Rodeo

Yesterday Lisa and I decided to participate in a Texan tradition known as "the Rodeo". The one here in Houston claims to be the biggest in the Western world. (Not sure they have too many rodeos in the Eastern World... but I am not overly familiar with world-wide rodeo trends.) As it takes place in a stadium that holds 70,000 people I would believe it.

But lets back up a bit. Surrounding, and before the rodeo there is the rather typical fair type stuff. Animals for show, food, "games", rickety rides, crafts, things for sale, and lots and lots of people.

We decided to go a little early and see what the fair had for us to enjoy. (The last time we went to a fair was in Colorado.) We hadn't gotten very far inside the gate before we were accosted by the food vendors. Always excited to try something new we had a "hot tip" that the deep fried Oreo was especially good. Five bucks bought us four Oreos coated in enough batter to double or tripple their size, and then covered in powdered sugar. Lisa and I enjoyed two each and decided that that was probably our quota for the rest of the year. Pretty great in flavor, but very heavy on the sugar and oil front. Despite the fact that they were calorie bombs (some rough estimes I have seen place a single deep fried oreo around 400 calories) I feel like with all the walking I did that it was probably a zero-sum-game.

We also had a fried thin sliced potato twirl on a stick covered in garlic and parmesan cheese. It was like fresh parmesan and garlic chips. From there we walked around a bunch and saw what there was to see. We saw chicks hatching, cute cows, llamas, alpacas, mules, donkeys, goats... probably other things as well, and there is a huge place where all sorts of "texas" styled things were for sale as well.

It was a lot of fun wandering around, seeing ALL sorts of people, and the types of culture of a place that Lisa and I haven't grown up with.

Then we had dinner (kabobs, and Lisa swears it was the best green pepper she has ever had) and headed into the stadium. This is where the real culture difference in culture came out. At the start of the rodeo, in front of probably 20-35k people they opened the rodeo up with a prayer. Not a simple "God bless this event" type thing, but it was really quite deep. From there we got to experience everything from barrell racing, to bull riding, to mutton busting, to steer wrestling. It was really a lot of fun. I in fact might even watch rodeo events more after this. We had fun and learned some things about animals we didn't know before.

Then we sat through a bit of a Train concert. (The band) It was better than a lot of the country options.

Overall a great time, and I would suggest it for the next year, if anyone wants to join us. (Family and or friends...) More pictures on Google Plus and Facebook if you are interested.

Doctor's appointment on Wednesday and a scan on Tuesday. Details when I have them!


~B.
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