Texas Exploring / The Rodeo!

A few weeks ago, when my brother was here, we went all out Texas with our first visitor. We went to a big high school football game, the Battleship Texas, ate a whole lotta barbecue and tacos, and then we topped it off with a trip to the rodeo. And this wasn’t any glitzy, fancy rodeo like you get in downtown Houston, this was rural county rodeo at the San Jacinto County Fair, north of the city by about an hour. And it was awesome. We were very close to the action, sitting on wooden bleachers with all the locals instead of up in the nosebleed seats in a giant stadium.

We didn’t spend much time at the fair part because I’m totally allergic to rides, but I did love watching the whole scene.  And then we went over to the rodeo! I had no idea that a rodeo involved so many different events with so many different animals! And there were even events for kids to participate in, like seeing how long they can hold onto a sheep! That was pretty hilarious. I had mixed feelings about the calf-tying event. It just seemed a bit cruel since they’re only baby cows! But We really liked the barrel run, they get those horses going so fast! I don’t have a whole lot of action shots, mostly because it was dark and everything was turning out very blurry. My photography skills have limits, that’s for sure! Sometimes I’m still surprised that we live in a place where people wear cowboy hats.  Between rounds of the barrel race, there was a guy who came around in a tractor to smooth out the dirt, just like a zamboni at a hockey game!  I haven’t yet been to one of the glitzy, big-production rodeos like they have in downtown Houston sometimes, but if you’re ever in San Jacinto County when they’re having their rodeo, I’d recommend the small town version!