Things got off to a promising start. 

We arrived at the Four Town Fair- the four towns being Somers, Enfield, Ellington and East Windsor, Connecticut - around 6:30 on Friday. This was the first night of the fair and cars were streaming in to the makeshift parking lot. The sun was low on the horizon and the smell of things frying hovered in the air. David and Laura, our guides to all things Northern Connecticut, took us on the grand tour, telling us which were the best places for fried dough, sausages and, yes, smoked turkey legs.

The Four Town Fair is pretty small. It isn't one of those mega-fairs you see Al Roker broadcasting from, where they have stall after stall of fried God-knows-what and a stadium for all of the latest in has-been entertainment. The area around here is still rural, with real farming still going on, and the fair has stayed pretty much the same since it started in 1838.

So this tells me it is a microcosm of all fairs. And that confirms for me what I have always thought about fairs. Fairs are weird.

As the sun goes down and the colors grow more intense, everything takes on a somewhat surreal hue. I guess this is the point - fairs, I suppose, were started as a way for farmers and towns to come together not just to share the harvest and show off their best work, but to have a little escape from all of that work. To be transported, even for a little while. But I always find it a bit unsettling.

I don't recognize the destination, but with the swirl of colors, cigarette smoke, flashing lights, greasy food, barnyard animals and scantily clad overweight teenagers - the closest I can think of is that it feels like we have landed in a David Lynch movie.

I know it sounds like I am being a snob, but I promise I am not. I see myself at this fair as much as I see everyone else. I just feel disoriented. Take Lil Larry's Lucky Ducks, above. Who is Lil Larry? Why am I drawn to his lucky ducks? If I won the game, would I choose the Eclipse movie poster or the portrait of the Virgin Mary? Why are those my choices? Why am I thinking these thoughts? Who killed Laura Palmer?

You see what I am saying? What is this?

But as the evening moves on, and I eat a turkey leg, fried dough, onion rings, and a really tasty cannoli, while watching the doodlebugs - a New England version of a tractor pull - I start to feel more at ease. The fair is a long-time American tradition and I think everyone should go to at least one during their lifetime. Sure they are weird, and involve doing, watching and eating things that have no place in reality. But, like watching Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive, they offer an escape. Just don't stay too long.