Rodeo

The smell of horse and cow poop has dissipated, yet no matter how much I scrub, the feeling of dirt between my toes just won't seem to go away. Last night, Leah and I went to see Brooks and Dunn at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Despite a few miscalculations, we had a BLAST!!! =) We were planning on leaving at around noon, thinking the show started at 3:45, and that we might want to go do some carnival rides before the concert. We planned on noon, yes. We actually left a little after 2. We get there, and spend about ten minute just finding the parking lot we are supposed to park in, and eventually find where we are supposed to be. We walk up to the gates, and realize that noone can get in yet. We look around, trying to figure out what's going on, both of us are really hungry, and I pull out the packet that we got, and read the instructions... Which we probably should have done before leaving. It's 2:45, and we read that the dinner we are supposed to be at ends at 3, and that we are on the completely wrong side of the complex! We start hoofing it all the way around the Reliant Stadium, past the Reliant Center, and around the Astrodome, until we see the giant Pace Picante Sauce bottle in the distance! We are almost running at this point, having only a few minutes left to get food! We find the tent, go in, get a seat, and a woman brought us our food. Few! So close! The dinner was pretty good, it was a filet with beans, green beans, and a roll, with peach cobbler for dessert. Everything was made by a real cowboy who drives an actual chuck wagon on trail rides, and it was all made without electricity in the traditional cow-poke way. So, after that, we got our chute seat gift bags, which contained a hat and a koozie, and was supposed to have a commemorative pin in it, but it didn't, which made me mad because I was really looking forward to the pin! Oh well, time for the carnival rides!!! We walked around for a bit, Leah trying to convince me to go on some crazy upside-down-spin-you-in-the-air contraption, while I was trying to build up the courage to get on ANY of the rides. Leah ended up getting on that ride, saying, "This ride is so much fun, you are going to be missing out!" while I stood on the side, holding her belongings and trying to keep my stomach out of my throat as I watched this obscene excuse for fun start spinning this way and that, rising into the air, turning upside down, and flinging all the riders about. When it was over with, Leah came off saying, "That wasn't as fun as it used to be, that actually scared me!" Go figure. So after that one, we walked around some more when it started to rain. We ran to the nearest thing with a roof, which ended up being the "fun house". Being the wimp I am, I said, "Hey, let's go in here!!!" I don't think Leah really wanted to, but she conceded because what else were we going to do in the rain? So, we give the lady our tickets and step in. When I've seen "fun houses" in movies, it always involves those nutty mirror mazes, so that's what I was expecting. Instead, it was a maze full of clear Plexiglas that made you think you were going the right way then all of a sudden, BONK! You've run strait into a clear window! That part was pretty fun. At the end of that, we came to some stairs that we ascended, taking us to the funny mirrors. Those were cool! We had fun laughing at our odd reflections! When we realized that we would have to slide down to the ground from there, we decided we'd rather go backwards through the wanna-be mirror maze again, so we did. That took up enough time for the rain to stop, so we continued on our journey into the life of a carnie. We rode a cheesey nightmare-on-elm-street wanna-be ride, and then the ferris wheel, which states it's the largest mobile ferris wheel in the U.S. After the rides, we made our way to the stadium for a funnel cake! When the concert started, we rushed down to where our seats were, and because we had the special Chute Seats, instead of sitting in the bleachers where everyone else had to sit, we got to go out in the dirt on the floor of the arena during the concert! We were so close it was amazing! Leah couldn't get over being star-struck, although she swore she would never act that way. She kept saying, "I can't believe we are so close!!!" I may not listen to much country music, but Brooks and Dunn really put on a great show! After the concert was over, we got to go get a commemorative Rodeo chair. We went back to the carnival, had some cotton candy, took some pictures in one of those photobooth things, and rode a couple more rides. We got home about 1 in the morning. Last night was probably the most fun night I've ever had! =) It was great! I can't wait until Sydnie's old enough to want to go to the carnival and stuff! ^-^