Taste of Bloomington

Today was a fantastic day in Bloomington.  We had decided to stay for the weekend as Taste of Bloomington was happening and Parce only lives a few blocks away from it.  Usually he has friends stay with him, but this time his apartment was open and we jumped at the chance to try it.  We started the morning at the farmer's market.  Meg and Cam each ate a pint of raspberries for breakfast and Doug and I tried other foods.  From there we went to the art fair on the courthouse square.  We liked it a lot better than the one in September as it was bigger and more spread out.  Cam was thrilled when he found some Panda art.  I bought a print of the Sample Gates and Meg found a wolf print she liked.  We also stopped in the game store.  Cam and Meg played a game of chess while I bought the game Pay Day.  It was one of my favorites as a child and I haven't played it in a long time.  On the way back to Parce's Doug wanted to stop at a kitchen store he spotted.  We loved it and "splurged" on a pasta spoon.

We decided on lunch at Oliver Winery.  It was pretty quiet compared to a normal Saturday.  We had a great lunch on the deck.  Cam and Meg had gotten Noodles & Company to go and enjoyed that along with our usuals.  We were going to go creek sliding after lunch, but it was too crowded.  Thus, we went back to Parce's so Cam could watch the US Open.  Doug and I took a walk along the B-Line trail to make sure I got in my steps before we went to Taste.  I was thankful that it was shaded as it was definitely hot today.

Around 3:30 Doug walked over to the Taste of Bloomington.  It started at 3 and he wanted to check it out before we met up with him.  He texted that they had hand stamps so we could go in and out.  Therefore, we headed over around 4:30.  Cam and Meg wanted snow cones as soon as we got there.  That was a great choice today.  Cam tried the wipeout obstacle course.  It was tough.  We checked out the food booths and tried some guacamole.  A polka band was playing, so we decided to listen to them for a while.  There actually were three stages with music.  Another one had country and one had jazz.

Around 6:30 we walked back to Parce's to play Pay Day.  Meg and Cam were ready for a break from the heat.  Doug stayed.  Pay Day was as fun as I remembered and it was nice to cool off.  It was close to 8 when we got back and the place had changed drastically.  The polka band had finished and everyone was waiting for Hairbangers Ball - a heavy metal cover band.  The crowd was enormous and at first I wasn't sure I wanted to stay, but we found some food and a place to stand under the tent.  Once they started I was hooked.  It was like stepping back into college.  They began with Billy Idol's Rebel Yell and ended with Van Halen.  Parce even liked it and it wasn't his type of music.  We could see him in the front row for awhile before he joined us in the tent.  I probably enjoyed it the most, but even Meg and Cam knew a lot of the songs.  It was an awesome way to end a wonderful day!