Leslie Rodriguez Photography: Tennessee State Fair

(Don't forget to click on the photos! Depending on your computer, they should get bigger. You can also go through the photos by continuing to click.)

Javi and I bought our tickets to the state fair as soon as they were available a couple weeks back - we couldn't wait to get out there this year. Last year we went on a whim (and I forgot to take my allergy pills which made it a very short visit after hanging out with cows and goats and pigs), but this year we really planned it out. It's such a fun place to spend the day (really! I promise! I know there are skeptics out there!)

For about the first hour the weather didn't look promising for an ideal day at the fair, but it cleared up after a huge downpour (during which Javi and I were stuck in the cattle barn with cows who couldn't care less about the loud thunder and rain on the tin roof). The rest of the day was cooler, less crowded and cleared up, so it was pretty perfect. The vendors were so desperate to get rid of their as-seen-on-tv products (because there were so few people there interested in buying...) that my grandma wound up taking home some kind chopper/shredder thing - which I'm sorry to say is better than our rather expensive William Sonoma version.

So anyway, our main excitement of the day was checking out the animals, including bulls, heifers, huge fluffy rabbits, all kinds of birds, 5 sheep (literally there were only 5), a ton of pigs, and a weird variety of animals at the petting zoo (including a camel, some animal that looked like a cross between a buffalo, cow and dog, miniature goats and a llama). My mom and grandma were pretty stoked about their corn dogs since they don't really eat them at any other time of the year, and while the state fair food is slightly overpriced, the tickets are so cheap to get in that it doesn't really put a huge dent in your wallet. We saw a lumberjack demo and a tap dance show, and I think the only two things we missed that we were expecting to see were the cow milking sessions (...weird, I know, but we've never seen it before! hahaha) and the goats (besides the petting zoo, there wasn't a goat barn like there was last year and those are our favorite!).

So now I'm sure everyone it thoroughly weirded out by our state fair experience and expectations, but it really was fun and I hope everyone goes out to support!