HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO

Wednesday, March 16 – The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is in full-swing. We wanted to go on Wednesday the 9^th, but rain forced us to wait until today. Every Wednesday is “Senior Day” with a reduced entry fee of only $10 which covers everything including the big name concerts. Unfortunately, it is Spring Break in Houston, and we knew there would  be 10,000's of kids in attendance. Oh well, kids will make it fun!!

We parked at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) Transit Station and rode the train to Reliant Stadium, site of the Livestock Show and Rodeo. Parking was a little cheaper, and we figured the walk from the train to the Rodeo would be shorter and thus easier on Paul's repaired knee. We'll be doing enough walking during the Rodeo.

We started in Kid's Country designed to teach kids about the animals. Yep...thousands upon thousands of kids enjoying the animals, watching cow milking, piglets being born, eggs hatching, and enjoying the petting areas. Marsha's a little height challenged, so she had to fight the kiddos in order to see some of the displays. They really do a great job in Kid's Country and the kids love it!

Born just four days before our visit.

The Rodeo still had five more days to go.

From there, we headed over to the livestock area. Man-O-Man, there were hundreds of hogs on display and tons and tons of cattle. There must have been 500 pens for hogs and a similar number of cattle stalls. There were even move cattle outside in pens. Today was market day for the hogs. Marsha’s dad would love this place

We have seen goats butt heads but never two cows.

Now that is a Lonnnnnghorn!

We always learn something new when we visit the Livestock Show. Today we noticed the Livestock logo on some of the cows. We asked a rancher what it meant. He said only the cattle that were selected to be auctioned off were branded with the logo. He said he was really honored to have several cows in the auction.

This has got to be one of the cleanest livestock shows or fairs with sawdust on all the floors and people constantly cleaning things. They even died the woodchips green in the sale arena. A nice touch!

We then walked through the entire merchandise area where all types of western items can be purchased. Cowboy boots, hats, clothing, furniture, food, horse trailers, ropes, and all type of cowpoke related items. We did buy a souvenir t-shirt for Marsha and a cap for Paul. Both for less than $15 dollars total.

Boots by the hundreds.

Need those boots shined? Plenty of places to do that.

What about a hat?

We then enjoyed the Youth Art Show. The art displays covered high school, middle school, and elementary art work. Amazing what some of these kids can do! We really enjoyed the 3-D category where clay sculptures were displayed.

Can you believe this guy was in the first grade?!

Adults were also represented in the Quilt Show. Another unbelievable display of some fantastic works of art. Thank goodness Marsha hasn't taken up quilts as another hobby. We don't have room in the RV for any more hobby materials.

This was Marsha’s favorite. Very different from the others.

We were pretty tired and had a couple hours until the rodeo began in the stadium, so we headed to the Wine Garden where we could sit comfortably at a nice table and enjoy a bottle of wine. The wine was wonderful, and the Garden was packed. We enjoyed talking to a couple of the waiters. One from Canada and another gal from France. They had unique stories to share.

It was then time to head over to the stadium for the rodeo. We will save that for the next post.

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