Tag: Montana

I Heart Rodeo

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One of my favorite parts about our Montana trip every year is the Livingston Roundup. It’s a small town with a big rodeo. Most of the participants do this for a living and win big doing it. But the actual ridding, roping and racing are only part of the fun. It’s the other sides of the rodeo that make it such a hoot.

First, there’s the cocktails. You don’t purchase one beer, two or even three. You purchase by the six-pack. Mostly because they have a system where you have to first buy tokens, then go stand in another line and buy beer. Rodeo goers don’t want to  miss any action so you buy all your beer at once. But how do you carry and or keep cold all this beer? Why with ice and a trash bag box:

Yes, much like Costco its self, there are a variety of empty boxes and bags to carry your cocktails back to your seats.

Karin is very excited about all this.

When buying the beer, I asked the nice lady with the beer how many six packs I could purchase at one time. When she looked at me strange, I replied that we were there with a lot of people and was there a limit on how many six packs I could get? Her response? “Just where the hell are you from?? You can buy as many as you can carry darlin’!!”. Aaaand that’s why I love Montana.

Now, if you’re not armatures at rodeo drinking like we were, you do like the locals do:

Pretty purse, yes? And then you open it:

Aaaaand you see how the locals do it.

The best discovery at the rodeo this year was our friend Karin’s love of Rodeo Humor. RH is the banter between the miked up rodeo clown and the announcer between riders. They jaw back and forth and make dumb jokes, all of which Karin practically rolled on the floor she was laughing so hard. Which made it infinitely more funny to the rest of us. We’re not sure if it was really that funny, or if the combination of “beer in a box” and “kids are sleeping soundly with the sitter” giddiness were the real reason it was all so funny.  Here’s an example of the fun:

I know it’s a little hard to see, but this is one guy. Yes, the guy in the middle, or the Indian in this version of the Village People, is controlling the other four dummies. Yes, he does have two dummies rigged up to pipes and pullies in front of him and two behind. The result? His YMCA dance is preformed in perfect time by all 5 of them. It was bizarre. It was strange. It was slightly disturbing and it was oh so funny.

The night ends with a gorgeous display of fireworks set to patriotic music that gives you goose bumps. It’s then a scramble and a fight to get back to the car together and in one piece to then wrestle through traffic to the one entrance to the highway. Start to finish, it’s a front runner for one of the best events of our year!

A Plane, A 2-Year-Old and an Iphone

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Last week we set out for vacation in Montana. We visited my family at the guest lodge they run in Emigrant (http://www.hubya.com/).

I had great intentions of blogging beautiful pictures all week. But I pulled a major blonde moment by packing my camera without the battery. Also entertaining a 2-year-old on vacation is a full-time gig. So instead of keeping readers updated, I’ll now attempt to fill you in.

The first part of our trip is a 1.5 hour flight to Salt Lake, then a connection into Bozeman that’s about 55 minutes. Last year we had a direct flight and the kid slept like a rock. This year, not so lucky. She did awesome, really. But traveling with a 2-year-old is not without its fun. We had her favorite cartoons and games on the Iphone, toys and other entertainment (straws are my go to). However, the only way she would play or watch was sitting on my lap. Here’s a picture Peter caught:

The kiddo on my lap, book in one hand, Iphone in the other. Trying to keep her headphones on and the drinks from spilling. This is what it looks like when you look up “mom” in the dictionary.

We arrived in Bozeman with our friends and we headed out for the hour drive to Livingston for the annual 4th of July parade. The Livingston parade is the definition of small town, super hokey and oh so fun way to spend the afternoon. My favorite float? The Costco entry that consists of someone’s truck with a sign that says “Costco” followed by 6 employees pushing grocery carts full of Kirkland brand toilet paper which they throw out to the crowds. A.Ma.Zing.

Bryn and Baylor headed to the parade:

If we had only known that there was an imminent and nasty melt down to be had by both children and adults alike was on the near horizon, I would have taken more pictures. By the time the parade made it down the street, we were packing up and headed on the hour-long drive to the ranch.

Thankfully all the kids and family woke up happy and ready to roll. We spent our first day petting horses, looking for elk and deer, mooing like cows, hiking and riding in Pop’s tractor (Baylor’s favorite). Pop (my step father Jim) brought the same tractor out of the barn a few days later and both Baylor and Bryn got to drive and honk the horn. To say they were thrilled was an understatment.

As soon as I locate pictures from our friend Karin, my step sister Nancy, and Peter’s phone, I will get them up with commentary. Stay tuned for the recap of the 4th of July, the Livingston Rodeo and some amazing landscape shots.