Dear Shawn
February means rodeo season, once again. I have so many memories of going to the rodeo when I was younger. It was billed as the world's largest, and was held in the Houston Astrodome, the "Eight Wonder of the World". I loved that building.
One of the most vivid memories was the odor. When first walking into the livestock area, the odor of the animals hit me like jet exhaust. It only took a few minutes to acclimate, and then it was hardly noticeable. I remember how Mom would always point out how large some of the bull's testicles were. As a young boy, this would embarrass me to no end. How could they let these things just hang out so exposed like that?
After all the sights and smells of the livestock area, it would be time to head into the Astrodome for the show. It was a typical rodeo, with barrel racing, calf roping, buck riding, kids trying to catch pigs, tiny covered wagons racing, dogs herding sheep and cowboys in tight jeans trying to rope steer with big horns and not so silly clowns distracting the bull when the cowboy fell off.
Today, now that I'm an adult, I find many of the rodeo activities a little off-putting. I now have feelings for the treatment of animals that I lacked when I was a boy. I still enjoy seeing the animals and marveling at how magnificent they can be. At least it's not as bad as a bull fight!
The best part of the rodeo as a kid was always the concerts. They would wheel this fancy trailer-like stage to the center of the Astrodome floor, which was quite spacious. The stage was so far away, but with seats surrounding it in 360 degrees, it was really the only option that they had. The stage would rotate one way, then slowly rotate the other, so that all patrons got the chance to see the artist from the front.
This was where I fell in love with Olivia Newton-John. She may have been the first concert I every attended. I also recall seeing Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson when I was a kid. It was fun when the lights went down and suddenly all these vendors would converge on the crowd with blinking lights and glowing swords and colorful flash lights with a spray of fiber optics bouncing with their movement. I wanted one badly, but very rarely was I able to convince Mom to buy one. "You'll use it once and that's it. It's a waste of money." Poo!
One of my fondest rodeo memories was from the last year I lived in Houston before moving to Maryland, in 1995. I lived in an apartment along Memorial Drive, at the back of the property. On the other side of the fence in my back patio was a parking lot of a small three-story office building. Each year, trail riders paraded through Houston from different directions, and Memorial Dr. was one of the main routes through town to the Astrodome. They would camp overnight in the various open spaces along Buffalo Bayou, which included the parking lot of the nearby building. I awoke that particular morning to the sound of a horses. Quite confused, and not realizing that space was used by the trailriders, I cautiously peered over my fence to see a completely new world of horses and wagons and tents. My home was transported to the wild west!
Now that I'm back in Houston, I have yet to return to the actual rodeo, which is no longer held in the old Astrodome. I do, however, love that Mother Airlines has a BBQ team and that I am invited to the tent for free BBQ and drinks. I always take my old school friend, Chris. We sample our team's BBQ, which is good, but not the best. What is the best, however, is their potato salad, served warm, creamy and with melting cheese. I've been known to go back for seconds of nothing but potato salad! Just a plate filled rim to rim with it. Damn, now I'm hungry. Just a few more weeks, and I'll do what I do only once a year...don my cowboy hat and western shirt and head to the Astrodome parking lot, home to the best potato salad in the world. Oh, and some BBQ, the many carnival rides, and cowboys and girls with their hats, boots and bedazzled western belts.
February means rodeo season, once again. I have so many memories of going to the rodeo when I was younger. It was billed as the world's largest, and was held in the Houston Astrodome, the "Eight Wonder of the World". I loved that building.
One of the most vivid memories was the odor. When first walking into the livestock area, the odor of the animals hit me like jet exhaust. It only took a few minutes to acclimate, and then it was hardly noticeable. I remember how Mom would always point out how large some of the bull's testicles were. As a young boy, this would embarrass me to no end. How could they let these things just hang out so exposed like that?
After all the sights and smells of the livestock area, it would be time to head into the Astrodome for the show. It was a typical rodeo, with barrel racing, calf roping, buck riding, kids trying to catch pigs, tiny covered wagons racing, dogs herding sheep and cowboys in tight jeans trying to rope steer with big horns and not so silly clowns distracting the bull when the cowboy fell off.
Today, now that I'm an adult, I find many of the rodeo activities a little off-putting. I now have feelings for the treatment of animals that I lacked when I was a boy. I still enjoy seeing the animals and marveling at how magnificent they can be. At least it's not as bad as a bull fight!
The best part of the rodeo as a kid was always the concerts. They would wheel this fancy trailer-like stage to the center of the Astrodome floor, which was quite spacious. The stage was so far away, but with seats surrounding it in 360 degrees, it was really the only option that they had. The stage would rotate one way, then slowly rotate the other, so that all patrons got the chance to see the artist from the front.
This was where I fell in love with Olivia Newton-John. She may have been the first concert I every attended. I also recall seeing Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson when I was a kid. It was fun when the lights went down and suddenly all these vendors would converge on the crowd with blinking lights and glowing swords and colorful flash lights with a spray of fiber optics bouncing with their movement. I wanted one badly, but very rarely was I able to convince Mom to buy one. "You'll use it once and that's it. It's a waste of money." Poo!
One of my fondest rodeo memories was from the last year I lived in Houston before moving to Maryland, in 1995. I lived in an apartment along Memorial Drive, at the back of the property. On the other side of the fence in my back patio was a parking lot of a small three-story office building. Each year, trail riders paraded through Houston from different directions, and Memorial Dr. was one of the main routes through town to the Astrodome. They would camp overnight in the various open spaces along Buffalo Bayou, which included the parking lot of the nearby building. I awoke that particular morning to the sound of a horses. Quite confused, and not realizing that space was used by the trailriders, I cautiously peered over my fence to see a completely new world of horses and wagons and tents. My home was transported to the wild west!
Now that I'm back in Houston, I have yet to return to the actual rodeo, which is no longer held in the old Astrodome. I do, however, love that Mother Airlines has a BBQ team and that I am invited to the tent for free BBQ and drinks. I always take my old school friend, Chris. We sample our team's BBQ, which is good, but not the best. What is the best, however, is their potato salad, served warm, creamy and with melting cheese. I've been known to go back for seconds of nothing but potato salad! Just a plate filled rim to rim with it. Damn, now I'm hungry. Just a few more weeks, and I'll do what I do only once a year...don my cowboy hat and western shirt and head to the Astrodome parking lot, home to the best potato salad in the world. Oh, and some BBQ, the many carnival rides, and cowboys and girls with their hats, boots and bedazzled western belts.
No comments:
Post a Comment