We went on a nostalgia trip with my parents to the Pendleton RoundUp rodeo in my dad's childhood hometown. We had a great time. It's a small town, and the whole place shuts down for the rodeo - school's out for the week, there are stages and shops and food carts all up and down the middle of the town's main street, and the place is jumping with rodeo fever!
We spent our first hour in Pendleton looking for a pair of real cowboy boots and a cowgirl shirt for me. We found them at D&B Supply...in the children's section. I bought a pair of kids' size 3 boots, and I'm not ashamed, because they were $30 cheaper than the ones for the grownups.
Next we continued over to the rodeo grounds, where we saw this stuff:
I ate the biggest and sugariest candy apple I have ever seen...for lunch. Hey, it was vacation.
Thursday was "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" day at the rodeo, and most people around town and most of the cowboys wore pink shirts. See how tough my dad is in his pink shirt?
Walking around the town, we found two different churches that also love the rodeo.
On this trip I saw my first-ever Wild Cow Milking Contest, Indian Relay Horse Race, and real Indians living in real teepees in the Indian Village behind the rodeo grounds. I ate my first funnel cake and tried pad thai for the first time too. I saw my first Mounted Band (the entire band rides horses in the parade) and I saw 10 real oxen pulling a real Conestoga wagon. All in all, a pretty awesome weekend!
