The Wild West Still Lives, Evidently.....

My wife works part time at a children's resale consignment shop. This weekend they had their Christmas party for the staff and their spouses. (yes, I know it is April, but they were very busy around Christmas time)....anyway, we went to a place called the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper.....I had never been before even though it's just about 20 minutes outside of town. I have to say up front that I did not know that there was such a niche as western style or cowboy music or what not, but apparently there is. We were greeted when we drove in by cowboys and indians on horseback who helped us park our car. We took a ride in a wagon pulled by horses, sipped on lemonade and watched Roy Rogers movies while we waited for the dinner bell to ring. We browsed around in the Mercantile and gawked at all the western themed items on the walls. The food was good old fashioned barbecue, all you can eat, served by cowboys, or at least people dressed up like cowboys. They threw the biscuits from across the room if you wanted more and served seconds to you out of buckets. I felt like I had been transported to the old west. Everyone was wearing cowboy hats, chaps, and bandanas. There was the Happy Trails Theater, and the Hoppalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum. There were a lot of mementos of John Wayne and other cowboy heroes. After supper we listened to Western Swing music by a few different acts. By the way, the place was packed, probably 250 people, and we were among the youngest people there. The average age had to be about 65. You could see in the eyes of the older crowd that they were loving this cowboy stuff and western music. Many of them commented that this was the music they grew up with, and the things that brought back fond memories. It was sweet seeing one after another older couple get up and dance to the music, reminiscing about music from their past. (by the way,one song they did was "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and I was totally reminded of the scene in Blues Brothers when Jim Belushi and Dan Ackroyd sang "Rawhide" over and over again behind chicken wire at that country bar)

It was a fun evening out. Here are a few pics....

Here we are at the dinner table...yes, that is a cow hide on the wall behind us...there were probably about 20 saddles on the walls too as decoration.....

This guys name is Johnny Western......

I thought these signs were funny....

Yes, the Duke still reigns apparently......

Running Update....

I ran 5 miles 4 times this week, 20 miles total....it was my "easy" week, with no tempo runs or speedwork...even my long run wasn't very long....I am feeling a twinge of pain in my foot so am going to take tomorrow off, maybe the day after too......also I am very excited that I have the green light from my wife to get a Garmin. Woo-hoo! I am shopping around, so if any of you bloggers has one for sale, let me know. Doubt that I will go for the 405 because of the cost...most likely I'll get a 305.....not in a rush, but it would be cool to have it by the end of April for my OKC Half.....

By the way, it was extreeeemly windy again, like 30-40 mph wind, and snow is in the forecast again for tomorrow....seriously, what is up with this weather?????

Edited to include yet another giveaway --

Happy Runner is having a giveaway, check it out here