Breakfast of 4-H champions

When you start your morning at the Park & Ride at 7:43.

We spent the day at the State Fair, hanging out with Minnesotans when they are having the peak Minnesota experience, which strangely makes them act less Minnesotan.

They are much more likely to talk to strangers on the bus, in line or at a show. They become nearly Iowan in this regard, speaking as a reformed Iowan.

They also become more like Japanese in that they are obsessed with novelty while deeply rooted in tradition. Hence the longest lines for the newest foods, but everyone still has their must-have staples. So we got the Kentikky Chicken Sliders from Hot Indian Foods, the shrimp cheese fritters from Funky Grits, and our must-have fix of Danielson onion rings. (Just south of the Food Building; grab some to go with a flight from the Craft Beer Hall nearby.)

They also become more European, in that they get to wander around in public drinking beer, like a civilized nation. This probably contributes a slight amount to their increased loquaciousness, but they seem to start the day more chatty than usual.

Some 13,000 steps and three music acts later, we're sated again for another year. There's only so much fried food a person can take, however tasty.

Sorry, no picture of those sliders. Trying to eat them in the middle of a sudden downpour was not conducive to photography.