Well that was a first for me!!

As some of you know, I'm away this week for a work conference. A couple nights ago I posted about a very nice welcome dinner we had. Yesterday was a long day with a working lunch and a working dinner. Today another long day but with a team building function this evening. We all went to a "rodeo"!!

I put that in quotes because the very concept of a rodeo is just so far outside this Boston girl's life experience. Who knew people still dressed up like old west cowboys and road bulls and roped little cows and did all that stuff????? Crazy, huh?

The dinner spread at this rodeo function for us was a short buffet including three different kinds of BBQ meat and one side choice: mac 'n cheese. No salad. No veggies. Meat and carbs. I'm not saying it wasn't delicious, but wow did I feel far from home! I feel closer to home sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Prague than I do in this foreign country known as Texas! 🤣

As for the rodeo ... well, I'm not quite sure what to think. I'm very much someone who tries to respect local cultures and I know that rodeo is very deeply ingrained in the culture down here. But, with that said, I couldn't even watch, never mind take pictures of the calfs being dragged, sometimes thrown, to the ground and then tied up. Not saying it's right or wrong, it's just way outside my comprehension. 🤷‍♀️

But, when in Rome, right?

Anyway, I've now been to my first rodeo ever. Are you doing anything interesting this weekend?

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DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

You haven't seen a rodeo until you have been to Cheyenne Wyoming's frontier days! The grandfather of all rodeos!

They close off the streets downtown for two weeks! It's like a two week long German October festival throughout the whole city and then some!

Lived in both Texas and Wyoming, both each respectively six years. Wyoming you would be an alien from outer of space! 👽🤣

I see your comment on roping below. To give a full example of the difference, is some are so drunk they think the people are the animals. 😖

Frontier day's the families often leave the whole city of Cheyenne.

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer I've been to Wyoming several times but obviously not there or then. I dated someone for a while who was from there and visited family, etc. But yeah, this was a very different experience for me.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@sarabee1995 you really have to experience it to believe what happens on frontier days in Cheyenne.

They won't show pictures of it because it's supposed to be a tourist attraction.

Yet at around 4am they have heavy equipment scoop up all the beer cans and bottles off the streets every darn night.

It's a marvel they don't find bodies among the trash on the streets.

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer So you must not work for the local chamber of commerce ... you've pretty much convinced me to stay away! 🤣

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@sarabee1995 I forced to go there in the first place for three years. And took me three more years to get the heck out of Cheyenne!

At least I've been to Texas twice! 🤣

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer Oh I've been to Texas several times. But that was all down at Lackland. No cowboys in sight.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@sarabee1995 you have no idea what San Antonio looked like in 1978 do you?

The Alamo was all by itself then. And the Riverwalk was mostly still swamp property!

Plenty of cowboys back then. Not a single one now within 60 miles of San Antonio.

Gangs were unheard of and would have been shot on sight in 1978.

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer Nope. No idea what it looked like then, and very little idea what it looks like now. My visits there were to the base and were quick drop-ins.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@sarabee1995 the first time there I was stationed six weeks each on two different bases. Lackland AFB of course and Camp Bullis medical marine base. So three months total.

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer My first visit to Lackland was just out of Navy Intel school at Dam Neck Virginia.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@sarabee1995 Cheyenne I was at FE Warren.