Wednesday and Thursday at the Show

Went to the El Dorado Buffet for breakfast.  At 7:30am.  It opens at 7:45am.  Who opens a breakfast buffet at 7:45am?  Anyway…..we got seated at about 8am and ate a pretty good breakfast.  The selection was great, but I guess my stomach had shrunk over the last 24 hours.  :-)  I was good and ate mostly good stuff (and ate it off a salad plate, so while my plate was full, it was a small plate).  Cottage Cheese with apricots and pears.  Yum.  And I tried their Eggs Benedict (not recommended), but mainly I ate their scrambled eggs and crispy bacon.  (can’t ever go wrong with bacon!!!)

I got to the barn at 9am and Todd had already worked Blu.  Turns out Blu is not feeling his best.  That’s why he was not himself last night.  When Todd brought him back to the barn he (Blu) blew a couple “snot rockets” (hehe - how gross does that sound?!).  But we’re hoping it’s either altitude or “kindergarten” illnesses – you know - kids go to Kindergarten for the first time and come home with cold after cold?  So it was decided to see how he did as the morning progressed and make a decision about whether we could show in the afternoon class.

When I saw he had a tiny bit of a bloody nose later in the morning it was a no brainer.  I went to the show office and scratched our class.  It truly sucks to have to do that.  Not only for the cost of the class lost, but the lost opportunity to show.  Especially because it is/was a Championship class.  But ah well.  Blu's health and well being comes first!  [note:  so you won't worry, that ended up being the extent of his illness, or whatever it was.  No more snot or blood and no vet.  Blu is fine.]

  

The rest of the day was fun.  The theme of the day was "Patriotic" and we decorated in Red White and Blue.  So of course I had to have a couple photos with Blu (whose registered name is Red White N Blu) and our decorations. (and since I didn't show today I couldn't use my new American Flag saddle pad.  Boo.)

When the show was over for the day we went to the Barn Party for a bit, too.  That’s where many of the different barns offer food/drinks/desserts and you can wander from barn to barn visiting with everyone.  Our barn wasn't an official stop on the tour but we had music playing and were having such fun that people came by because they could hear our laughter!

Tonight is an “early” night.  Actually in my hotel room at 9:30pm!  But then tomorrow is an early morning.  Another 7:30 am Halter class!  Wish us luck!!

It’s now Thursday night, 10:30pm and I’m in my hotel room.  It was a good day all around.  The Halter class went well and afterwards we all went out to breakfast and were finished by 9:30.  A trip to a favorite Western Store – D Bar M – found me buying a pretty pair of Vogt earrings for showing.  They’re small Sterling Silver engraved conchos that I hope will be complimentary to any outfit, and aren’t dangly, so they won’t distract.  That’s the plan at least.  Let’s see if I actually remember to wear them tomorrow night! 

Back to the barn to find Todd riding Blu.  He’s doing much better and I think that he probably had a touch of any number of things: being a youngster/heat he hasn’t seen in a year and a half (since he left his last home) and/or altitude.

I picked up my new outfit (I changed my mind on the blue top with the crystals and opted for a brown, sequined top and cream chaps), and can’t wait to wear it.  But I don’t have light colored boots so I’m not sure I’ll be able to wear the new chaps. But we’ll see.  They look so pretty!

About 2pm we decided to see if a mythical hamburger, the "Awful-Awful" really existed. 

  

Ken has been telling me about the “Awful-Awful” for years.  He goes to Reno a couple times a year and usually has one.  Yet, whenever he and I are in Reno together, we can’t manage to get to the old Nugget.  So I’ve been teasing him for a long time saying that I don’t think the burger exists.  

Now I also think it’s kind of funny that we went to the wrong Nugget first.  I was texting with Ken letting him know we were going in search of the Awful-Awful and he said it was two doors up from Fitzgerald's.  Oops.  We were at the wrong Nugget.  Luckily we hadn’t gotten out of the car yet.  So back on the freeway – in nasty traffic – and we drive back to within blocks of our hotel.  Doh!  But as we drive by the old Nugget, on Virginia Street, I see the sign that says it’s the home of the Awful-Awful.  Hmmm.  Maybe it does exist.

If you’ve never been to the old Nugget, it’s a hole in the wall.  At least as compared to the current Reno casinos (not to mention Vegas).  It’s about 50 feet wide and 200 feet deep.  First half are slots and a bar, second half is the diner.  No AC in the diner portion.  (It’s been an average of 98-100 every day we’ve been here)  We went to the counter, looked at a menu but realized that, duh, we were here for a specific burger.  Without seeing this burger I ordered it.  Sat down at a table by the bar, which had some AC and looked at the table next to us to see a MOUNTAIN of a burger on an ocean of fries.  Wow.  I then took a closer look at the menu and saw that it is a ½ pound burger served on a pound (yes POUND) of French fries.   What have I gotten myself into?

Here’s our table after the burgers were served….the four baskets took up almost the whole table.

 

I also saw a sign that said this won “Food Wars”

I texted that photo to Ken to let him know we’d made it to the right place.  Though I didn’t know how I was going to eat it!  I figured out a way.

 (sorry about the weird shadow on the picture.  Don't know what was going on)

I couldn’t finish the burger, I did manage to eat about ½ and then eat the remaining charred edges of the burger and bun.  Yum!  And I barely even made a dent in the fries.

I have to agree with Ken that the burger is definitely amazing.  And I learned that it is called the Awful-Awful because it is “Awful Big and Awful Good” (or something like that).

With a full tummy I went back to the hotel for a nap.  First one [and only] of the week.  Then it was back to the barn to saddle Blu and get in another workout.  The Silver Sire Futurity show was going on so we couldn’t ride in the main arena.  Todd rode Blu in the Rodeo Arena.  It was dark and I couldn’t see very well and they didn't have the lights on, so even though Blu could see fine I decided to opt out of riding him in the dark.  We finished up the night watching some of the Silver Sire Breeders Show to see what it’s all about.  Beautiful horses.  Halter classes.  All sired by horses that were nominated (I think) as a Silver Sire.  Now if I sound vague, it’s because I really don’t know what it’s all about.  But I’ll go to their booth tomorrow to find out.  If I have time.  [I didn't...]

Now it’s time to turn out the lights on another fun day.