At the Tucson Rodeo

The bucking chutes and main pressbox at La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros

Notice the little guy hanging on for dear life in "Mutton Busting" for 4, 5, and 6 year olds.

Junior Barrel Racing

Junior Tean roping

Aren't we a cute western couple?

Opening Ceremonies by "The Quadrille"

The end of the National Anthem

Bareback bronc riding...or falling

Four in the air!!

This cowboy really wants to stay on, or he's asleep

Steer wrestling

Saddle bronc riding

Calf Roping

he won't get up if I sit on him.

More Tucson Rodeo Pictures

Saddle Bronc rider four in the air

Three more saddle bronc pictures

Calf Roping

Gotta tie him good for at least 6 seconds

However you can hold that calf down.

Nailed him...now to stop

Team roping

Ladies Barrel Racing

Heading for home!

Rodeo clown just before the bull riding

Another bull rider abusing his body.

One cowboy bites the dust.

And another one bites the dust!!

Rodeo Days in Tuscon

We spent the day in Tuscon at the 87th year of Fiesta De Los Vaqueros. The rodeo was just great. They started with the children (5-11 years olds) and everything on up. The kids were such fun. They rode sheep, barrel raced, calf touch, and goat roping. These kids were fantastic the little 6 year old girls riding these hugh horses around barrels going as fast as possible. We went with 3 other couples and the seats were great right across from the chutes so we felt up close and personal and could see everything. They had lots of venders so I got a cowboy hat because the day was hot and sunny. I still have trouble with why a perfectly smart,young man would want to ride a bull? They are either very brave or just crazy. It was such a fun day. Then we all went out to dinner at the Brooklyn Bar and Grill. Great burgers and pizza.

Chiracahua National Monument

We took a drive over to Wilcox again and then headed about 35 miles southwest to the Chiricahua National Monument. What a wonderful day! The sky was clear and the temps were in the 60's, even up at 9800 feet at Massai point.

An interesting formation just outside the Visitor Center. Below is the long view from the same place.

Somewhere along the 8 mile drive to the top.

We saw lots of these balanced rocks. I wish we could have hiked down to the one in the below picture.

The Apache called this the land of standing rocks. Kind of reminds me of the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

Massai Point lookout

Just to the right of Massai point

My two pets

Fantastic spires and pinnacles.

More of the same.

My intrepid honey on the trail up to sugarloaf. Yes, that's snow on the trail ahead. We didn't do the whole trail, but we'll be back. I couldn't resist this beautiful blue bird, I don't know the species.

Valentine's day at Butterfield's

We had a great time Tuesday evening at the Butterfield RV Resort Valentine's Day dinner dance. We had a really outstanding meal and danced to a local duo called the Partner's Band. Our hall is only large enough to accommodate 94 people at dinner and have enough room for a dance floor so ticket sales were cut off several days before the 14th. Folks are still talking about how it was the best event of the season. Our resident photographer, Jim Case of Gray Wolf Photography shot this picture of Kathy and me just before dinner.

I had an apron on as I was helping to serve the dinner.

Snow in Benson

 

This was the view out our front door about 1PM today. The temperature dropped to 35 degrees, the wind was blowing about 25 and there was LOTS of snow coming down. Not sticking, but cold and windy. Now at 4PM the sun is out and the clouds are gone. The temp is heading towards 50 but the wind is still with us.  

We're heading over to the event hall for a Valentine's Day dinner and dance. I'm sure glad the rain and snow are gone.

A short trip to Wilcox, AZ

These first three pictures are in the Dragoon Mountains about 15 miles east of Benson on I-10. Some of the rock formations along the interstate are spectacular and these pics from a moving car don't do them justice.

This is a roadside pull-off with awesome long vista views of the Dragoon Mountains and the valley to the east.

Wilcox is the birthplace and hometown of Western star and singer Rex Allen. This is his gravesite on the edge of town and across the street from the Rex Allen Museum.

Another hometown boy was singer and actor Marty Robbins. There is a lot of Marty Robbins memorabilia in there.
Below are some of Rex Allen's costumes from his singing career. The silver mounted saddle is a parade saddle made in California for him.

 

During this quick trip we found the oldest continually operating store in Arizona where Kathy and I purchased some western wear on sale. It is the Wilcox Commercial, owned by only 3 families since 1880. All these attractions are on Railroad Ave. in Wilcox.

We will return to Wilcox in the next several weeks to see the approx. 30,000 Sandhill Cranes that winter here. Then we will go up to the Chiricahua National Monument in the Chiricahua Mountains south of Wilcox. This is also the location of the Cochise stronghold where he lived out his days. We’ll do a blog post when we go.