Blog Guessing Game Answer: RODEO! (Fun with Kim!)

Two weekends ago we had Kim visit us! It was soooo much fun (as visits with Kim are), but we didn't get any photos. No. Photos. It was kind of a fluke with our camera, etc, so I'm just going to have to use my words to paint a picture. :)

Saturday we decided we'd bike our usual route to the ski jump (it's just such a good view from the top). When we arrived at the fairgrounds (the trailhead for the Mesabi Trail), we found the Minnesota State High School Rodeo competition well under way. Bulls, small steer, goats, horses, cowboy hats/boots... the whole gamut. Our interest piqued, we asked a cowgirl what the schedule was (and she let me pet her horse). The performance would be at 7pm on Saturday night. We decided that it might be cool to check out.

After our bike trip (I think you've probably seen enough photos from that route/view that you can imagine them here without me going into too much detail), we had coffee and soup at Brewed Awakenings (our favorite coffee shop in town) and headed back to our house where we prepared for rodeo madness.

I can't tell you how much fun we had at the rodeo. People can do some amazing things on horseback. Picture two riders - they have 1 minute for one of them to rope the head of the steer while the other tries to rope the two back legs. And one pair actually DID it. It was crazy. (The only part I didn't find particularly fun was the last part... the bull riding. You'd think it would be the most exciting, right? Maybe if it wasn't teenage boys getting their hands caught in ropes and being flung about while several large men attempt to corral the bull long enough to dislodge said teenage boy's now bruised and battered little body. It was definitely too much to watch, and it appeared like all 7 boys walked away limping (if you could tell they got banged up) or running like a bat out of hell (if they fell off quickly and were unharmed.)) But other than that, it was a fun, high energy evening - even if it was a bit chilly. Fall is definitely here, and the first sign of it was the steam rolling off the horses' bodies (we were in the front row).

Yee haw! :)