One last adventure

The last leg of my two week vacation was spent at my parent's house in western South Dakota. I arrived late on Thursday night and stayed through Sunday. This particular weekend is the biggest weekend of the year for the little town of Isabel...it's time for the Isabel Celebration. Four days of barbeques, parades, rodeo, school reunions, etc. I missed Thursday's events but was able to attend all the rest beginning with the all-school reunion on Friday night.

My dad, my sister, and I all graduated from the same high school. While none of us were in an honored class since the overall class sizes are so small it's always an "all" school reunion and a good time is had by all. The reunion is held in a very nice Pavilion with finished floors, log interior, two bars and a concession stand area, and this year new tables and chairs. It all looks great but check out the chairs...

Do you think I should send this into Jay Leno?

This year there was a bit of a surprise. Mom and Dad "forgot" to tell me they had been chosen as the King and Queen of the parade. The Isabel parade is typically a lot of antique tractors, a few little kid floats, lots of horses but everyone shows up for it. I don't have any pictures but as we were lined up waiting to start we even had a run-away...two draft horses took off with a wagon and it's occupant. Poor Aaron held on for all he was worth but those horses weren't stopping. That cute little kid brushing his horses tail was in the middle of the road not even 5 minutes prior to the team roaring through...my poor mom was scared to death as were the rest of us sitting there.

I was proud to drive Mom and Dad down main street and got a kick out of them throwing out candy for the 5 blocks we had to go. Dad wouldn't wear hs crown but mom kept hers on for the route. These are a few of the kids who benefited along the route. The two on the left our sisters and the one on the right is a daughter of a classmate of my sisters. All close family friends.


The Isabel Celebration isn't complete without a bit of rodeo action. The youth rodeo was held on Thursday, a full day of timed event slack on Sunday, plus the two regular rodeo performances Saturday AND Sunday night. Roping, saddle bronc, bareback, barrel racing, goat tying (yes, that's my sister tying the goat to a stake...don't ask), and of course bull riding. A good time was had by all. Didn't know about my country side, did ya? ;)