Oklahoma State Fair

Aww, it’s wet this morning and a couple of claps of thunder so we stooge around for a bit in the morning and get over to the show just after noon.  By then the sun has come out and it is hot again.  We watch the Wild West Show which was pretty awesome, trick riders, clever horses, charro rope artists (lasso), cattle herding and a good chunk of humour!

Then we made our way to the Extreme Raptor Show, also an hour long and this was really interesting. The show featured the famous American Bald Eagle, hawks, falcons and owls, even a Peregrine which was way smaller than I thought.

Peregrine, not so big and scary - unless you are prey!

Black Hawk, now that's big and scary!

These guys rescue hurt birds and nurse them back to health, some have permanent handicaps and some have been donated to his project by crowded wildlife centres around the country, they were unable to be re-introduced to the wild.

American Bald Eagles are pretty amazing raptors, their wing span can be up to 7.5 feet,  they can fly up to 99 mph when diving and can live 20 years in the wild.

American Bald Eagle, this one has a broken wing and a blind eye from a traffic accident

It’s really hot now so Kim decides to head back to the bus and I stay a bit longer, I have a mission – one is to try on of the yummy looking “elephant ears” which I do but it takes so long to eat I miss most of the Swifty Swine Races.  I’ll have to come back to those tomorrow.

'Elephant Ear' with apple and cinnamon sugar - yum!  Best food of the show so far!

Then I wander through the birthing centre and see the day old chickens, baby lambs, goats and calves.  The two pregnant sows are still 'very' much pregnant – maybe tomorrow the little piglets will arrive.  I saw the video of the Vet speying a dog but would quite like to see it in action and hear the commentary (the video had no sound). That's on again tomorrow, count me in!

Then I too bail, come back to the coach for a wee rest before heading back tonight for the other events on the list and to see tonight’s music act – Michael Ray of ‘Kiss You in the Morning’ fame, it’s quiet a recent hit.  He’s only 27 and very easy on the eye, might have to go early and get a close up front seat : )  Check the temp once back in the coach, it says 39 C outside - but that is on the sunny side to be fair.

Some time later...

So we get to the Entertainment Plaza early and get a good seat with a good view of the stage, as you do when someone super-hot is playing.  We only lasted there about 20 minutes and that was a good effort, the bass drum was so loud and distorted you couldn’t even hear the four string players and Michael’s voice was only just loud enough above it.  So I guess I have feasted my eyes enough by now so happy to move towards the back which is a much better sound but still not great.  I am sure the rest of the concert was great……

We trundle along to the side shows and the food alleys for the rest of the night.  Look at these:

We need another day here to try some of this food!