Ran 26.2 miles in Anchorage, kayaked to the extreme tip of Cape Cod, summited 2 Colorado 14ers & hosted a family reunion (which included Ash & Tom’s engagement on top of Pikes Peak) – lovin’ Summer 2013 thus far!

End of July is Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming – an hour half to the North.  I’ve always been a huge fan of county fairs – and this one came with a rodeo.  FAAAANNNNTASTIC!

Fell hard off my ‘vegetarian diet’ within 15 minutes inside the park.  Elk, beef, bison & wild boar – lotta choices all grilled & served with a side of chuckwagon beans.  20 minutes ‘til rodeo time.  Grabbed a pitcher of lemonade to wash down my bison burger topped with elk bratwurst and paraded into Wyoming’s largest outdoor stadium.  Took a quick look around.  Only a quarter of us weren’t wearing cowboy hats – and that included the women 🙂

Next life, I’m coming back as a Cowboy!

Fireworks, smoke & 3 World Champions with hats tipped low, walked into the large dirt arena.  An announcer trilled their names and achievements.  Folks on their feet, clapping, cheering.  I’m thinking – who are these guys?  Like superstars from a parallel planet.  Who wouldn’t want to be a cowboy?  WOW!

Each sport had its own unique rules: 8 seconds on a bull to qualify the ride, calf roping in under 30 seconds and the calf must stay tied/immobile for 6 seconds or the score doesn’t count.  Some sports targeted a low score, others a high score, certain events combined scores over 3 days.  Bull riding, steer wrestling, pistol juggling, buckin’ broncos, steer roping, saddle bronc riding, calf roping – all ending with a wild horse race where teams saddled a wild horse, attempting to ride once around the arena. (Only 2 succeeded.)  FANTASTIC fun!

And if cowboys, bulls & horses weren’t enough, our Oklahoma-based announcer came with his own all-rodeo lingo:

  • There’s a guy not afraid to shake loose and shake his boots
  • He stuck to him like spots on an Appaloosa horse
  • More moves than my city cousin peeing on an electric fence
  • He stepped off that broncing horse like he was stepping out of a barber shop
  • That lasted as long as a Hollywood husband
  • He rodeos in the summer time (‘rodeo’ used as a verb)

 

Took a quick stroll through Indian Village & checked out the Chuckwagon Cookoff before heading home.

Thinkin’ this is gonna be an annual tradition.  LOVED it!

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