You’ve each won a $100 Visa gift card, and your prizes will be sent out as soon as you shoot your snail mail addresses to [email protected].
Congratulations!!!
Since I have internet again–obviously–I will continue my tales of the rodeo.
Wednesday, which happened to be 12-12-12, was a very, very busy day, with way too much good food in it. 🙂 We started off by having breakfast at the Paris, courtesy of Ana and Marianna, my newest friends at Harlequin. They took excellent care of me, during the whole trip. After breakfast, which was, of course, delicious, we headed over to Cowboy Christmas, at the convention center. There are several big shows like this one during the rodeo finals, scattered up and down the Strip, but CC is my favorite, so I always get there one way or another. I bought lots of Christmas presents and a few things for myself, I admit–including a Buck Taylor watercolor of James Arness, as Matt Dillon. “Gunsmoke” was hands-down my dad’s favorite show–he used to come home from patrolling the mean streets of Northport (:)) especially to catch that week’s episode. So the picture is more a tribute to Dad than to Marshal Dillon. Since Buck, the artist, is one of those new friends I mentioned on Monday, that makes it extra special.
As if that wasn’t fun enough, Buck gave Jenni and I each one of his prints, and we treasure them.
Once the shopping was out of our system, we all met up and headed back to the hotel for lunch. Another too-big, too-scrumptious meal. (Yikes. Expect more D.I.E.T. talk after the holidays!)
That afternoon, I did a signing, hosted by the folks at Caesar’s Entertainment, right there at the Paris. There were over 200 people!!! It was SO much fun to meet readers, new and not-so-new, face to face. I hope to do another signing at next year’s rodeo.
By the time that signing was over, I was getting pretty zonked, but there was still one more meal, and it was a humdinger. Harlequin (Ana and Marianna) treated Jenni, Alisa and I to dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s new steak house, also in the Paris hotel. Zounds, batman. I knew the man could cook, but this food was over-the-top delicious! Alas, the steak I ordered was more like a pot roast, so I barely made a dent in it, and the side dishes? Well. Even Julia Child would have raved. Unbe-freakin’-lievable!
After dinner, I played a few slot machines, then went upstairs and collapsed.
Thursday, the 13th, found Alisa, Jenni and I back at Cowboy Chrismtas. I bought a few prizes that will be given away on this blog in the near future–after Christmas–and had a great time.
That evening, my brother Jerry, his friend Paul, Alisa and I went to the rodeo. It was a great show, like always, and when we came outside afterwards, it was raining. While the rain might have dampened our clothes, it couldn’t touch our spirits–we were all rodeoed up!
On Friday, Alisa returned to Virginia and Jenni and I headed back to Spokane, grateful for all the fun we had and the new people we met, but glad to be home again, too.
So that’s the rodeo for this year.
Do something nice for somebody today–without them knowing.
And be blessed, my dear friends.
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
