mmm-yoso!!! is a food centric blog, often with stories leading up to the reasons for the food. That's what's happening today. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are busy with 'research' for their food posts. Last week, Cathy mentioned she would be leaving on a vacation soon. She went and returned and now is blogging about her days out of town.
National Finals Rodeo, the best of the best. The top 15 cowboys from North America in each of seven events compete against each other in a rodeo a day for ten days. On the tenth day (this Saturday), the winner amongst winners receives a gold belt buckle in addition to their cash winnings. It's on the GAC channel, but last year the tenth day was broadcast on ESPN.
Before the rodeo starts, there's the Star Spangled banner, a prayer, a song by a famous Country Artist and the competitors line up and tip their hats to the crowd. The events are over in two hours.
Ms. T and I drive out here every year (and have for nine years now) for a "girls weekend" of relaxation, shopping and Rodeo. You can see splashes of pink on the cowboys and/or their horses as well as in the crowd because we were here on Day 5 of the Rodeo, "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" night. 
My photos demonstrate the speed of timed events and not much else; the iPhone isn't quite sophisticated.
The Thomas and Mack Arena is surrounded with Sponsor booths and advertising.
The interior has a varied selection of food and adult beverage choices.
This booth caught my eye since I was looking for a low carb choice for a snack. This had sales of macaroni and cheese, chili and macaroni, chili dogs and also sold a cup of chili- for $3! 
Meaty and with beans and a good tomato broth, topped with cheese and onions (no extra charge), this was a really satisfying snack. Chili and Rodeo also seems 'right'. 
Ms. T and I had rooms reserved at Green Valley Ranch Resort, in Henderson.
The hotel, spa and casino are a nice respite for us.
After checking into our rooms, we met in the casino and walked across the street, through "The District" and across the main road to a Whole Foods store, where we each purchased snacks. 
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The Protein bars and pecans and almonds were brought from home, as was the tea. Inside the box was from the prepared foods/serve yourself/by-the pound chicken adobo, which was delicious!
We went to Cowboy Christmas, a free-admission gift show, the following morning. Many purchases were made and events and giveaways enjoyed. 
That first evening, I wandered into the casino area, where there is a"Food Court" and (of course) found a Starbucks, which took the place of a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf location a month ago. 
The Capriotti's storefront in the Food Court caught my eye, with the 'breakfast' signage. I asked, and they said I could order a breakfast sandwich, even at 8 p.m.. 
I love being able to watch short order cooks… 
Egg, cheese and genoa salami on a toasted Kaiser roll ($3.27). Excellent. Quite large and very, very tasty. I need to find out of the Capriotti's around here does breakfast; the menu looked good.
Every hotel has a 24 hour restaurant.
The Grand Cafe, inside Green Valley Ranch has a special menu from midnight until 6 a.m. 
This is the most expensive menu item ($5.99) -steak, eggs(poached), hash browns and toast (rye). Coffee is extra, and necessary at this hour. The NY strip steak is a real NY strip and quite large and was perfectly cooked medium-rare, as I had ordered.
Of course, Ms. T and I also at at Feast (Link to restaurants in the hotel) the all-you-can-eat buffet, where I enjoyed a plate of mains (liver and onions, chicken picatta, egg drop soup and spicy eggplant), a plate of salads (ranch salad, egg salad, mandarin beets, sweet potato salad and pear Bleu cheese salad) and my 'carby' dessert plate (a cannoli and mashed potatoes with gravy). The food and pastries prepared in this hotel are exceptional.
At 6 a.m., a coffee service is set up in the lobby area. We were on our way home at 6:30. The outside temperature was 15.
The drive home was uneventful, except for a portion of the I-15 and I-215 split, with high winds and large profile vehicles parked on the sides of the freeway.
Home before noon.
I hope everyone has the time to take a relaxing vacation during this hectic time of year.
What a fun trip you had!
About the food/snacks from Whole Foods – was it Filipino style chicken adobo or Mexican? Also what were those green fruits in the plastic container? Or were they vegetables?
It was a nice and relaxing trip (almost finished writing my Christmas cards), cc. When I saw the bay leaves in the steam tray (and that it was yellow, not red with achiote), I knew it was Filipino style and saw it being placed, so was fresh (and really really good). Those are olives from the (by the pound) olive bar…the bright green ones are Castelvetrano and sold in a very large jar at Costco; I’ve wanted to try them forever. The large ones are Cerignola, another type I’ve been curious about (and are usually red), which had a relatively small pit and mostly were juicy olive, almost a lemon flavor.