Let 'er Buck

Have you ever heard of the Pendleton Round-Up?  The Round-Up is an outdoor rodeo that has been operating in Pendleton, OR since 1910 and is ranked among the best rodeos in the world.

We were excited.

There was even a countdown on the scoreboard that let us know to the second when the Grand Entry would begin.

Let me tell you something. The Pendleton Round-Up did not disappoint.

Compared to the Houston Rodeo, which we used to attend each year as Houstonians, Pendleton was shockingly un-structured. During events, the cowboys and cowgirls just hung out on the field watching.

This led to some folks actually being run over by a bucking bronc (who was no longer bucking, but was nevertheless plenty dangerous.)

There were also some bull riding shenanigans. First, one of the gates broke down while one of the riders was getting set in the chutes and a bull was released before anyone was ready. That would be lucky cute #13.

They had to scramble to get the bull contained and fix the door before the rodeo could continue. Second, a bull named Cutie (which was LOLz to begin with) broke out of the pens after they thought he was fully contained and while he ran amok with cowboys and cowgirls sitting just outside the temporary PVC fences yet another bull escaped and both had to be run down before the show could go on. See what I mean about how it was a little less structured than the Houston Rodeo? During the hubbub, the announcer reminisced about *other* crazy mishaps of the Pendleton Round-Up, which basically confirmed that we should probably go every single year to this event.  Thankfully no one that day was seriously injured.

The best thing we saw, however, was one of the entertainers who performed between the events. This dude had a mustang and two dogs and he had trained the mustang to pull this car out onto the field while the dogs rode on the hood. At the end of the dog and pony show, the horse actually got into the car and sat down while the dude drove his furry friends off-field.

So seriously, we saw a horse riding in a car.

After the rodeo, we got to go down onto the field for a picnic BBQ dinner where we snapped some pictures by the chutes.

After the rode AND the BBQ we enjoyed the Happy Canyon show, which had a truly amazing set with some pretty sweet effects.

Horses rode up to the top levels of the set, there were scenes inside a light up cave, folks fell into a waterfall, and we learned all about how the white man is terrible to Native Americans.

The next day we visited the Pendleton Woolens Mill (one of my favorite Portland area factories.)



I basically freaked the eff out about how amazing wool roving and yarn-making and textile mills are.

At the end of the tour was a small but amazing museum.

And the best part is that we left with this gorgeous blanket.

A woman stopped me in the parking lot to tell me that her mother used to work at Pendleton Mills and she had a blanket just like ours in the 1970s (which I took as a huge compliment.)