Just sitting in line outside the Con!
Scenes from San Diego’s Comic Con International 2015… Wednesday preview day and early stuff
Category: Tourism Adventures
OH MY GOSH! I Won Tickets!
I FINALLY get to go to COMIC-CON here in San Diego! Six years of living here and never getting passes and I win two today. That’s the joke around here- no one from San Diego seems to get Comic-Con tickets, locals just can’t seem to get them unless they know someone.
I won our local news station’s daily drawing for two passes…Thank You Fox 5 Morning News!! Unfortunately, now my kids and husband are going to have to compete to see who gets the second pass, things might get ugly around here…
Lavender Festival, Highland Springs Resort, Cherry Valley
When I first spent time in Cherry Valley, thirty years ago, it was a one-stoplight town with ranches, orchards and beautiful views. Today, most of the ranch land has been replaced by neighborhoods and only a few cherry orchards are still maintained. Along with more shopping and housing opportunities, growth has brought a PGA golf course, a couple of really nice parks, a new high school, and of course, a few more stop lights. But the lovely views remain.
Highland Springs Resort, tucked up in the foothills of the San Bernardino mountains, has a popular lavender festival. On the drive inland I wondered if we were even going to be able to smell the flowers- the inland hills and valleys are smokey today, as a fire is currently duking it out for supremacy with a lot of area firefighters. It is putting up a good fight, too, and has grown to over 10,000 acres. But, the winds were in our favor and we really enjoyed the festival. 
By the time we arrived and had scouted out the grounds we were ready to eat- lunch came from the Sausage and Beer tent. The Grand Oak Sausage was a fabulous house-made German bratwurst. Even better was the sauerkraut served along side it. This was worth the price of admission today, holy cow it was delicious- the sautéed onions mixed into the kraut put it over the top. 
The Highland Springs Resort is on 2400 acres of land in Cherry Valley and The Husband used to run through the property when training for the high school’s cross country team. It all looks very different, he says. Now this is one of the state’s larger lavender farms and next they are expanding into the premium olive market. The entire area is gloriously perfumed with the herbs and lavender, sweet grasses and pine.
Today at the festival there were more lavender products than you could shake a stick lavender wand at- so many crafts on display, described in seminars, or for purchase. Other local crafts were available for purchase as well, like specialty wools, yarn and fibers for spinning (thefiberranch.com), some very lovely pottery, and The Boy’s favorite- specialty fruit stands. If you want soaps, lotions or honey, they have it here. From the food to the music and all of the crafts and scenery in between, I really enjoyed the 11th Annual Lavender Festival (honestly, I’ve never seen more posh porta-potties or shuttle buses). And I’m not leaving here without getting a lavender mojito! 
Part Two- Del Mar Fair, Finally! Snarky Good Fun…
After taking all the time we wanted to go through the Flower and Animal Exhibits and the “Crap You Can Buy at the Fair” booths (we warned each other “don’t make eye contact with any of the vendors!), we hit the food stands before moving onto Art and Hobby exhibits.
STUDENT ART and PHOTOGRAPHY:
Let’s just get this one out of the way- here’s my son’s work on display- his art teacher is always really great at sending in the work of several students each year. She rocks!
Student art takes up most of the first floor of the West Grandstands building. If you get to the San Diego County Fair, do NOT miss this exhibition. The talent on display is nothing short of amazing. Let me share some of the more spectacular entries…
Their art truly was a highlight of the fair for me. These pieces need no explanation by me, they speak for themselves. I am impressed by what our county classes can do, and these teachers deserve awards, every one from every school.
PLEASE, Click on the photos to bring up larger views of these student exhibits- they deserve a closer look!
COLLECTIONS- Fascinating to the Fabulous:
Miniature photos on keychains, necklaces and other souvenirs dating from 1900 to 1980… totally cool. Another collection was similar, but all from world fairs and expositions… equally cool.
Click on all of these photos to bring up larger copies and then you can read the test which describes the collections and the motivation behind the displays.
Some of the more interesting collections on display included a father and daughter’s group of shark egg cases that they amassed to show disbelieving friends that they do, in fact, exist. Another case held… this is great… a collection of items found in books that have been returned to the library. I would bet that no one has ever thought to collect such a genre, ever before, in the history of lending libraries.
Collections and Craft Entries from the Clever to the Weird and the Wait… What???
This really is amazing on more than one level. The sheer fact that someone collects dryer lint and cat fur is surpassed by the oddity that they decided to display this collection. Publicly. At the county fair.
After the fur and lint display, we were losing it. Other oddities included this beautifully crafted fox… we couldn’t figure out why the beads? It made us want to demand that artists be allowed to include a note about the inspiration behind their pieces, just like the Collections are able to display. We loved the goofy shirt pillows, a great recycling idea.
We saw jewelry- something that I don’t have a lot of patience for, but my friend crafts gorgeous pieces herself… look at this great idea for what to do with all the pressed penny souvenirs that you may have collected in your travels!
I love pottery and had to include this piece. Look at the colors! Great job, artist!
Food Exhibits
The Food Exhibits were puzzling to me… I am dying to know how they are judged. Honestly, I’m such a snob about my own cookies, for example, that I looked at the winning chocolate chip cookies and thought “Humph! My cookies look better than these… I bet they taste better, too.” I ought to back up this proud attitude of mine and enter them next year… that ought to shut me up! I have to include these cookie sculptures simply because they are so well crafted.
Next year I will be back- not only for the Indian Fry Bread Tacos and Garlic Fries, but maybe even to throw my own chocolate chip cookies into the judging arena.
Two Moms Finally Let Loose at the Fair, Part One
We made it!
We came, we lingered, we laughed. Oh, how we laughed.
We delighted in the floral specimens, scarcely believing that roses could achieve that color or dahlias could be that perfect. We wanted to die for the level of fluffiness we witnessed in the bunnies on display. The student art floored us- what talent! The collections and cooking entries included everything from the amazing to the confusing. We left with enough examples of beauty and to fodder for laughter for ages to come.
THE FLOWERS
Roses have names, we know that. “Peace, Mr. Lincoln, Iceberg, and Julia Child” are all common varieties, but today at the fair we found many far from common- names like the enigmatic titles given to race horses or those found on the back of sailboats… a few could be romance novel titles, honestly.
A sampling: “Renegade, Black Magic, Playboy, The Fairy, Wise Portia, First Kiss, Super Hero, Betty Boop, Foolish Pleasures, Mother’s Love, Power Point, Nemesis, Seattle Destination, Bees Knees, Shameless, Lusciously Lucy, Monkey Business, Jump for Joy, Hot Cocoa, Gourmet Popcorn. ”
The dahlia displays were no less stunning- what amazing symmetry and size! Annika’s take-away after seeing the dahlias was how much these flowers seem to jump right out of a Dr. Seuss book. I left wishing I could come back with a golf club. “Fore!!” Just kidding… kind of.
THE CRITTERS
We were both sad to see that there were no fancy chickens in the livestock barns, but were completely delighted with the bunnies. Oh my GOSH, it was a fluffy overload. How can something be that impossibly fluffy? Here are a few of our favorites:
These are a few of the fluffiest, cutest, most adorable critters I have ever seen at a state fair.
There were as many people crowded around the bunnies as there were anywhere. Everyone wants to just marvel at their sweetness, and who can blame them?
We left the animals saying goodbye to the mama pig and her piglets, reminding Annika of how she prefers to eat marzipan pigs to the real ones. Mama Piggy gave me an entirely different idea: it was high time to visit the corndog stand.
Coming up in Part Two- Student Art and Photography, and the Home and Hobby collections, displays, crafts and foods.
branching out... on a limb 