Rodeo!

Yesterday, I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with my adorable friend Kristen, our friend Amanda's husband Matt, Matt's friend Geoff, and his girlfriend, Lauren.  (In case you're confused about our motley crew, our friend Amanda is currently traveling for a mock trial tournament, which I'm SURE she will dominate, and her husband had never gone, so we all just went together.  And Micah didn't come because he had to work and because we're going again tomorrow with his BFF Cody and his girlfriend.)

In case my non-Houston friends don't know, the Houston rodeo is a big deal.  It's a rodeo, but it's also a big carnival, and it has Texas State Fair-esque food (read:  fried anything and everything).  And each night a different musician plays - and it's generally pretty big name people.  Almost everyone goes at least once while it's going on, and it's oh-so-much-fun! Micah and I went for the first time two years ago to see Rascall Flatts, and we had a great time.

Last night was so much fun.  Not only was it rodeo time, but it was also St. Patrick's Day! Everyone was decked out in green, and the mood was so fun and festive.  

We all met at Kristen's house, and in honor of "Mustache March" (I honestly have no clue - Matt swear's it's a real thing), Kristen got Matt a mustache... enhancer.

(Shh... it's wax.  Don't tell anyone it isn't real! And, P.S., I took these pictures with my old point and shoot because I haven't picked up a camera bag for my new camera yet.  Hence the not-wonderful quality of the pictures.)

We took the Metro from Kristen's apartment to the rodeo.  It was my first time on the Metro. :)

(Notice our green.  Kristen's is a pretty, kelly green.  Mine is a strained peas kind of green.  Oh well.)

And then we arrived at the madness.  I should have taken a picture of the masses of people - it was SO crowded!  Our first order of business was to ride rides.  I'm definitely a ride-rider at Six Flags and other amusement parks, but I've never been a huge fan of carnival rides.  The fact that they're portable just bothers me a little.  But I wanted to give it a try, so we got on this ride.

And I thought, I honestly thought, in the middle of the ride, I was going to fall out and plummet to my death.  I'm so not kidding.  I kept thinking back to my physics class, and I was trying to do the calculations in my head - how far up am I?  How fast will I be going when I hit the concrete?  

And then I thought of the headlines.  "Stupid girl dies on carnival ride."  "Law student resembles pancake after horrible fall." 

Anyway, miraculously, I ended back on solid ground, but I skipped out on the next ride for sure, and I was dizzy and nauseated for about the next thirty minutes.  

Between the five of us, we ate a wonderful assortment of rodeo food, including jumbo corndogs, cotton candy, caramel apples, BBQ sandwiches, fried oreos, ice cream, nachos, dippin dots, and fried pickles (which I stood in line thirty minutes for - totally worth it).

Then we went to the livestock show and saw these cuties.

They had just been born, and they were so cute. :)  

And then there was this guy.  

We were just... baffled.  Is it a makeshift scarf? Anyway...

We finally headed into the rodeo, which was fun.  I grew up around rodeos and ropings, and it's always fun to watch the cowboys (and girls) do their thing. 

And then Gary Allan came on, and he was so good! I was super impressed at how good he sounded live, and I loved the music.  

So, all in all, it was a great night.  I ate waaaaay too much, and my feet were crazy tired, but I had a good time. And apparently I'm doing it all over again tomorrow! :)