me if I had taken any pictures at the Fair.  Well, we had missed out on getting a photo of Heather but I did get a picture of my summer long TC offering local weather personality Sven a beer.

All of the information available to me indicates that Sven IS a short guy.  I don't know if he is actually that short though, maybe someone else knows.

We were up after our bed times (well, mine at least) as we headed towards the exits.  Here is the other Fairgrounds location I have been speculating about.

It is, just exactly as I thought, a Home Depot location.  I promise a better photo some time later this month when the grounds are once again open for bicycling.  For now, I was correct on the Home Depot, way, way off on the Minnesota Wine Country.  One out of two is the best I can do.