Houston Rodeo
In March 2009 our good friend Robert told us he had got tickets for us to accompany him and his family to Houston Rodeo, our vision was of cowboys galloping around in a big field shouting yeehaa and the like, seems that is not quite how it is in the 21st century. The Reliant Stadium in the city is where it actually takes place.
The opening ceremony and parade was quite impressive with plenty of stuff going on, this particular stunt looked pretty cool in the darkness of the stadium, as did the indoor firework display.
Once the rodeo started it could have been anywhere, we were so focussed on the action that the concrete arena disappears and you are drawn into the excitement
jumping off a horse onto a fast moving critter with a head full of horns may not strike you as the most sensible thing to do but at the rodeo it's commonplace.
women charging around barrels on small ponies is also commonplace, incredibly fast and surprisingly exciting as they race against the clock over a set course
wagon racing is the 'next level' in lunacy, round and round the small arena at ridiculous speeds with wheels often touching and sliding round corners in 'drifting' fashion
at one point a bunch of teenagers run around after calves and if they can catch one and wrestle it back to a certain spot they get to keep it....this is more popular than I would have expected, I guess there are more farmers kids around the city than I thought
without doubt the most memorable thing was watching parents sit their tiny kids on the back of sheep, they then have to cling on as long as possible, once thrown (as they quickly are) a camera man runs up to them and shoves a video camera in their little faces and they are interviewed, the interview is beamed live to the big screens in the stadium. This appeared to be the most popular part of the event. Sarah and I were stuck between 'I can't believe it' and 'this is fantastic' ultimately we came down on the side of "this is fantastic" after seeing how much the kids enjoyed it.
toward the end of the show the arena was split in half and a stage was erected as the rodeo carried on to the finish
once the stage was erected Taylor Swift came out and began mercilessly belting out teenage pop to thousands of screaming kids.
Taylor Swift is not a bad singer but we are too old for stadiums full of screaming kids so after a couple of songs that was it for us and we beat a hasty retreat out of the stadium to the fairground outside as our good friend Robert had also 'acquired' a significant number of free tickets for the rides.
this was a really enjoyable and truly memorable evening at Houston Rodeo, all thanks to Robert, its good to have good friends :)