The County Fair.

This summer. In autumn I will literally have no words to describe what this summer has meant to me. It's just golden. I've shared some wonderful memories with with friends who will undoubtedly be around in my life for years to come. Last weekend, for instance, I attended the Gallatin County Fair in our good old Bozeman. I had never really done the whole fair thing, with the crazy carnies and the precarious rides, but when my best friend invited me to come along with her and our friend Michael (who I had never actually met in person), I knew summer memories would be right around the corner. When we arrived at the fair, we bought a handful of tickets each and made a bee-line towards the Typhoon. The Typhoon is a ride I can't quite describe, other that it whips you in a humongous vertical circle and it's a whole lot of crazy fun, especially if you scream your lungs out. After that one we deliberated for awhile and ended up in front of the Scrambler. Hopefully most of you know what the Scrambler looks like, it's  a classic. Anyway, as we stood in line it started to rain. Nothing torrential, just a drizzle. As we chose our mildly dampened seats, the song "If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback began playing over the speakers. As the ride gained speed, so did the rain. We began humming along, then singing, then positively belting the lyrics to that song as we whipped and jerked in the icy rain that was by this time drenching our every inch. It was like one of those perfect moments we wish we had more often, where despite things going terribly wrong, it all turns into something terribly right. Magic. After we made our way off the ride (reluctantly), the fair continued. It kept raining, and we kept laughing. We gave the carnies something to laugh about when we went through the fun house, and after that were forced to take temporary shelter from the cold on the bleachers in the horse arena with a bag of kettle corn. Our dear friend Isaac showed up and joined our brigade of disheveled youth for  awhile, and we at our kettle corn and shared sprite until we weren't shivering quite as badly. When we were finally all funned out at the fair, Mary, Michael, and I wandered out of the park singing. We climbed into Mike's car, turned on the heater and some pop music, and sang all the way to Mary's. We learned that I am an absolute professional at making hot chocolate from scratch, and after that we watched Aquamarine, and after that, Mary and I tested Michael's patience by having a poetry reading and finding hilarity in everything we said or did. And that was my Fair Experience. I left out a few bits, like the pig barn and the wonderful swings, but I got the highlights in there, and those are what you want to read, anyway. So if you didn't want a story about the fair, and just scrolled to the bottom of post, read this: life is about what you make it.
P.S. Happy birthday, to my lovely mumsy!