HOME |
RSS | 
Neatorama author Jill Harness went to the zoo and brought back lots of pictures of all kinds of different animals. She fed a Galapagos tortoise, collided with an owl, and petted a giraffe! She also looked up fun facts about each of them, which you can read at Rue the Day. Do you know what animal is shown here? Link
Photos by Zeon Santos.
Last week, my boyfriend and I went to the San Diego County Fair, previously known as the Del Mar Fair. We came with hopes of gorging ourselves on fried food and petting the myriads of livestock that are there to be judged. We left with sore bellies, hands that were surprisingly (and disappointingly) clean of animal germs and a full photo story of our day at the fair.
This year’s theme, “Taste The Fun,” left me eager to visit. After all, the best part of these events is a chance to try all the fried goods your belly can handle. Even better, because we went on a Tuesday, most vendors were offering a “Taste of the Fair” deal where one select item would only be $2.
I was eager to see what $2 deals most of the booths offered, but as we discovered, most of the deals were pretty bogus. You could buy half of a cinnamon roll that would ordinarily cost $4 for $2. Or you could get cotton candy, which was normally $2.50.
I have to admit, Mr. Tomato here had me disappointed by the time we walked halfway up the main drag.
Some of the places were even worse, offering $2 “tastes” that were literally a single bite of one of their dishes. I guess they thought it was a fair buy when they were already charging $14 for a basket of fried clams.
Regardless of the price though, the food is still one of the main attractions and these places were raking in the dough, particularly those places that offer more non-traditional fare, such as fried Snickers, Twinkies, etc. This place had a massive line all day. I think the light-up sign helped.
Surprisingly, the Heart Attack Cafe wasn’t that busy, but I suppose that was more due to its bad location than its lack of trendy foods. After all, it was the only place in the fairgrounds serving both deep fried butter and chocolate-covered bacon. The place sounded like a Neatorama post.
This was one of the two booths I finally chose to eat from. I’ve been dying to try deep-fried avacados for years and they were the only place selling them. While I was there, I also took a chance on the deep-fried s’mores. I do not regret telling you that I declined to try the Krispy Kreme custard donut chicken sandwich, which seems beyond revolting to me, despite its journalistic appeal. Have any of you tried it?
Charles Hatfield called himself a “moisture accelerator”. In 1916, he offered to make rain fall and fill the reservoir for San Diego. Hatfield suceeded to such an extent that the city suffered the worst floods in its history, with dozens of deaths and damages in excess of $4 million!
On January 1, 1916, Hatfield arrived at Morena Dam, some 60 miles east of San Diego, and set to work. First he erected a wooden tower about 20 feet high. On to of it he placed large galvanizing trays containing his special moisture attracting mixture. Then, through a process of chemical evaporation – the details of which he kept a closely guarded secret – he began “coaxing, wheedling, and courting” nature.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
If you just finished looking at the Google Street View of Stonehenge, it might be time to take a trip to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. All from your computer, of course. The paths can be a little difficult to navigate and some of the animals are hard to see from the street map distance, but it’s definitely awesome to be able to check out one of the best zoos in the world from your home. When you first load the site, it drops you right in the heart of the zoo’s newest exhibit, the Elephant Odyssey.
Comments Off
The Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego is trying a new tactic for drawing guests in a struggling economy: the "Survivor Package." For $19 a night, guests get a tent to sleep in (no mattress, linens, lights, or air conditioning, and forget the free breakfast).
Managers of the luxury resort hope people will return after the promotion willing to pay full price for all the amenities.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
A yearly contest in my hometown of San Diego is the Ugly Dog Contest, we actually held one of the first ugly dog contests in the world. This years winner was little Chomper, a boxer mix who can’t put her toungue in her mouth. A video of the event can be found here. It’s very cute to see happy Chomper’s toungue wagging about throughout the event.
The event actually is great for our city’s animal shelters, as all proceds are donated to them. The San Diego Kiwanis put the whole thing together and other catagories include best St. Patrick’s Day costume, Best outfit, cutest dog and best mutt.
