;)
We had to park far, far, away from the entrance. And there, in the makeshift grass parking lot, which I suspect was originally a hay field, Kalib got his first amusement ride.
As for me, I had a big debate this day - whether to bring my big pro digitial single-lens reflex camera and two or three lenses or my pocket camera. The argument for the pro camera was that it would give me a lot more versatility and I would get many more good pictures. I would be able to count on the camera to shoot the instant I pushed the shutter (you just never know with the pocket camera) and I could knock off a dozen frames or so all at once if I wanted to catch a sequence of events.
The technical quality of the images would be considerably better than those I could produce with the pocket camera.
The argument against the DSLR was that it would be big and heavy and bulky and when it was all over, I would have many more photos to edit and so it would have to spend more time doing so.
The pocket camera had one thing going for it. It would be light and easy to carry.
I chose the pocket camera, even though I knew it would cost me some pictures. And it did. It cost me plenty and it put limitations on those that I did get, but, oh well.
It made the fair experience more pleasant.
;)
We had to stand in line for a very long time, but afterward Kalib saw some goats. I am not quite certain what he thought of them.
;)
A goat sticks its head through the rails of its pen to get a better look at Kalib.
;)
Kalib turned to his dad for protection against the frightening goat.
;)
Donkeys are very special to Lavina. When she was a small girl on the Navajo Reservation, her grandmother had one and Lavina used to ride it.
It wasn't easy, because the donkey was stubborn. She would climb on and it would just sit there. Only a whip, repeatedly applied, could get that donkey to go.
She liked it anyway. "Donkeys are so cute," she explained.
When she saw this little tiny donkey, she was quite thrilled and took Kalib straight to it. He placed his hand upon it.
;)
Kalib fed some tiny goats. I wonder who the goats will feed?
;)
Kalib learned something about birds, big, birds, Thanksgiving turkey birds.
;)
Kalib also learned about bees - busy, buzzing, honey- making bees. Sadly, the bees here have but one season of life, because they cannot make it through the winter and so they must be replaced each spring with new shipments from the Lower 48.
However, somebody had made a super-insulated, heated, big bee house where people can bring their hives, so they are going to experiment and see if they can get these Wasilla bees through the winter.
I hope they succeed.
Every year when we got to the fair, I see someone from the Arctic Slope. This year, it was Taktuk, Roberta Ahmaogak of Wainwright, part of Iceberg 14 - the whaling crew and family that took me in and made Wainwright home to me - with her children. Roberta is studying at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. You can find Taktuk and daughter Kara dancing at February's Kivgiq in Barrow right here.
Next up in part 2: Kalib gets frightened by a horse, he zips down a slide and dines on nutritious fair food.