Houston Day 2: Cows Both Delicious and Entertaining

We slept in until 8:00 (the longest night of sleep Kim has had in a while!) and were out the door by 9:45 to head over to Kim's friend Thuy's house to pick up golf clubs and rodeo tickets. We stopped for breakfast at Kolache Factory. Kolaches are eastern European pastries with different fillings inside -- Kim and I got sausage, egg, and cheese, and Melanie tried the Texas Hot Polish Kolache. They reminded me a lot of sausage rolls, which I had for breakfast almost every day in New Zealand/Australia. Yum! After grabbing breakfast to go, we headed over to Memorial Park, where Melanie went on a NINE-MILE RUN (!!!!!!!) while Kim and I hit golf balls at the driving range. I have not explicitly mentioned it yet, but we are unfortunate to be here in Houston during an unseasonably cold and windy time. Needless to say, we did not do as well at golf as we would like. We finished with golf and then warmed up in the car while we waited for Melanie to get back from her NINE-MILE RUN (!!!!!!!). Reunited, we went back to the hotel so Melanie could shower, and then we were off once again.

Our next stop was the Downtown Aquarium, which is only a few years old and is a really well-done (if small) aquarium plus more. In addition to native fish of Texas, they had a Great Barrier Reef exhibit, the biggest lionfish I have ever seen, several parrots, alligators, enormous snapping turtles and (randomly) white tigers. The tigers were active when we got there -- one was pacing up and down along the window, checking all of us out. It was awesome. We picked up $10 sweaters in the gift shop (on sale from $45!) and then drove around downtown Houston. This is a major city -- the 4th largest in the US -- but on a Friday afternoon at 2:00, there were almost no people walking around on the sidewalks. Bizarre! Turns out that all of the buildings in downtown are connected by underground tunnels. It gets so hot here in the summer that it is the only way to get around. Wow. Hard to believe today, though, because the wind was gusty and the air was more than a little chilly. We stopped back at our hotel to plan the rest of the day.

I cannot believe how entertaining this whole thing was.

By now we were ravenously hungry, so we sped over to Goode Co. BBQ, another Kim favorite. Delicious! I had the most stuffed stuffed potato that was ever stuffed -- it had bbq beef and bbq sauce in addition to the normal cheese and bacon bits. I am sure my arteries hardened a little bit over lunch, but it was so good that I didn't care. After wolfing down BBQ in about 12 minutes at Goode Co., we drove over to the West University area and explored it. This is the site of Rice University and it is also close to the Medical Center area, where Kim did her PhD work at Baylor. The Medical Center is ridiculously huge -- there are something like 15 hospitals in a few square miles. Amazing! Kim pointed out the floodgates in front of Baylor and told us that back in 2001, there was a flood that reached 15-foot levels and destroyed years of work because the transgenic mouse labs were on the first few floors. Burn!!!

After checking out the medical center, we drove over to Reliant Park, home of the Astrodome and, for the next few weeks, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. We parked a few blocks away and walked down to the show. Outside the arena was a huge vending area with BBQ, smoked turkey legs, funnel cake, roasted corn, hushpuppies...all the bad food you could ever want. We were mostly full from Goode Co., though, so we went inside the arena and checked out the show. It was a huge room filled with animals in pens, a judging ring, displays of trucks and 4x4s and stuff like that, and hundreds of stalls filled with sparkly clothes, cowboy hats and boots, and huge belt buckles. What I am telling you is that it was awesome. We saw some unbelievable fashion statements, sampled delicious toffee, and looked at all the cows and goats. These are show cows, everyone. Their fur is all fuzzy and clean and shiny, and they looked so cuddly and soft that we wanted to cuddle with them -- except that, and I don't know why this surprised me, there was a lot of pooping. A LOT. We watched some cows being judged and had no idea what was going on. It was terrific.

After the cows, we met up with Thuy and her husband Ken and headed over to the food area. We all got roasted corn with butter and cajun seasoning, and then we shared hushpuppies and a bloomin' onion. Ken got some alligator meat on a stick, which tasted like very, very chewy dark chicken meat. I'm glad I tried it, but I don't need to try it again. We grazed for an hour or so until it was time to head in for the rodeo show.

We had nosebleed seats, but there were big LCD screens so we could see everything just fine. The rodeo is in Reliant Stadium, where the Texans play, and they just fill in the whole arena floor with dirt. For the national anthem, they had a woman ride around the ring with the flag, which was good, but then they introduced a light show and fireworks! Fireworks indoors! It was a surprise, and an excellent one. After the opening, the commentators, Boyd and Bob (seriously), led us through the rodeo events: tie-down roping, bucking bronco riding (with and without saddles), team roping, barrel races, and bull riding. I cannot believe how entertaining this whole thing was. There was a lot to see, and there are rules -- Melanie and I figured out the rules for each event just in time for the next one to start. It was really fun. Throughout, the announcers were urging us to go to Section 109 to meet the cowboys and get their autographs. At the end, there was a calf scramble, in which 28 kids chase 14 calves around the arena to win money to buy a calf for next year's show, which was hilarious. The calves did not want to be caught, and some of them just wanted to lie down and sleep, so the kids were dragging them into the center of the arena. After the calf scramble, it was time for the highlight of the evening (for me at least): the chuck wagon races. This is wonderful. 3 teams of 4 horses, each sponsored by a business and pulling a little chuck wagon, race around and around the arena. It was way more entertaining than it had any right to be. Terrific!

After the rodeo was over, Boyd and Bob did a highlight show of the rodeo that included a contest to determine the most banged-up cowboy, judged by the loudness of our applause. Then, a stage rolled out across the dirt and the John Legend concert started. The show was really good. The stage rotates so everyone can see, and they broadcast the show on the LCD screens as well so we didn't miss anything. There was also a terrific light show. We enjoyed the show, but we were exhausted from the whole day, so we left early to beat the crowds, dropped Thuy and Ken off at their car, and went back to the hotel for a well-deserved sleep.