Competition Day Observer

Kentucky Expo Center is a 1,200,000 square foot building. It is gigantic. Ian was one of 78 competitors for the diesel competition, but half of those were post-secondary students. He competed at 14 different stations for 30 minutes each, so it was a long day.

A culinary friend was competing in the culinary arts competition, so I bounced between competitions observing, taking pictures and supporting as best I could. The competitions were fascinating to watch. I find it interesting to see who is nervous, who gets in the zone and how people deal with mistakes or the unknown. 

I hung out with another kid for most of the time and also spent a good deal of time with Chef Becky and Brent. It was fun to catch up or get to know them better. 

After the competition was done and everyone was tearing down the competitions, an announcement was made. Due to weather, they wanted everyone in the main part of the expo with the doors closed and to stay away from windows. Basically, it was a weather lockdown. The weather was truly crazy. It took us at least forty minutes for a bus to come and pick us up... 

Ian and Brent talked about the day for a long time before we headed out to Kentucky Kingdom. The amusement park free for all SkillsUSA people and we were excited to do a few roller coasters, but the moment we got in line for our first ride, the weather got bad again and fork lightening and loud thunder, but no rain. the rides were temporarily shut down. As the storm didn't pass, the entire place was shut down and we went back to the hotel with new tickets for today. 

On the way home, we stopped to pick up ice cream and while running into the store, were running in an inch or two of water on the ground. It was REALLY wet, but still warm. Ian and I ate ice cream and watched the storm before editing pictures and heading to bed. 

He's super thankful the competition is over. :-) He says he did okay, but had fun, which is the main point.