After being away from Texas for a few months, it’s always nice to get back for a visit. We love spending time with our family and friends, as well as visiting some favorite restaurants and local businesses. It’s also a time that we enjoy doing some quintessential Texas activities and seeing the natural beauty of our state.
Rattlesnake Roundup
Every March the small town of Sweetwater Texas hosts the World’s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup. Why would anyone want to gather hundreds of poisonous snakes in one place?? Well, it started 64 years ago as a way to eradicate the western diamondback rattlesnakes so they wouldn’t bite the livestock. Now the event has grown to a whole weekend of entertainment that includes a carnival, flea market, cookoff, guided rattlesnake hunts, snake eating contest, and even a beauty pageant.
Thousands of people come to see the rattlesnakes in the main arena. The snake handlers stand right in the pens with the snakes. Even though they have on thick boots, some of the snakes still strike at them. It made me nervous… and we were standing outside the pens!
San Angelo Rodeo
We were happy to get tickets to see the rodeo while we were in town. San Angelo has a great stock show and rodeo which features top competitors in the PRCA rodeo circuit. This highly ranked rodeo plays to a sold out crowd every year. Each night is filled with exciting events like bull riding, team roping, and barrel racing just to name a few. Of course, the carnival rides and food trucks (can you say fried everything?!) are a big draw too.
Texas Water Safari
Mike and his teammates Kent and Dennis spent many weekends preparing for the world’s toughest canoe race. Competitors in the Texas Water Safari have 100 hours to paddle the 260 miles from San Marcos Texas all the way to the coast. It was the 8th year that Mike and Kent have competed in the race and Dennis’ 1st time.
Some of their challenges included whitewater rapids, multiple portages, and little sleep…not to mention bugs, snakes, and alligators! This year was the hardest in race history due to temperatures over 103 degrees, high humidity, and low water levels. Mike made it 65 miles before having to drop out due to heat issues. He joined his sister, Kim, and me as team captains– providing food and water at each checkpoint along the route no matter the time of day or night.
More Local Fun
We stopped in at San Angelo State Park to see the bison and longhorns during our time at home. There are currently 24 adult Plains bison and 5 yearlings in the park. The adult males can can weigh up to 2400 pounds and are a sight to see up close.
San Angelo is one of only 4 state parks in Texas with its own longhorn herd. Longhorns are a hardy breed and have played a crucial role in the history of Texas. Once much larger, the herd now consists of only 7 longhorns. I like how different their horn shapes are.
Our timing was good to see the arrival of thousands of tiny hummingbirds in nearby Christoval Texas. The Hummer House there is located on the banks of the spring-fed Concho River and is the summer home to Texas’ largest concentration of breeding Black-chinned Hummingbirds. We enjoyed the informative presentation and watched the annual banding and counting of numerous birds.
Before it got too hot, we had fun doing some other outdoor activities. We spent a relaxing day kayaking on the Llano River in Junction as a warm-up before the Water Safari. We also participated in the Run in the Sun 8K race and got in a few rounds of golf. And of course, it was fun to join up with the Road Lizards running group for Friday night runs, beer, and ice cream.
Best of all we enjoyed spending time with our loved ones. Why does our time at home always seem to fly by? Before we knew it, it was time to head north to New York for our summer of northeast travels. Stay tuned for more adventures!
Another great blog! You guys do pack a lot into your visits.
Thanks–you know I like to get everything I can into our visits!
As always, we enjoy your adventures. Especially our home town. I.e. the Latest Scoop where we met you guys and the Run in the Sun 8k (I was race director onece before moving to Dallas area). Looking forward to your next post.
Yes, we can’t visit San Angelo without at least a few (ok maybe more!) visits to the Latest Scoop. We lucked out on the timing for the Run in the Sun race. Have y’all been back to visit lately?
Next time you guys are in San Angelo, call or come by!!!
Thanks, we will try– time always goes by so fast when we are home! Especially this time when many weekends were spent kayaking and traveling. Hope y’all are doing well.
Always enjoy the updates!
Thanks Jacki! I’m almost caught up on my posts. We are currently in New York and I am actually working on NY posts:)
What a great blog post with lots of very interesting things. I loved seeing the picture of the family too! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for following our adventures!