BAR-B-QUE COOKOFF PART 2

Saturday, March 1 – Before the thousands of people arrived, we took a walk around and looked at the hundreds of tents that were set up for eating, drinking and dancing. Some of these vendors sure put a ton of money in decorating the outside and inside of their area.

Smoke, Spice and Glory tent.

All the tents were required to have a sign outside the tent telling how many people it was permitted to admit.

275 was the limit on this one.

Many tents had signs outside letting us know what we can expect inside.

Carrie and I couldn’t figure out which one of these three was not the dummy. Any one want to give a guess?

Besides taking runner up for the Cleanest Team area, we learned that our Holy Cow Cookers also received 1st Place: Most Colorful Team and 1st Place: Most Outstanding Recycling Team. I think Carrie picked a winner to sponsor.

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

THE WORLD’S CHAMPIONSHIP BAR-B-QUE

Saturday, March 1 –  After the parade (Which we reported on in our previous post), we jumped on the train and rode it to the Reliant Center (The Houston Texan Football Stadium) to attend The World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest.

Can’t go to a Houston event without our boots on!

The Bar-B-Que takes over one of the huge parking areas outside the stadium. There are over 100 entries cooking 1000's of pounds of meat. This is three days of cooking, competition, eating and dancing. There is entertainment in most of the tents, a large outdoor stage for bands, the rodeo carnival is in full swing, and thousands of Houstonians looking for a good-time.

Carrie, our daughter here in Houston, is one of many sponsors of the Holy Cow Cookers tent.

 

They flash sponsor’s names on the many TVs set up in the tent.

This is a huge tent nicely equipped with a full-service bar, a coffee bar, a small bakery (fresh cookies and muffins), photo booths, restrooms, and of course a buffet of every kind of barbeque you can imagine. I think these sponsors try to outdo each other in decorating the tents in various “cowboy” themes.

Bar would open shortly after our arrival.

They actually baked the treats right before our very eyes….yummy!

Any type of coffee or ice cream treat you can think of at this section.

Free boot shinning. Look who took advantage of this service.

Carrie arranges the sale of tickets for about 75 of her friends - heck, I don't even know 75 people ....LOL. Well, let me tell you, these young people (All young professionals in their 20's.) know how to have a good time. What a fun evening. We've been with most of these “friends” previously at different parties. They treat us like one of the gang – or is it like more like their parents :-).

This was suppose to be a photo of girls ONLY, but look who did a photo bomb.

Of course there is a lighted dance floor with a band and DJ's for continuous music.

Yes, that is Marsha out there dancing with one of the boys.

We ate BBQ brisket, ribs, chicken, corn, green beans, etc.  Delicious!!!

 

Runner Up Cleanest Team Area…our own Holy Cow cookers.

We ate, drank, laughed, talked and danced the evening away with this fun loving group. We definitely ate waaay too much.

I would like to report we were out with the youngin's till the wee hours of the morning but naw, we called it a day around 9 o'clock. We jumped on the train for the ride back to our daughter's apartment, picked up our truck and left the late partying to the kids.

Thanks so much, Carrie. It was one awesome party!

The official Holy Cow.

We will show you some of the other tents at the Bar-B-Que in our next post. This post is getting a bit long.

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

IT'S RODEO TIME IN HOUSTON

Saturday, March 1 – Today starts one of the most exciting times of the year here in Houston…The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Early Saturday morning, we parked at our daughter's apartment and walked the short distance (about a mile) to the parade route. The place was packed! The kickoff event is the the 27th annual ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run. There were more than 13,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair race participants. There is a 10K, 5K, and wheelchair race and costume contest. The runners came right down the parade route. What a cool idea. Of course the crowds cheered them on and applauded their effort. There were 1000's of runners literally filling the street. We arrived about 10 a.m. to catch the end of the 10 and 5K run.

They came in all shapes, sizes and dress.

Lots of kids, too.

Soon after the last runners past by, the celebration of Western heritage began...The Downtown Rodeo Parade. We had arrived early and had selected a nice spot for viewing the parade. Well, that didn't last. Soon the late arrivals showed-up and squeezed in, forcing us to move to the back row. JEESH! We found another good spot by a tree that worked out super.

The majority of the parade entrants are the Trail Riders. Many of these horseback riders have rode to Houston from all over Texas. There were 100's of horses and riders in the parade.

Of course, the politicians showed up. They were either riding or in horse drawn carriages.

There were numerous floats and of course bands. We were especially impressed with the University of Houston band. It was huge!

U of H Band

 

These gals stood the entire time we watched them. They were with a drill team.

This little girl in front of us was so darn cute. She would get so excited about every thing that was coming down the road. She must have taken a couple of hundred photos just in the first hour of the parade.

We had a wonderful time and would recommend the Houston Rodeo Parade. From the parade, we headed to the Rodeo at the Reliant Center, the Houston Texan Football Stadium, for the Barbeque Cook-off. We'll tell you all about that experience in our next post.

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