The Wild Wild West

Tanja and I happened to be in Albuquerque for the World Championships of the Single Action Shooting Society. We went to check out the action and had a great time. All the participants were dressed up in their western attire, so we were a little out of place wandering around in T shirts and shorts (but not too bad as there were plenty of other tourists). The participants would push their rifles and shotguns around in little strollers from station to station and shoot at targets as quickly as they could. Other shooting competitions were done mounted on horseback. There were also western vendors hawking their wares. There was a little bit of price gouging going on selling cold water in a desert environment without running water, but it wasn't that bad.

While we were there, some longhorn cattle were being ridden. I never knew that people rode cattle like horses. We went over to get a picture of the cattle, and one of the owners invited Tanja up to try riding it. She claimed her only experience riding a horse was a girl's party that had a pony ride when she was in second grade. I guess this longhorn was a lot bigger than the pony, and I think the pictures turned out great!


We also got to try our hand at shooting the targets. It's been a long time since I shot a gun, but I guess I did ok knocking down the targets. Tanja got to shoot a rifle for the first time as well, and she hit her target several times too.


This picture was from a stage show they put on. This guy was shooting balloons blowing in the wind from the back of his horse. That was pretty impressive to me.


All in all, it was a successful Saturday outing.