San Diego County Fair

This year the free parking has moved to Crest Academy.  Real nice parking lot.  There are lots of shady spots under the solar panels.

Also they have a few buses of higher quality than the school buses.  The school buses are bad for tall people as my knees are wedged into the seat in front of me.

I like the free ride as I don’t have to drive through the terrible traffic on the freeway to the fair exit Via De La Via.

I went on a Thursday and they had a $5 Taste of the Fair promotion.  Generally you get a tiny amount of food for $5.

My favorite eatery was Reno’s Fish and Chips.  Sadly it’s been years since I’ve seen them.  I tried San Diego’s Original Fish and Chips.

I paid an extra $2 to get fried cod and zucchini.  Both were battered in a crunchy tempura batter.  Cod was tender and flaky.  I liked the mild flavor.  Zucchini was fresh and juicy.  Loved the big juicy pieces.  San Diego’s Original was very good and the staff was friendly.

Next I tried a $5 deal at a bacon eatery.

They offered 2 pieces of candied bacon wrapped pork belly.

The 2 pieces were pretty small so this was like a free Costco sample.  Pork belly was neither juicy nor dry.  Bacon had a delicious sweet and savory flavor.  Pretty good tasting snack.

The pan fried chicken place was offering 2 chicken wings for $5.

It turned out you get 1 chicken wing cut in half.  Batter was crunchy and the chicken moist.  Flavor was mostly salt based.  Pretty good dish.  I’ve been eating alot of fried chicken lately and my favorite is the Korean Fried Chicken at BHC.

For dessert I got the $5 deal at Dippin Dots.  They offered a root beer float.  It looked like they used Mug Root Beer.  The root beer was sweet and had a nice root beer flavor.  Dippin Dots had a sweet creamy vanilla flavor.  Pretty good.

Maggie’s favorite part of the fair is the flower and garden shows.

We saw tons of lovely flowers and plants.

I loved smelling the roses.

The model train exhibit was really cool too.

Maggie bought 2 flowers from the plant vendor who has been exhibiting for years.

I tried Taste of the Fair cone at Olde Tyme ice cream.  It was cold, creamy, with a sweet vanilla flavor.  Reminds of when I was kid walking home from school and stopping by Dairy Queen.

On our way out Maggie got a large bag of kettle corn.  There were a few varieties and Maggie got her favorite caramel.  Kettle corn was fresh and crunchy.  Tons of sweet caramel flavor.  A bit like Cracker Jack except there were no peanuts.