What a State Fair should be....and meeing another long-time friend.

Yesterday, I told you all about finally getting to meet Barb from The Everyday Home after knowing her for years online.

We had a blast and it was definitely worth the wait!

But Barb wasn't the only person I met, I also met B.  B. doesn't blog much anymore (her home remodel keeps her too busy), but girlfriend totally rocks it on Twitter!  We've kept in touch forever on Twitter and have become great friends over the years.  When B. found out we were coming to Raleigh, she made sure to make time for us to get together!

The timing for our meeting couldn't have been more perfect, because the North Carolina State Fair was in full swing.  She knows a lot about the fair, so she gave us the tour!

B. looking like her precious self and me looking like I had been in a conference all day.

Now after an extremely disappointing experience with the "Alabama State Fair" (and I use the term "State Fair" very loosely) last year, I was a little hesitant about going to the NC State Fair...but man o' man was I ever wrong!

The North Carolina State Fair is exactly what comes to mind when you think about State Fairs!  It was unbelievable!  Acres and acres of livestock, tractors, food, flowers, handmade items, anything you can imagine!  Words cannot even begin to explain, so I will show you with pictures!

Blankets and quilts galore!

 

Prize-winning "canned" foods.

Best in Show jellies.

Winners in the Junior cake decorating division

The most fantastic hushpuppies ever!

The entertainment, Jake Owen!

We caught the end of a couple of cow competitions.

This is a mobile cow milking station on loan from ALFA in Alabama!

Acres of prize winning apples!

Tomatoes, anyone?

The Oscar Mayer wiener mobile!

Ice cream!

Something you don't see much anymore...tobacco.

 Now TONS of gorgeous flower shots!

This arrangement would be perfect for a fall outside wedding!  The picture doesn't do it justice!

Bottom of the arrangement.

Dozens and dozens of roses.

Beth said they sell all these mums after the fair is over for a super-low price.

You could cut a yard in seconds with this bad boy!

With all the food there, Beth promised us this was the best, and boy was she right!

Roasted corn, dipped in butter, with salt, pepper and seasoning salt.

And a rib-eye sandwich made by the Cattlemen's Association.

Ironically, we ate them sitting in the stands where the cows were being shown.

 B's food and sample recommendations were the best!  Every single thing we ate and/or tasted was incredible!  The corn and steak sandwiches were 10x better than the meal we had at the Cheesecake Factory the night before!

Well hello there, Mr. Rooster!

HUGE decorated tree!

They deep fry anything and everything there!

 We enjoyed the fair so much that we have decided to try to plan a vacation next October so we can bring the kids with us!  I just know they would LOVE everything as much as we did!  We do wish we could have stayed a couple nights longer because Scotty McCreery was scheduled to be in concert on Tuesday.  Chelsea would have never let us live it down if we saw him and concert and she didn't, though.  HAHA!

Thanks to B., Saturday evening was perfect!  We got a meet a long-time friend, had a guided tour of the State Fair, perfect weather, great food, and even better company.  What more could we want?

(I promise I will write about the actual conference itself!  Just so much happened in the short time we were there, I had to break it down into small parts! LOL )