Congratulations to 2011 Georgetown Fair Queen Alexandria Hannan!

Alexandria Hannan of Westville, Illinois, was crowned the 2011 Georgetown Fair Queen on Monday, August, 8th, and we spent the week with her photographing her first few days as Miss Georgetown Fair.  Queen Alexandria Hannan is a student at Eastern Illinois University and hopes to one day practice law and maybe even own her own law firm.  But before Queen Alex can get started in her career she has lots to do as the Georgetown Fair Queen.  We have lots of pictures of Queen Alex and we will be posting lots of images from fair week over the next few weeks as we catch up with all the editing and sorting.

Queen Alex was crowned on Monday night and went to work on Tuesday, giving three radio interviews in a single day!  Miss Georgetown is one of the most active queens we have ever met and we will be posting pictures of her appearances, including her trip to the state pageant in January, right here at Josh and Joe Travels!

Queen Alex competed in a field of 24 contestants to win the 2011 queen pageant.  The theme of the 2011 pageant was Hairspray.

2011 Miss Georgetown Fair Queen Alexandria Hannan was crowned by Danielle Sacre, the 2010 Georgetown Fair Queen.  Danielle will receive a beautiful collection of photo albums and a photo CD with pictures from her year.

The Miss Georgetown Fair Queen Pageant is directed by Karen Thornsbrough and Jill Pope.  Karen and Jill run one of the largest and most active fair queen programs in Illinois, and their pageant regularly attracts over 20 contestants.  Queen Alexandria competed in the Miss Georgetown Pageant three times.

Queen Alexandria's friends and family wore green shirts that said "Third Time is the Charm."  Alexandria had been third runner-up and second runner-up in 2009 and 2010, and we were excited to see all her hard work pay off in 2011!  Queen Alex is pictured with her parents Mike and Ruthie Hannan.

Queen Alexandria was selected by a panel of five judges at the 2011 Miss Georgetown Fair Queen Pageant.  Alexandria will represent the Georgetown Fair at the Miss Illinois Fair Queen State Pageant in January in Springfield, Illinois.

As part of our contributions to the Miss Georgetown Fair Queen Pageant, we will be giving fair week photo albums to each member of the court.  Queen Alex not only gets photo albums from fair week, but by the end of her year she will have a collection of albums documenting her adventures.  We know the queen and her court are eager to get their pictures, so we are busy editing and sorting images to get them delivered fast!

Miss Georgetown Queen's Tea Contestant Orientation

On Sunday, June 10th Miss Georgetown Fair 2010 Danielle Sacre hosted her Queen's Tea at the Georgetown fairgrounds.  The Queen's Tea is an annual summer event that serves as the new contestant orientation for the Georgetown Fair Queen Pageant.

The Georgetown Fair is one of the largest fairs in Illinois with over 50,000 visitors during their week-long fair in 2010.  The fair is hosted by the queen and her court, and the queen opens every grandstand event during the week.

As the directors of Miss Georgetown, Karen and Jill are two of the best pageant directors in the country - and we have traveled all across the United States visiting fairs, festivals, and pageants in various systems.  Bottom line: the young women of Georgetown are lucky to have such talented and dedicated directors as Karen and Jill.  Simply stated, their queen's tea contestant orientation is far beyond what we see taking place in national pageant systems, even at the state and national level.

Miss Georgetown is about demonstrating excellence from the moment you hit the door.  The fairgrounds conference hall was carefully set up hours in advance for the prospective contestants.  Each table was covered in while linen and had a special center piece depicting the theme for this year's pageant.

The 2011 Contestant Packet is the first thing handed to the girls when they arrive.  The contestant packet contains a complete schedule for the next few weeks and even has paperwork examples.  Queen Danielle greeted contestants as they entered and gave them their packets.

Being Miss Georgetown is an unrivaled experience, and the new fair queen will have a year filled with exciting appearances and a trip to the state pageant in January.  2010 Queen Danielle had two eight foot tables covered in memorabilia from her year, and she even displayed her winning blue evening gown at the orientation.  Queen Danielle makes fair more appearances that we have been used to in national pageant systems, so the tables were covered with photo albums, large scrapbooks and framed pictures.  Queen Danielle actually had an entire 12x12 scrapbook just for her parade pictures.  It is truly amazing the experience a young woman gets at Miss Georgetown, and we are really thrilled to be doing the pictures for them.

The while linen treatment included a buffet of snacks and deserts, which was a welome break for the contestants as they worked through program guidelines and frequently asked questions about the pageant.  The snacks and desserts were artfully displayed and fit for a queen.

2010 Queen Danielle is pictured here with 2009 Queen Chelsea.  Chelsea volunteered at the tea and helped contestants fill out their info cards.  Chelsea is currently a student at Indiana State University.

Queen Danielle gave a short talk about her experience as Miss Georgetown.  Not only did Danielle talk about how much she enjoyed making appearances, but she also mentioned how being promoted as Miss Georgetown has created job opportunities.

Here is Director Karen in action going over basic information about the Miss Georgetown Queen Pageant.  The contestants will participate in a month of practices and workshops to help them get ready for the pageant.  During the orientation Karen gives early advice about everything from Facebook to wardrobe selection, and she explains how every contestant will have the chance to do a complete mock interview before pageant day.

Keep reading Josh and Joe Travels as we continue our journey with Miss Georgetown!

Miss Georgetown in the Potomac July 4th Parade

For July 4th we traveled to Potomac. Illinois, to see Miss Georgetown in the Potomac 4th of July Parade.  Queen Danielle is the current Miss Georgetown Fair and we were excited to see her in the parade.  Miss Georgetown is one of the busiest fair queens we've ever met.  As a fair queen Miss Georgetown competes in the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant held each year in January, and you can look for an older post with pictures of Queen Danielle at the state pageant.

The Georgetown Fair is in August, so Miss Georgetown makes lots of appearances during the summer promoting the fair and the queen pageant.  Queen Danielle was dressed in red, white and blue and her convertible was decked out with lots of flags and special decorations thanks to her directors Karen and Jill. And don't forget Connie, who was actually running the show at the Potomac Parade!

Cincinnati zoo and fun things to do

The Cincinnati Zoo is a terrific summer destination for families and anyone who loves wildlife, so we made a trip to visit the zoo late in June.  We probably visit the Cincinnati Zoo about once a year.  The Cincinnati Zoo is older than the Indianapolis Zoo and some of the older design features, such as the cat grottos, make Cinci a little bit better suited for photography that some newer zoos.  Many new zoos are incorporating innovative features to create a really dynamic experience for young visitors.  In some cases this means replacing traditional fencing or bars with gigantic windows.  These windows are great for close-up viewing, so if you have a kid in your life, look for these window features.  Unfortunately, these windows can sometimes create challenges for photography.

The Cincinnati Zoo has their big cats and many other animals in grottos.  If you haven't seen the grottos, they are basically big pits or sunken areas where the animals live.  The depth of the grotto prevents the animal from escaping, and there is normally an elevating observation position.  At the Cincinnati Zoo, this means you can photograph the big cats and other large animals in environments that are completely free of obstructions such as traditional fences.  Beyond the photography advantages, the Cincinnati Zoo has some truly amazing old architecture.  Recently the Cincinnati Zoo has renovated their Vine Street entrance and created a new main entry area, so they are adding innovative modern features to the zoo property.  When you arrive at the Cinci Zoo and the main parking lot, you will see one of the larges solar power arrays in the United States.  Pay close attention, the solar panels are easy to mistake for gigantic carports.  Then you take an escalator up to a pedestrian bridge over Vine Street to enter the zoo.  Very cool.  Very amusement park.

In Cincinnati we love shopping at Kenwood Towne Center and Rookwood Commons and Pavilion.  Rookwood is two outdoor shopping centers that are connected to each other.  On one side you will find the expected specialty retail stores, and on the other are large discount stores like Steinmart, TJMaxx, Homegoods and Nordstrom Rack.  Nordstrom Rack is hands down one of the best places to buy shoes.  On our last visit we found shoes at Rack for $70 less than what they were selling for the same weekend everywhere else.  Kenwood Towne Center is one of our favorite malls.  Kenwood is in progress with a big addition, but they already have one of the best Macy's we've every visited.  Plus they have Dillards and the other great department stores you'd expect.  Kenwood is home to a Papyrus store, so if you wait long enough you will probably catch us in there looking for Bella.

There is lot's to do in Cinci, and it is only about 75 minutes from Indianapolis.  Keep reading Josh and Joe Travels for more tips and ideas about visiting Cincinnati.  Happy Travels!

A taste of Cuba in Louisville

A few weeks ago we made a day trip to Louisville and tried a Cuban restaurant called Havana Rumba.  When we are in Key West we love going to Siboney, which must be our favorite Cuban restaurant anywhere.  We kind of have a running joke with our friends at IUPUI that if they ever need to find us in Key West they would just need to wait for us at Siboney, because within a few days we would come in for our roast pork and yellow tail.

As much as we love Siboney and good Cuban food, we really haven't found a good place to get our favorite dishes in Indianapolis.  We've tried a couple places, but it just hasn't stood up to the Siboney standard.  And for the record, a Cuban Mix Sandwich just isn't right unless it's pressed and made all the way, no mayo please.  For more on Siboney and Key West, check out our Key West section of the blog.

Louisville to the rescue!  We started visiting Louisville many years ago, and we really like shopping and dining in the river city.  Just north of the city in Indianapolis is one of the largest Bass Pro Shops in the country, and inside the Bass Pro was one of their Islamorada Fish Company Restaurants.  This restaurant had a real taste of the Keys, because the original Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant is actually in Islamorada in the Florida Keys.  When the Fish Company opened at Bass Pro in Clarksville, they served fresh seafood and warm bahama bread, but unfortunately, the restaurant closed.

Enter Havana Rumba, our new place to get Cuban food in the midwest.  At Havana Rumba we found great Cuban roast pork for only $12.99.  Havana Rumba serves their roast pork with congri and yuca con mojo, but if you want it Siboney style, ask for black beans, rice and sweet plantains.  We went to the Havana Rumba on Shelbyville Road, which is a nice restaurant filled with families and couples, reasonable prices and lots of good cuban food.  Joe had the best flan dessert he's ever tried at Havana Rumba, so that is probably worth a visit on it's own.

If you've never been to Louisville, Havana Rumba is near the St. Mathews Mall on Shelbyville Road, which is one of our favorite malls to shop.  We really prefer shopping in Louisville over Indianapolis, and we probably go to Louisville once a month, so stay tuned for more on Havana Rumba and Louisville on the blog.  Happy travels!

Key West Sunset at Mallory Square

Mallory Square in Key West is where most people go to watch sunset.  Mallory Square is where you will find the street performers and artists on the pier.  We watch sunset just about every night we are in Key West, and we often go downtown to watch sunset with the tourist at Mallory Square.

Mallory Square gets crowded during sunset in Key West.  This picture looks down the pier where most of the street performers and artist are set up.  And if you like Conch fritters, the little stand you see there on the edge of the dock is one of the best places to grab some on the island.

The Key West Aquarium is open during the day, but they will probably be closed by the time you hit Mallory Square for sunset.  If you happen to be visiting Key West with children, the aquarium is a good stop.  There is also a butterfly garden on Duval, and one of the neatest toy stores in Clinton Square, which is within walking distance of Mallory Square.

We took this picture at sunset from the pier near Mallory Square.  Recently some changes in the pier now allow visitors to walk further than in the past.  If you want to watch sunset where it is a bit more quiet, you might stroll away from the street performers and look for a quiet spot.

We bought a few pieces of local art at Mallory Square, and we enjoy shopping in the art stores on Duval.  Joe actually met one of the artists and got a personalized autograph!

Drag Races at the Key West Conch Republic Festival

In April we traveled to Key West for the annual Conch Republic Festival, and we were very excited to watch the drag races.  The drag races start in the afternoon in the 800 block of Duval Street with time trials, and each queen runs the course, complete with a dash in a Home Depot shopping cart.

The drag queens arrived on a Conch Train to the delight of a waiting crowd who braved the Key West heat to watch the time trials.  After time trials, the pits were open, and the final races took place later in the day.

More pictures from our latest Key West trip coming soon!

Happy Travels!