Buffalo. Balloons. Some Big Poop. and a Brisket

I can't believe it's already Tuesday!  We had a great weekend, though of course, it went by way too fast.  We started out bright and early Saturday morning by going to the Balloon Stampede on Antelope Island.  We had fun, but "stampede" was a little bit of an overstatement.  There were only four balloons there; one of them was tethered to give people rides, and another on never made it past half inflated.  I guess if you've never been to one of these things before, it was pretty impressive, but Jason and I have, so we were like "OK, where's the rest of them?"  This is the second time that we've had those kind of thoughts about stuff we've done here, so we've just come to the conclusion that Utah just does stuff, well...smaller.


Early in the morning.  See the sun rising behind us?


The buffalo greeted us shortly after we made it on the island.


The sun made it over the mountains.


A snake skin, just in case you forgot who was boss out here.


Here they go!  You like how they had the crowd on the side of the balloons that required everyone be looking into the face of the sun.  Nice.


Almost ready.


Up, up, and away!


Whew, that was a lot of work!  Time for a sandwich.


Second balloon inflating.


People watching.


Thankfully, the balloon went inland.  They were afraid the wind could possibly carry them out over the lake.


The third balloon.  This was about as big as this one ever got.  I think some of their crew failed to show up, so they were having some problems.


Obviously, Brennan is not used to getting up so early.


Making himself comfy.


Flying away.


Baffalo Poop.  Hey, I'm just reporting all the facts. : )


ReMax balloon.  This one was the tethered one giving people rides.  The line was SO LONG, there was no way we were even going to attempt it.


Brennan's had about enough of the balloons.


Jason


In case it wasn't obvious before that he was bored.

So with that sentiment in mind, we decided to pack up and head over the the other side of the island to the Fielding Garr Ranch.  We've been there a few times before (it was also one of those places we went with Nana and Papaw while they were here this summer, but I neglected to blog about it) but we always enjoy going. 


One last look at a balloon.


We picked a great time to drive over.  The buffalo were on the move.


More buffalo.


This one ran right past the truck!


We brake for buffalo!  Good thing we weren't in a hurry.


The straglers.


We also brake for running pronghorns.  They don't seem to be the brightest things.  One of them ran into the side of the U-Haul when we were moving out to Utah.


King of the mountain (of buffalo poop!)


We made it through the gauntlet of wild animals, and went to check out the horses.  The trail rides hadn't started yet, so they were all still at the barn.


Ready to ride.


I think they could have stayed here all day.


Petting the horses.


Chickens.


At the ranch house.


A big rock.  I think I'll have a seat.


Jason and Brennan


Peek-a-boo!


On the way out, more buffalo.


And more pronghorn antelope.

And that concludes our Antelope Island tour.  I didn't take many pictures of the lake because the water was way down.  I wish I could transmit the smell over the computer though, it was the worst!  And I want you to share all of our experiences, of course.

Sunday, we went to the commissary to buy groceries, did some yard work, and then I went to the Dollar Tree (by myself!!!) to stock up on craft supplies.  I love our Dollar Tree here, besides fabric and spray paint, they really have everything I need to be crafty.  Really, it's that huge.  I'll be posting about some of my finds there soon.  The rest of the day, we just hung out and did some grilling.  It was a nice relaxing day.

On Monday, we drove down the road to a little town called Hooper.  They were having their Hooper Tomato Days festival.  We were pleasantly surprised.  It was a really nice gathering.  We actually would have like to stayed longer, but we had a brisket marinating back at the house, so we had to leave so Jason could get it on the grill.  We know for next time.


Tomato Days sign.  Though, it should have been "Tomato Day," since the festivities were only on Labor Day.


First place sunflower.


Gigantic Pumpkin.


Brennan's favorite: the watermelons.


We had to leave before the Rodeo started, but we did get to see some of the Junior Barrel Racing.  So cute!


Brennan intently watching the "horseys."


We moved to the other side.  It was cold in the shade!


The older girls give it a go.


We had to take a break to do some swinging.


Another of Brennan' favorites.


Happy to be free of the stroller.


Walking the bleachers.


Mad because he got too far away and Daddy had to go retrieve him.


Unfortunately, time to go home.


We did stop at the Farmer's Market on the way out.  I sauted the squash and zucchini to go with the brisket, and sliced one of the tomatoes.  Yum, yum!

I hope everyone else had as great a weekend as we did.  It was definitely a great closing weekend to summer.