Canadian National Exhibition

Every single summer, my friend N and I have a tradition of going to the CNE. It's weird, we both have a love/hate relationship with the CNE, but we just can't quit it. Even though we spend most of the day wanting to yell at people to stop walking so slowly, there is just something so summery and fun about it. Since N lives in T.O, he is very good at maneuvering around crowds of people, he just weaves in and out, but I constantly get stuck. Part of the fun is the people dodging.





I drag N to this every year, which is hilarious because the show is the exact same thing every year. It's basically like dogs racing against each other and jumping over high posts. The Superdog announcer is kind of like Bob Barker, but way less cool. But the Ex just wouldn't be the Ex without going to see the Superdogs.



Sand sculptures! I definitely admire people who have the patience for stuff like this! I can just imagine it collapsing randomly and having to start over...arggg.



Butter sculptures! Star Wars ones! When you watch the people make these sculptures, they are all decked out in winter gear because they are basically inside a fridge with windows. The sheer volume of butter was a little gross, but impressive none the less!





I'm always very careful about the rides I go on at carnival type events. Rides that can be disassembled in a day make me slightly uneasy, so I tend to avoid them. The Zipper is a ride I would never in my life go on, and it wasn't helped by the fact that this particular ride had a huge sign posted on it that said "this ride has been shut down for your safety". Okay then!



As we found out last night...deep fried mars bars are basically one of the greatest inventions ever. They were so unbelievably good. We were dubious at first, and were a little frightened that we might instantly have heart attacks,because the whole idea of a deep fried candy bar is a bit much, but hey, it's the Ex! Also, just a note...the booth across from this one was selling chocolate covered bacon. For reals yo. EW! I'm so going to try it next year.





We always, always ride the ferris wheel. Once during the day, and once at night. The midway looks amazing all lit up, and you can see pretty far. During the day when we went on, the Air Show was also happening so we got to watch some of that. The air show was 4 hours long. Never could I sit for so long in one spot just to watch some airplanes do tricks in the air, no matter how cool that may be. The air show is kinda freaky to watch too because the planes fly so close together (or at least it appears that they do from the ground), and I spend the entire time worrying about what to do if they crash. They always look like they are about to crash too, because one of the tricks involves the plane spiraling straight down. You watch in amazement, just kind of wondering, is that supposed to be happening?? and then even if it is NOT supposed to be happening, there is nothing you can do to stop it anyway. Air shows freak me out.

One of my favourite parts of the day involved waiting for the train. I was by myself, so I guess I looked approachable. This lady came up to me and asked me what time the train came. The conversation then evolved into life stories. Which really, I didn't mind, she wasn't crazy and we had a while to wait for the train anyway. But then she started telling me this story that she thought was hilarious, like so hilarious she couldn't speak anymore and tears were streaming down her face. The story wasn't funny....at least not to me. I was trying to get out a laugh because what else could I do besides stare at her? She laughed for the longest time ever, but then just abruptly stopped the story with "so, yeahhhh". It was kind of great. Then the train came and we almost got trampled getting on, so I didn't get to sit with my new found friend on the train. Anyways.

All in all, it was a great day. I didn't win any giant stuffed animals, but I guess there is always next year! Goodbye summer!