Friday, August 4, 2000

We had wanted to see Fort Concho in San Angelo on Friday morning before leaving for our day's destinations. We were able to see some stuff we didn't really care about but the one thing Andy was looking forward to: the Telephony museum, could only be seen by going on the tour which would have taken too long so we bought a little souvenir book and went on our way.

WalMart is our new favorite place to get photos developed- $5.50 or so for a roll of 24 in an hour- a very good deal. We picked up 6 rolls that we had left there the night before and they actually turned out fairly nice. I also grabbed a nice black cowboy hat (I know Wal Mart is not the coolest place to get one but they are a lot cheaper and I probably won't be wearing much after this trip.) I really wanted the hat for the ranch we would be staying at on Friday and Saturday night.

We didn't have as long to drive today, thankfully. We traveled about an hour and a half to Ingram, where we saw the Texas version of Stonehenge. It seems a couple of guys decided they wanted to build the replica- so they did. Instead of an exact replica, though, they built an intact Stonehenge. What is believed to be how it was originally with all the stones still in place. It was really neat and of course we got some great pics. They also added a couple of statue replicas of the ones from Easter Island. A very cute roadside attraction and very authentic in its roadside appeal- being obviously made by wire and plaster. We highly recommend seeing it if you are in the area.

After this and a brief stop in Kerrville for another WalMart run and quick motel shoot, we headed for our final destination, the Twin Elms Ranch. We arrived around 4:30, just in time to cool off, rest and get ready for dinner at 6:00. This was a great outdoor meal, out by the chuckwagon, of chicken/beef fajitas, beans and rice- very good grub. We then took a quick swim and headed off to the Rodeo! They have them each Friday and this was our first one. Aside from some of the disturbing sites such as roping and throwing a poor, helpless calf to the ground, it was highly entertaining and a great chance to "whoop" it up. Vienna even got to participate in one event, called the Calf Scramble, where all the young kids get into the ring, they let 3 calves loose in the ring with ribbons on their tails, and the kids have to chase them around and try to get the ribbons. The kids who get the ribbons get a "gold dollar". Well, even though Vienna didn't get a ribbon, she had a lot of fun and it was truly the best part of the rodeo, watching her and 30 other kids running after these calves who truly did not want to be caught. What a hoot!

Back at the ranch, there were some lovely animals. Aside from the horses, there were about 4 dogs, some peacocks and our favorite- a beautiful black kitten named Magic. This was truly the friendliest kitten we had ever met. She loved to be pet. After the rodeo and before anyone came back, we found her and snuck her into the cabin with us. We had a ball and anyone seeing us would have thought we were crazy! We were completely entranced by this creature and could have played with her all night! And she really seemed to love us, too, although we have to remember that she meets many different people all the time and we were just strangers passing in the night to her and she was out to get all the attention we would give her. After Andy and Vienna went to sleep, I sadly put her out for the night.