Stampede 2019, in 1,000 Words or Less (and, Eight MILLION Pictures)

Queen B and I left Petticoat Junction for Mayberry at a little after 1:00 on Thursday; we were joined by a friend of Queen B's, who was interested in finding out what this whole "Stampede thing" was all about. By the end of the weekend, he would not only have a pretty damn good idea about that, but, would become an honorary Stampede aficionado, complete with mandatory hangover, a case of mild dehydration, sore feet and dirty cowboy boots. Needless to say; he's welcome back anytime.

Thursday evening, Queen B and her friend attended the Walker Hayes/Randy Houser concert while I visited with Mom and my sister Barbie and her son, who were down from Denver for the weekend. We had no desire to go to the concert or the dance that followed, but instead, decided to watch the first of what would become an embarrassingly high number of Hallmark Christmas movies (Christmas in July Marathon, y'all!).

Friday morning, we were up early for the parade, as well as to visit with my Aunt and Uncle, who were also down from the Denver area, along with my cousin, his wife, and their son. I don't get a lot of chances to visit with them all, so it was great catching up with them. After the parade, we all walked downtown to the farmer's market, where Mom and my Aunt purchased dried red and green chili powder from a chili grower and Barbie and Queen B scored some cute jewelry from a local artist. I scored some good photos of the people I love, so I was happy.

Later that afternoon, we attended the slack events at the fairgrounds, where my niece and her husband competed for-and qualified-in the team roping event. The Rodeo Princess also competed in the barrel races, but, unfortunately, her time wasn't fast enough to qualify. We still love her.

Saturday morning we watched the second parade of the weekend, where Queen B's near pathological fear of clowns was triggered, when one approached her with a little gift...

...she was unimpressed.

The rest of the day was spent visiting, reminiscing, and enjoying time together, as well as hitting the Sonic drive-thru for half price happy hour drinks.

We finished out the day with a the rodeo; the 7:00 start time was a change from years past, when the rodeo was held mid-afternoon. I'm not convinced that the change was necessary or will ultimately improve the attendance rates, but, I'm not in charge, so...yeah.

Today, we met my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin for breakfast before saying our goodbyes. Queen B and I then went to the Rodeo Princess's house, where I did a photo shoot for her in-laws before gathering our stuff up at Mom's and hitting the road back to Petticoat Junction.

It was a quick trip, as always, but, a fun one. And, while we missed the people who could not be with us, it was really nice to spend time with people we love. And, we converted Queen B's friend. All in all, that's a weekend well-spent.