Rodeo Jersey

Let me just say:  Allison is masterful at planning Montana-themed adventures.  She had gotten it into her head over winter that we needed to introduce her pal Hannah Wolfson to the cultural phenomenon that is The Rodeo.  Hannah's a native New Yorker and couldn't wrap her head around Allison's glory-days-of-roping stories.  So Al found us a rodeo within easy driving distance from NYC, something I wouldn’t have believed could exist in such breathtaking form if I hadn’t seen it myself.  It was a true rodeo:  a bit showy because it's touted as the longest running weekend rodeo in the nation, Est. 1955, and it's certainly a draw for tourism.  It’s in Cow Town New Jersey, and the only giveaway that I wasn’t in Montana was that the Indians sitting in front of me at the main event were Hindu rather than Sioux.

We got to Jersey, checked into our very nice hotel, napped for an hour or so, and then scoped out the venue before heading to a vineyard in town where we spent some hours sampling local wine and cheese, followed by milkshakes, naturally.

 The rodeo was spectacular, and although we’d hoped to lie out in a field afterwards to see the Pleaties meteor shower, the two actual rain showers earlier that day had left the sky cloudy enough that we weren’t in luck for stars.  So, we watched Stars of the Field and Pool instead.  Goooo Olympics!  We cheered on team America from our room while Hannah Wolfson and I did our own mini Olympics in a corner, holding plank pose for 60 seconds.  Good thing we worked every muscle with that move:  the next day was beach day.

We drove up to the Jersey Shore to a soundtrack hand-picked by Tanya to get us pumped up.  The shore was fairly different than the ones I frequent just outside of the city.  For one thing, you had to pay to park and also to enter the beach ($7.00 per person).  But: The shore was impeccably clean and the water was wonderfully green and clear and warm.  A school of ten dolphins swam past us mid-afternoon, and we otherwise played in the ocean and dawdled on the sand for as long as we could before hunger led us to a burrito shack and the road back home.

This is a weekend that will go down in the books as perfect, and I'm so thankful to Allison for leading the charge.