Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Rodeo Rainout

This year, I decided I wanted to take the girls to the Rodeo.  It's one of the big events in Tucson, after all.  La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. We have been to the Gem and Mineral show in January for the last two years, and I thought the Rodeo would be a good adventure, too. The last time I went to the Rodeo was many years ago, when Andrea and Steve came to visit.  I remember it as being fun...and sunny. Which is the great thing about Tucson in February - it's usually sunny, and warm by the afternoon.  But not this past Saturday.

Audrey was super-excited to go - she even found the Western American girl clothes we inherited and dressed both herself and her doll Nora for the Rodeo. My mother-in-law Pat loaned me her Western shirt, and although Claire didn't have any Western garb, she was willing to come along too.

We were ready.  The weather was iffy - it had been windy in the morning, which is a sure sign of a weather apocolypse in Tucson - oh my gosh, it's WINDY! It had rained a bit on us as we drove home from dance class, but it was clearing...or so it seemed.  I figured, "It's Tucson, how bad can it be?" We put on our raincoats and went.

We caught about 15 minutes of the Junior Rodeo - we missed mutton bustin' (where instead of bulls, the kids ride sheep...by the way, if you're ever feeling sad I recommend googling "mutton busting"...) We just saw a bunch of little boys getting trophies.  We caught team roping, where father-child teams tried to rope a calf - only a few succeeded.   An 11-year-old boy and his dad were the winners. 

Here are Audrey and Claire with the calves, pre-roping:

Then we had an hour to spend wandering around the rodeo grounds before the Pro Rodeo started.  I thought this might be boring for the girls, but I was wrong - all it took to keep them (pretty much) amused was $4 worth of cotton candy. Claire later said this was the best part of her Rodeo day.

We also saw some animals - no pictures of the mutton bustin' sheep, but we did see a lot of bulls, and some horses, being riled up for photos by a cowboy on horseback in their pen.
Finally it was time to take our seats for the Pro Rodeo.  We walked all around the arena and picked some good seats.  It was sprinkling rain, but the Rodeo started with the ceremonial moving of the tractor and the Ram truck out of the arena, while we watched commercials (I didn't remember this from before...I think the Rodeo TV screen was new...).  Then the announcer called in the riders representing the four millitary branches and the prisoners of war/missing in action (POW/MIA) soldiers.

It was very patriotic - all the millitary branches got a cheer, then a rider circled the ring with the American flag while a singer sang the national anthem.  Then the announcer said a prayer, declared the Rodeo had begun...and the skies opened up and it poured down rain.  We tried to tough it out, but from being outside for appoximately 2 minutes in the rain, we were completely soaked.  We saw two bull riders, and two steer wrestlers, and we were done.  It had stopped raining but it was still cold, and windy and we were soaked.

Adios, Fiesta de los Vaqueros, and we'll see you next year - in better weather.