Let'er Buck!

Nothing says fall like the Pendleton Round-Up. Growing up in rodeo city gave me some interesting experiences but some of my favorite memories came from Round-Up. Although I was never into all things cowgirl....country music, wranglers and ropers, I loved not having to go to school for a week. You see, the school grounds are turned into temporary camps for the crazies that come into town and cause the population to triple for seven days. It gives for some very entertaining people watching and lots of reasons to sneak out of the house.
Let me paint the picture...
The smells... something like, bbq ribs and carmel corn mixed with alcohol and horse poo.
The sounds...totally inappropriate carnival music blaring, the you-can-barely-hear-it-yodeling is being drowned out by the screaming toddlers who have OD'd on snow cones and it's 2 hours past their bed time.
The fashion...tight wranglers, giant cowboy hats, tank tops with bra straps showing, totally crude t-shirts (this is when you wish your kids couldn't read yet and/or were blind), shiny belt buckles and lots of denim mini skirts.
The people...mostly drunk, mostly dirty, mostly scary except these guys of course...(there really are sober, clean, nice people in the mix. My mom would be upset if I didn't mention that.)

This year we invited our good friends the Sampson's along to experience R0und-Up.

Here are some of the highlights....

Indian Village.

The parade.

There's a little something for everyone...

Bag pipers...

Mariachi Bands...

Universities...
Hey Ilene...I took this picture just for you and Dan. The Ducks were totally there to take in all that Pendleton has to offer.

Horses...of course...

And honestly, what can I say about this next picture....

*

*

*

Sasquatch chose the Pendleton Round-Up to "out" himself...he's real.
And then there's Smokey. I took this picture for my cousin Ammon who has a fondness for ol' Smokey. The poor bear wet himself at some point during the parade but didn't stop to change his pants. Educating the good people of Round-Up about forest fires was way more important.

The carnival.

We made Mike go on the rides with the kids.

The night life.

The main street of Pendleton is blocked off and it's filled with street performers, vendors and food.

Good ol' Papa Joe bought the girls snow cones and got them all sugar'd up.

Aric really wanted this monkey carved out of wood. But I said no.

We ran into my Tio Marco and his family one night. I love this picture of Pochito and Aric. Don't worry "Pochito" is his nick name. His real name is Marco Antonio Jr. He loves Aric because Aric will play wild and do tricks with him like throw him up in the air.
My favorite food.
Fajitas at Mazatlan. It's a family run Mexican Restaurant in town.

Do I really need to comment.....

We had a great time. I think the Sampon's are still our friends. I'm pretty sure they are trying to recover from all the scandalous things they witnessed that weekend. They were used to the more wholesome rodeos that Utah has to offer.

Thanks Pendleton for yet another memorable Round-Up....

Let'er Buck!