Calgary Stampede Centennial 2012 Part 3

My last post on the Calgary Stampede Centennial!  On Sunday we had tickets for the actual rodeo (Chuckwagon tickets are a separate thing, silly!).  Can you tell I LOVE me some rodeos?  Because I really do.

We had nosebleed seats this time around but guess what?!  It started RAININ’!!!!!  I felt pretty smart about that, Jeff was praising me + the rodeo clown was yelling about how we in the alpine region of the Grandstand had made the right decision!  Thankyouverymuch!!!!

Here are the cowboys in their rain gear getting ready to open the gates for the bareback riding competition.  See them pettin’ on that bronco?  Awwwww.  Here they come!

It’s like a floppy rag doll sitting atop the bucking bronco.

Wooooooah!!!!!  Heeeeeyyy!!!!  Oh, who’s that comin’ in?  Why it’s the two pickup men.  I called them the “Super 8” guys.

This rider is like, “WOOOOOOO!!!!”  He was feelin’ it for sure!  The rider jumps onto one of the pickup men’s horses + the pickup men also escort the bronco out of the arena.

This guy had an unfortunate ride.

His bronc was like, “I am SO outta here!!!”.

A couple of photos of AWESOME faces the riders make while they hold on for dear life.  This one’s like, “GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

This one was like, “UUUUUUUURRGH!!!  Super 8!!!  Where are you?!”.

The rain was really coming down at this point.  Jeff + I were grateful that to be out of the muck.

Barrel racing is always my favorite part of the rodeo.  Here’s Tammy Fischer of Texas before she was to go into the arena.  I wondered what she was thinking?

Showtime!The love + determination Tammy has for the sport was really inspiring to watch!

A job well done pat for her horse!!!

Sue Smith from Idaho was a pretty bad ass cowgirl.  So bad ass that she won the title!!!

So much power!My favorite photo.  Sue Smith looks so strong + graceful on her horse.  I wish with all of my heart of hearts that I could gallop on a horse.  Alas, my many attempts have been futile.

I call this series, “Hot Dudes Falling from Bulls”.

This rider’s PUMPED like, “YEEEEAAHHH!!!  I LUUUUV being thrown from bulls!!!  High 10 me, homie!!!!”.  Ooooweeee, I love me some cowboys!!!!

As the rodeo came to an end, the sky cleared + a rainbow graced itself over the arena!

Goodbye, Grandstand!!!!  Until next year (I hope)!!!

We required snacks after the long rodeo, so we headed to the Midway for baaad foods.  Stampede is famous for their Mini Donuts that came out hot + tender!!!

I could literally only eat 4 – they were SO sweet!  Jeff didn’t seem to mind!!!

People watching at Stampede is STUPENDOUS!!!!!

I got really sick of looking at fried foods + consumers of fried foods.  The rain had begun pouring again, so we scuttled inside to watch the Heavy Horse Pull.

Dennis Weinberger’s Belgians dragged a sled of concrete weighing 13,400 pounds!  These Belgians are wicked mighty!  Wicked, eh??!!!  I love draft horses!!!

Once the competition was over, we lucked out once again as the rain had subsided.  We were plum tuckered out!  Or “tuckered ooooot” as Jeff would pronounce in Canuckanese.  We headed out, but stopped to take a picture in front of the Grandstand!

Thank you, Calgary Stampede!!!!  This was by far the BEST RODEO I’VE EVER BEEN TO!!!!  There was so much pride + history at the Stampede that I was really thrilled to take part!  Happy 100th!!!!!!