Sports Show...

There is a Sports Show at the stadium - the ads say it will have boats, RVs, hunting lodges, fishing guides, etc, etc.  Sounds interesting.

We went out for breakfast and got to the stadium relatively early (well, before noon).  Parked the car, paid for tickets, and went in.  Welcome to the Sports Show...

There are people here, but not like it will be on Saturday and Sunday; this is a good time to see what we want to see and not have to fight crowds.  One of our first stops was at a display with RVs...

A Forest River FR3 - a Class A, but not a wide-body.  Looks well thought-out and functional.  Not a lot of RVs inside here (the RV "show" out in the parking lot is still there); most of them were more of the truck/Jeep camper type and several expedition-looking trailers.

Our next stop was to walk through a HUGE houseboat.  I didn't get the price on it... it is 75x22 feet, 4 levels, 4 or 5 bedrooms, 6,600 square feet of living space...

The kitchen area in the photo above; can't really call that the galley.  My favorite part of the houseboat...

A hot tub up on the 4th level.  And, a nice over-all view from up here...

A couple taxidermy booths, this one was pretty impressive...

That would be just the thing if you booked one of the several African safari hunts being offered at different booths (only $33,000 to hunt a lion).

Quite a few booths selling jerky, spices, and outdoor cooking stuff.  We did make a small purchase at one of those, a grill cooking sheet... hope to try it out with some steaks this weekend.  Quizno's had a booth with two very enthusiastic guys offering you the chance to spin the wheel and win a prize... Joan won a frizbee (a Quizbee?) and I won a free sandwich.  These guys knew how to draw people to their booth.

On the opposite side of that spectrum...

This couple could not have been less enthusiastic: she is listening to her iPod, he is reading the paper.  Wanna bet they will say what a slow show this was?  ;-)

I stopped to visit with a couple guys who were selling stand-up paddle boards.  I'm still intrigued by those things... the inflatable looks very portable.  I stood on it; it felt completely solid.  I didn't plunk down any cash, though.  Two booths about 50 feet apart selling memory foam pillows... interestingly, they were both the latest models (the other booth had the older models).  I like a memory foam pillow, but they were both selling them as 2-fers.  When I asked about buying just one, the lady said, "This is the regular price for one - our show special is 'buy one, get one free,' so you don't want just one."  The other guy said the same thing.  I was pretty sure I just wanted one.

A Hobie dealer had kayaks on display...

It makes me miss my kayak... can't take it all.

We watched some kids catching fish in a tank; perhaps as easy as "shooting fish in a barrel."  Lots of boats on display: runabouts, wake boarding boats, and pontoons.  Oh, and the previously mentioned houseboat sales place, and their competition on the other side of the floor.

Several knife dealers.  Plenty of survival gear.  Lots of interesting stuff to check out.

Possibly the oddest booth was for "the go-anywhere tropical pet."  The guy was selling sugar gliders...

That's the little white thing crawling up his arm... the look kinda like a white mouse with really big eyes and a little extra skin between the legs and the body.  He said, "I take mine everywhere with me.  the barber doesn't know I have it in my pocket.  No smell, no fuss."

The first thing Joan said when she got to that booth was, "Ohhh, that stinks!"  Maybe it's an acquired non-smell? ;-)

You can see the paddle boards in the background in that photo above. 

A fun way to spend a few hours.  Fill it up with people (like they expect over the weekend) and it will take 3 times as long to get through those aisles.

Back at the resort, little Izzy was waiting...

"Didja bring me anything?  I think I smell sugar glider!"