Even with all the wonderful food and music that the city has to offer, my absolute favorite part of my trip was my visit to Rodeo Austin. The fair outside the stadium filled me with the glee of a 7 year old with access to carnival rides and cheap, processed carnival food. It reminded me of my days spent at Chuck-E-Cheese, only this time I didn’t have my mom riding my back to limit my cotton candy intake.
Until I sat front row at the rodeo, I was one of those people that unfairly judgmental of the Texas-cowboy-rodeo-horse-and-bull-riding thing. But now I can say I get it. Despite the fact that I’m not from Texas, I was enthralled. Before the main events started there were a series of smaller ones, one of which was Mutton Busting. I’d never heard of it, but now I will never forget it. It’s a sport where children (usually between three and six) ride on the backs of lambs and hold on for as long as they can. It’s the cutest and funniest thing you could possibly imagine. When I was at the rodeo, there was only one girl out of the 10 children competing, and she won. I was very proud. Call it feminism, call it my Barnard education, I don’t care because it was amazing.
While on in Austin, my friend Emily who was hosting us took us to her farmhouse about an hour from the center of the city. Since it was warm out, we mostly spent our time walking around the property, lounging on the dock of the lake, and petting her cows.
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