The Rodeo/Carnival is in Town + A Baylor University Tour

It stormed early Saturday and woke me up thunder. Lightning. HAIL!!! I eventually went back to bed but damn it we didn’t get some much needed rain. My weather station read over an inch and a half.

We had tickets to the Rodeo for Saturdays matinee. I was excited. It would be the baby girls first rodeo. It was a typical rodeo day, cold and wet. We got there and the show was a good time. The contenders were not having their best day but it was still fun. The seats even better. Thanks to a friend on campus for gifting them to me. We were so close that Lola and I actually had dirt kicked into our faces from a bucking horse. It was nice to be so close that we could taste the dirt. After the show we went into the pavilion to shop and the fairgrounds for some turkey leg. While waiting we brought the girl to the petting zoo. Yvette and I went for some nachos afterwards. It was a good outing.

After the rodeo and fair I went to meet my brother for a drink. We had our drink with a friend and I ran off to HEB for some dinner ingredients. Quick trip back to the house to pick up Yvette and we were off to my mom’s for some dinner that my brother and I were cooking. We ate and we watched the final 4 March Madness. The Florida Gators won! Houston won! Wow! Hope the Gators win it all.

We watched “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.” An LA detective movie, I guess. One of Val Kilmer’s last really good films. A very entertaining movie also staring Robert Downey Jr., first big film after getting out of rehab. Pretty much the first stepping stone to Iron Man. The film is all laughs and high tension. Some exceptional dialogue. Written and directed by Shane Black, you kind of know what you are getting yourself into. It seems my brother is on a Val Kilmer

Sunday we woke up and got packed for the road to Waco. We tour another college, Baylor. The road was desolate. None of us had ever been to Waco from San Angelo. Talk about the middle of no where route that google suggested for us. . You best have filled up your gas tank before this trip. Mind you, this is the most direct route. We could have taken a longer trip that would have afforded us more populated towns. Oh well. For 2 hours we didn’t see a single community. Nothing. No gas station or place to potty for 2 hours. No creature comfort you expect on the road. No shoulder to pull over on. Nothing. It had been a long time since we’ve been on such a long stretch of highway like that that I almost thought they didn’t exist any more. We gave a collective sigh of relief when we actually found a town that we could stop to stretch or legs, potty and grab a snack. The rest of the way was the modern highway one comes to expect while traveling. It was actually a rather pretty trip going forward. Bluebonnets were in bloom.

Once we made it into Waco we checked into he hotel and found something to eat. Teegan actually had scoped oit a place he had been hearing about on TikTok called Dave’s Hot Wings. I figured I would get the hottest wings that they had just for the experience. Usually ordering the hottest does very little for me so I was taken back when they made me sign a waiver saying that they had warned me of the spice level. When the wings arrived I could smell the heat. I have to say that the heat was much more than expected. I was expecting something like BWW’s heat and what I got was next level. It kicked me in the guts, literally. I was happy. For once I wasn’t disappointed. I told Yvette that chain food usually isn’t very hot. I make myself food at this level of heat. That alone says it all.

The hotel stay was interesting. While tee and Yvette went up to the room and waited downstairs to get extra towels, TO and tissue. While waiting This rough woman wondered in. The hotel manager began asking her all sorts of questions. She said she was a guest at the hotel but didn’t k ow what room or what name. She just looked lost and she was talking to herself. While going back upstairs a firetruck could be heard real close by. Back in the room I looked out the window and the truck was in front of the hotel. I went back downstairs and sure as shit it was that lady being checked out and taken away by pharametics. What was that story about? Who knows.

Monday morning. The complimentary breakfast. It is what it is. I enjoy them solely for the people watching. The food is generally crap. We had some truly hungover looking people in the hotel that morning. My god. The coffee… now that’s what I always need.

Baylor campus tour. I was immediately impressed. Walking into The Welcome Center was akin to checking into a very nice hotel. My campus has nothing remotely similar. After a brief presentation we loaded into golf car and the tour began. The morning was brisk but we had dressed appropriately. Not everyone on the tour was dressed for the cold and it was comical that these girls chose to look cute over dressing practical. Our tour guide was was well informed a he took us to the Business and Science buildings, each costing 100 million. To say these building were impressive does not convey just how close my jaw was to the ground.

The cherry on top was our final stop, the football stadium. I figured they would want to show it off but I never thought they would bring us out into the field. It was damn impressive. I’ve never been in a stadium like that. Even Teegan was pretty floored. We got some great pictures and I think we could all agree the tour scored above expectations.

After the tour was over it was time for lunch. My mother’s friend recommended two places, one of them was closed. The other was a weird little pizza place right out of the 60s. The pizza was fantastic. I’m not so sure about a place that plays The Three Stooges on loop but it was a good pizza. After lunch we should have been hitting the road but we had a low tire so we went to get air. While waiting I noticed a nail, unfortunately. This put us behind for almost 2 hours while we waited for them to replace the tire. Barns & Noble close by turned into a godsend. One good thing came out of the delay, Teegan finally found some Pokémon cards. He was a happy camper.

The drive back we opted out of taking the two hour backwoods road through no man’s land for a slightly longer trip on actual roads where we would see actual communities. I think that was the best choice. We were all tired and didn’t need to white knuckle a sketchy highway. What a trip.

I really can’t say much about the week. Yvette had a bad one, I had an okay one. Went to work, evening walks and just pretty much drifted though. I’m sure something exciting happened but I really can’t vouch for it. Ah, life.

National Pet Day. Happy Friday!!

Jalapeño

Ravioli with a mushroom cream baked with fried onions on top served with Italian Parmesan green beans and caprese salad.

Some spicy damn chicken. It hurt in a oh so good way.

Topatios w/ fideo.

Guiso rice bowl.

Frozen chicken bites in the air fryer with mozzarella/parmesan cheese and marinara sauce served over egg noodles and Italian style green beans. A quickly thrown together meal.