Rodeo Austin 2010

Ben came home early from work on Friday, so we decided to take advantage of that opportunity and head to Austin for the Fair and Rodeo. That was a great choice, because we had so much fun! The weather was perfect (mid-70's), the crowds were manageable, and best of all, it was free (if you wore pink)!We started out the day by visiting the Texas Longhorns. We have some near our house, but we can never get close enough to see them well, but we sure got close this time! Take note of the look on Jaimason's face in the first picture ("Ok, Mom, that's close enough....and cow, don't try anything funny!")


Next stop, the Petting Zoo. There were the usual array of animals (deer, llamas, sheep, goats), but we sure got a kick out of the naked sheep.







We also saw Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey (as seen on ESPN). Get a load of this little guy; he's hilarious! He rides a Sheepdog while it herds sheep. Cutest thing you'll ever see!Then we stumbled on the most magnificent thing: the BBQ Cook-Off! It's a whole bunch of people from around the area who compete for the best BBQ around. You get to go to each trailer/tent and try everybody's meat. And they don't just give you a bite on a toothpick, we're talking WHOLE chicken legs, entire sausage wraps, several slices of brisket, cups of beans, and all the drinks you want. And here's the kicker....it's totally freeee! They, of course, take donations, but the donations go toward scholarship funds for college kids. It;s a good thing we hadn't eaten that day.
Needless to say, we spent the better part of 2 hours visiting the tents and trailers, sampling food (and by sampling, I mean chowing down...goodbye, diet!), sipping ice cold pop, and having a MARVELOUS time. We'd drop a couple bucks in the donation jars, of course, talk to the people who do all the cooking, and listen to the FREE live bands that played on the stages they had set up. Some people even had big screens set up to watch March Madness.
Look at this guy....suckin' on a stogie while cookin' up some delicious meat. Is that not totally cowboy?
And look at these cowboys in front of their tent. It's kinda hard to see, but it's called Dirrrty Swamp Cookers. Inside the tent, they have it set up to resemble Louisiana, with pickled alligators in jars, camo, etc. They were even giving away a rifle. It was a fun atmosphere.
After we stuffed ourselves silly, we visited some more animals, watched some other shows, rode some rides, looked at vendor booths and let our food settle. Then it was time for the Ultimate Texas Rodeo tradition.....(and I'm kinda embarrassed to say this) Fried Snickers Bar! We saw it on the Food Network or something a few months back and Ben about died. His all-time favorite candy bar is Snickers. When we saw it at the rodeo, we HAD to get one, just to try it.
The verdict: It was pretty good. Tasted like snickers bar wrapped in a donut shell. You can't really go wrong with that!

When darkness fell, we went back to the BBQ Cook-off to listen to some more bands and dance (at Jaimason's request).








Here's Jaimason with the bear --named Mo' Money--and hat he won playing games.
What a good old-fashioned time we had!