Posted by Mark on August 28, 2007, 4:40:17 The safari started at about 9:30 a.m., when my parents' car was among the last 10 to fit in the public State Fairgrounds lot. All cars afterward need to seek private lots in which to park. 9:30 is incredibly early for that to happen, so I knew it'd be a busy day. After entering the grounds, I went at least 20 minutes before scoring that first sighting. That may have been the longest I've ever gone before the first cigarette-wielding hottie reared her head....and Sighting #1 was very ho-hum. A short time later, Sightings #2 and #3 would impress. A family sat at a go-cart track, and I could see plumes of smoke rising from a college-age brunette daughter and a blonde 18-ish girl I assumed was the sister. Sure enough....both girls were smoking amidst nonsmoking parents. While neither were bombshell beauties, they were both slender and attractive, and looked as they produced clouds of carcinogens that greatly exceeded what those go-carts on the track were capable of producing. Sighting #4 was a scorcher. Seems like 4 is my lucky number because it has generated blockbuster or epic sightings at the Iowa State Fair of this year and last as well as the last two years at the Minnesota State Fair. Sitting on a bench near the Space Tower was a teenage couple featuring a long-haired 16-17ish blonde whose attractiveness really struck me as I approached from a distance. She seemed to be holding something that closely resembled a pack of cigarettes in her hand as I got closer. Sure enough, out came a cigarette from the pack which she would soon light up and start smoking. I was able to secure a bench in close proximity and watch the show. About halfway into the cigarette, the boyfriend reached out for it and she handed it to him. Naturally, I thought there no longer anything worth seeing, but stuck around for another 30 seconds just to make sure, and it's lucky that I did because blondie would reach into her purse and extract a second cigarette....this one entirely for herself. I observed as she smoked the whole thing (and clearly being noticed doing so) and flicking the butt far in front of her when finished. This sighting gave me a much needed burst of energy, and I would see this couple again about an hour later, this time not smoking. After a lengthy stretch of ho-hum sightings, the next one that really impressed was Sighting #11, which I scored on the north side of the fairgrounds, usually the least likely place to see smokers but definitely among my top six or seven sightings of the day. I see this golf cart-esque contraption (property of the Minnesota State Fair) hauling garbage driving down the streets of the fairgrounds and spot two young ladies in the driver and passenger seat. The two young employees included an unattractive and overweight redhead driving a ponytailed blonde cutie who looked about 18 in the passenger seat. Guess which one was sporting an 85-100 millimeter companion in her right hand? I walked quickly to follow this vehicle they were driving as blondie stopped at every full garbage can and removed the bag, tossing it on the heap of bags in the back of the vehicle. Who could have ever imagined that the "garbage man" would ever be a blonde cutie who personified the girl next door image? And would be smoking an all-white on top of everything else?!? She would dangle that cigarette from her lips every time her T-shirt and denim shorts-clad young body removed a garbage bag from the can...and my heart melted every time she did. She tossed the cigarette butt into one of the very trash bags she was removing before her garbage cart and I parted ways.
205.188.116.139
I hadn't had much sleep Friday evening after a hot date with a heavy smoker, and because of that I didn't feel the same blast of adrenaline walking into the Minnesota State Fairgrounds as I usually do on that sunny Saturday morning. I wouldn't describe my mood as pessimistic, but I also wasn't expecting a blockbuster day. Little did I know how those modest expectations would work to my advantage. I dismissed last year's over-the-top day, where I shattered my previous record and pulled in a blistering 165 sightings over 13 hours, to be a fluke unlikely to ever be repeated, particularly in an era when smoking rates are in notable decline. August 25, 2007, would prove that assessment incorrect, as I would actually improve upon the 2006 number, scoring an out-of-this-world 184 sightings over the course of 12 1/2 hours. I had several things going for me. It was a weekend day with perfect weather, attendance that was more than 15,000 persons higher than the day I was there last year, and pop diva Fergie performing at the grandstand that evening and bringing in large numbers of the demographic I was looking for. Still, what a day. I would score so much satisfying material that even I'm gonna be hard-pressed to remember all of it. And no matter how great the quantity of sightings are, you always walk away a little bit disappointed if you don't score an extreme "epic" sighting. Yesterday would not disappoint on that front either. We're talking about a sighting worthy of my top-five Minnesota State Fair sightings of all-time, which is an exclusive lot!
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