Today me and the missus headed up to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together", and that it was. The drive up was rather uneventful, had some fun on the 494-35W interchange but other than that the drive both up and back was pretty casual. While at the fair we had some of the great food items which come to your mouth via a sharp wooden dowel, usually less than 1/4 inch in diameter. Of course the customary "about-a-foot-long" hot dog was entirely in order, but as my father pointed out to me at an early age, the only proper hot dog stand are those that have the old-time ketchup and mustard dispensers with the crank operation. Only the crank operated dispensers have the ability to correctly and accurately place the condiments. No if's, and's, or but's about it.
The wife and I dined on the delectable Pronto Pup, consumed a serving of deep fried fruit on a stick (which is delicious by the way, not heavy at all and quite refreshing considering its covered in batter and then cooked in boiling oil). The other food items were all quite good except for the "Chicken Fried Bacon" from the outdoorsy place on Machinery Hill. The bacon was rather flavorless and the dipping sauce tasted like a cheap mix of maple syrup and some white thickening agent that allowed the place to use barely any maple syrup at all. Now I'll honestly say I'm not a huge fan of savory and sweet. I don't dip my sausage in my maple syrup and the thought of bacon and ice cream makes me a little queasy. This was pretty despicable fooding here. Like I stated, the bacon had zero flavor, no smoke, no fat, nothing that would make you think that real bacon was involved. I thought the breading was flavorless as well and rather dry on top of that. I know for a fact that the food had been sitting out for an extended period and that didn't help the cause any, but what ended up coming across was simply some tasteless chewy "meat" product covered in a dry and powdery breading with a rather unpleasant maple sauce. The only thing that saved it for me was my cup of Summit's EPA.
Now on to the fun stuff...CARS!
Looking at cars for me is quite entertaining. New cars always have little bits of technology built in and seeing the latest and greatest designs from Detroit, Tokyo, and Munich make car shows fun for guys like myself. The downside to a lot of large car shows is the simple fact that it's usually out of the way or in a time that's rather difficult to attend. That's why I love the State Fair. Not only do all three of the Big 3 show off their models, but others had come to play this year...that other player being Kia.
Now I know the plucky little Korean company has a lot to prove, its older sibling Hyundai has broken into the market in recent years with some high quality fieldings taking on the luxury makers with its Genesis sedan, it's sporting Japanese rivals with the Genesis Coupe, and has continued on a pretty strong path taking on the best from Europe and Japan. However, Kia has always been a black sheep between the two. It is the cheaper of the cheap twins. The wonders of the Kia Rio of the turn of the millennium were things of horror. Most people would opt for a used Geo Metro over a new Kia Rio. But with that image in mind the little company that could has decided to aim straight down the sights and try to take out is main competition by not only building a better car, but building cars that people want to own.
The tiniest little tent for a car maker was at the Minnesota State Fair. The tent had one of every model Kia made, and what a busy little tent it was. They had a well colored and optioned Kia Soul, a nicely equipped Kia Forte, and the stunning Kia Optima which was "dressed to the 9's" in its full turbo trim. I have to say this in my own defense, I am a Kia fan. I think that the introduction of the Soul to take on the funky Scion brand and the Nissan Cube is pure brilliance. Offer nearly the same product with a slightly different look that's a little more mainstream at a lower price.
The Kia Forte takes aim again at its Japanese rivals primary. The Forte Sedan and "Koup" do an excellent job at trying to fight against Honda's Civic, and Toyota's Corolla for market share and I think that the Forte does an excellent job at again building a similar product for a lower price. Not only does the Forte look better, but it's cheaper and has a look that people like, especially the Kia Forte Koup.
However the biggest stunner in my mind was the brand new Kia Optima. The model demo'd was the top of the line turbo version with every option available equipped. The seats were beautiful, the look was great, the interior looked superb and as my wife said "This is a really nice car". It was a really nice car. Her parent's Honda Accord is not nearly as nice nor as well set up on the center stack. The car looks fantastic and is one design that will not be lost in the shuffle like most do in the mid-size sedan category that has been dominated by Honda and Toyota for the past decade or more.
Did do some stopping in at the Big 3. Chrysler knocked it out of the park. The entire Jeep lineup looks great, the new Dodge Challenger with it's larger engines still looks as beautiful as ever, and the new Dodge Charger is one that I would love to own personally. The interior of the Charger was extremely well done with lots of soft touch surfaces. The best part is that the Charger is the only rear-wheel drive sedan on the market that isn't from Germany or England here in the US. Not only that but it has an available 6-speed manual transmission and the V8 models have optional all-wheel drive. Not to mention all of Chrysler's stuff looks really, really good. Ford is doing well, and Chevrolet might as well scrap everything they have and try to start fresh. I guess the FIAT ownership of Chrysler has helped in a large way.
Oh, and we got to sit in a Fiat 500 for the first time...let me just say this...and Abarth version will be amazing.
Now for "Hurricane Irene". Lets face it, it was over blown. NYC didn't get wiped off the face of the map, and as I type this the Weather Underground is showing winds in DC at 22 mph and in NYC at 2 mph. That's right...Hurricane Irene is whistling at a whopping 22 mph in DC right now.
Again, the media blows it out of proportion because they need a story for the weekend...when there isn't one, they make it up...like they did here and here
Great job guys...great job.
Keep your eyes open, I know I will
Smus
