I grew up in the city. There were county fairs, of course, but they were so far away and in such a horribly hot and smoggy place (Pomona) that I never once went. And what's a County Fair when you live closer to Disneyland and Magic Mountain?

I went to my first county fair, San Mateo, back in 2002, with my brother and sister. San Mateo isn't excatly Iowa, it's right smack in the middle of Silicon Valley, but they still had pigs and chickens and that 4-H jazz. They also had the comedian Gallagher as the main act. There he was smashing watermelons for the blue-haired set audience of less than 500 people. It was pretty pathetic.

So this past monday when I went to the Alameda County Fair in Pleaston, I didn't exactly have great expectations. It was just a diversion. In amongst the questionably attired indivuduals, the disgusting array of overpriced junk foods and cras commercialism, there were a few gems.

The best of the lot was definitely the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs. How could not like racing pigs? Just look at them. They are adorable.