On Wednesday, we went to the Calgary Stampede! First we went to breakfast at some place with another animal name, but I can't remember it. Mark apparently liked it! We caught him smiling, though he might have just been grimacing at what he ordered, which was granola and fruit all gussied up in a sundae cup. Weird.
It was pretty much rainy the whole day, on and off. I was the only person who'd brought a raincoat, and during the course of the day, Erin, Leslie and Eric bought those big oiled cloth trench coats that all the cowboys out there wear. Mark and I purchased cowboy hats to get into the mood too. Mine had to be different, of course - it's bright purple suede!
We managed to get covered seats for the main event, which was fortuitous, as it rained the whole time. Mud City! Guess it made it easier on the riders, since they fell into mud instead of onto hard dirt - but it wasn't pretty! The main event consisted of Riding Bucking Horses; Riding Crazed Twisty Huge Bulls; Little Kids Riding Calfs; Catching, Throwing Down, and Tying Up Small Defenseless Calfs; Milking Wild Cows (this was a fun one!); Catching, Saddling and Riding Wild Horses; and Generally Playing In The Mud.
I'm sorry we don't have any pictures of the next part of the day, because it was hysterical. We decided to go to the Fair (which was part of the Stampede), even though it was raining and getting really cold what with the sun (or lack thereof) going down... we just got wetter and wetter and wetter, and the evening culminated with us riding the Ferris Wheel in the middle of a blinkin' windstorm! The Wheel paused at the top of its arc, as they are wont to do, and we there we were, 5 already soaked people, getting deluged by horizontal icy rain and blown around by big gusts of wind - I was holding on so hard to my hat that there are still fingernail marks around the rim! We all got hysterical, laughed and laughed till we cried - then staggered off the ride and went back to the hotel for hot baths, pizza, and a movie (The Matrix) in the hotel room.
Whew!
