Rodeo Days

Independence Day in Vancouver was absolutely beautiful this year! The sky was blue, the breeze was warm, and the scent of hot dogs filled the air. If I had closed my eyes for just a minute I would have thought I was in Florida, but the dust devil that came up so quick and covered my lunch in sand snapped me out of my reverie. We weren't on Miami Beach. We were at the Vancouver Rodeo!

And what fun we had! That is after I got over the whole idea of calf roping, which I found most disturbing, no matter how impressive the cowgirls were. This year's winner roped a calf in 2.3 seconds which, thankfully, was so quick, I didn't even see what happened. Others weren't so fast so I was able to snap a couple photos to demonstrate exactly what it is....

Thankfully, we only had to watch a few riders at this event before we got to the really fun stuff! We missed the night events earlier in the weekend which meant no bull riding for us. However, we did get to see the bucking broncos and it was really entertaining! 

A bucking bronco lost its rider a little too soon....

This guy was pretty good!

We saw more cowboy hats at the rodeo than I think I've seen in my entire life! 

A cowboy (and girl) convention!

The rodeo queen took her first ride around the arena!

We had a great time! It was such an authentic experience especially since many of the contestants came from western places like Wyoming and Montana. But, I have to admit, for the first time this year I was hot and since we had no sunscreen we had to cut the afternoon short. Next year we are going to the night event and we aren't going to miss the bull riding!