HOUSTON RODEO/LIVESTOCK SHOW

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

Tuesday, March 15 – We're heading to the Outlet Mall today.

Our daughter, Kelly, is a teacher and is on Spring Break this week. So it's off to shopping! We went to the Houston Outlet Mall in Cypress. We had a pretty successful trip. Kelly made quite a few purchases, Paul came in second with new sneakers, flip flops, shorts, and sun glasses, and Marsha found a top and a bracelet. Now what do we throw out??? (Background: Full-timers say if they buy something new they need to get rid of something to have room for the new item!).

Wednesday, March 16 - Off to the Houston Rodeo!!! It's held at Reliant Stadium – home of the NFL Houston Texans.

Wednesday is Value Day. Five dollars entry fee (normally $12) and if you are 60+ it's free entry! Grand total for parking and entry for the two of us….$10...what a deal!

The event is actually held in several different buildings. The Reliant Center has the AGventure, Livestock show, exhibits, food, school art, and shopping. Reliant Arena holds the Stockman’s Club, horse show, llamas and turkeys. Reliant Stadium is where the Rodeo and all the “big name” entertainment is held.

We have never attended a “fair” that had directional signs.

We attended the Livestock Show Arena, the animal education section, the Horse Show Arena, and the Cowboy/Western sales area. The sales area was packed with all types of western wear sales booth, and the people seemed to be buying.

A  very interesting exhibit was a stone carving area. These stones were carved in Texas Motif. They must weigh a ton and were very impressive. Wished we could have seen some of the carving being done!

This gentlemen made flag poles that were beautiful.

There are many fountains outside the stadium.

One of the many stages. Marsha is at the Cowboy Stage.

The school art display was amazing. These kids are so talented. We only took a few pictures because all the work was behind glasses partitions.

This was done by a 6th grader.

 
Very clever. A display for Beaver hats.

Paul is contemplating buying a hat.

Any one need furrier chaps?

We weren’t in the market for a gun safe. They make them BIG here in Texas.

We were again a bit temped to by one of these for the front of the MH.

And what would a fair be without the tractors? This one is for Marsha’s dad.

The Livestock area was HUGE. Boy was it clean! We wore our old sneakers, thinking one of us might accidently step in some animal pooo .....but things were very clean.....don't want someone to get those expensive cowboy boots dirty.....ha! Ha!

Even the rabbit pens were tidy.This little guy actually poised for us.

The Educational Area was very impressive. Someone was very creative in developing this area to teach the zillion kids here on spring break all about livestock. The new born area was especially interesting and PACKED with kids wanting to see the baby animals. Marsha had about as much fun as the kids.

Little piglets just days old.

Marsha saw this little guy come right out of the egg.

To get to the Horse Show Arena, we walked through the amusement ride area. WOW! Every ride one could imagine or has ever seen was there. The kids were having a blast. All we could think about, was how sick we would get on some of these rides. It did bring back old memories of when are kids were young, and the hours spent on some of these rides.

We have never seen this ride.

These people were crazy to do this!

We must be very old. We didn’t know you could lie down and ENJOY a ride. NUTS!

Now here is the most unusual ride we witnessed. Yes…CAMEL RIDES!

There was very type of food vendor imaginable. Even ones you would NEVER think would be at a fair.

The Horse Show was very colorful.We aren’t “horse people” but  The horses were beautiful, and the riders were dressed in very colorful and glittery western wear. Unfortunately, they were competing in a basic skills competition and it was a little ... s-l-o-w .... if not boring. Before they made the winner announcement, we picked our favorite and actually pick the winner. We enjoyed the show for a while!

And the winner is…

All the vendors in this building were selling riding related items.

After a full day of visiting all the areas, we boarded the tram and were quickly returned to our car. We easily made our way out of the parking area and were home in less than thirty minutes. They have the traffic problems pretty well handled, I'd say!

We are returning with our daughters on Friday evening to see the Rodeo Show and Alan Jackson in concert. There is no way you could see everything in one day! The Rodeo is held in the new and huge Reliant Stadium, with its movable roof. Mucho Bucks spent here!!!! Very nice though.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great da!