Make Father's Day picnic extra special

By Theresa Rose
Food Columnist

Here's a rugged, masculine, but leisurely adventure for the he-man in your life. Time-travel back to the Old West at the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, held over Father's Day weekend in Grover.

The rodeo itself begins at 1:30 p.m. on both days, but there is also a parade at 11 a.m. and a dance after the rodeo on Saturday and a breakfast and cowboy church service on Sunday. If you've never been to a rodeo before, know that this is the real thing. This 82-year-old event is a dusty, down-to-earth, authentic western experience with a heart and soul that the big fancy rodeos can't possibly duplicate. Even the echoing old loudspeaker is a blast from the past, and there's something about the heat and the horse trailers and the trucks and the kids and the old folks that just, well, gets to you.

Getting there is half the fun but there's a lot of driving involved and not a lot of amenities so check the gas, oil and tires before you take off. Be prepared to cowboy up for less than predictable weather. Head east on Highway 14 and just keep going. You'll pass through the southern portion of the Pawnee National Grasslands, which are usually abundant with wildlife. Just before Briggsdale, you'll see a sign that says Grover. Head north and you'll get there. Admission to the rodeo is $7 for adults and $3 for children.

There are several ways to do the picnic. You can do what I did the first time and spend days preparing an elaborate gourmet feast with marinated steak and shrimp on a tabletop grill, a fancy hors d'oeuvre tray, artisan breads and a couple of well-chosen wines under a tent. For this kind of tailgating, I recommend parking a few rows back from the arena itself since there is a lot of dust.

Another way to picnic is not to cook at all. Any of the local groceries has a deli stocked with fresh and fun picnic foods. There are made-to-order sandwiches, fried chicken, barbequed ribs, salads, roasted potatoes and more. Let the man of the day pick out whatever guy food he wants and doesn't usually get - smoked oysters, hard salami, pickled herring. This is his day after all. A couple of quarts of 3.2 beers are a refreshing and appropriate accompaniment to a deli picnic and have the additional advantage of being alcoholically innocuous. Cowboys don't seem to drink a lot of micro brews anyway, preferring the inexpensive classics right out of the can.

A third way to picnic is indulge in the barbeque available right there at the rodeo.

Rodeos typically serve fabulous barbeque sandwiches on soft, squishy bread that gets saturated with barbeque sauce, turns hopelessly messy and falls in your lap. Ask for a fork.

They'll also have beer, soda, chips and other goodies that you may not want to miss.

So enjoy the rodeo and be a part of the American West. When everyone talks about the disappearance of the cowboy, it's a great thing to find out how wrong they are. The sport of rodeo is actually growing by leaps.

Now for dessert. Hopefully you've remembered a thermos of good coffee and something really decadent for after the rodeo.

Head east on the scenic byway to the geological formation known as the Pawnee Buttes. Because of its remote location, this site is relatively unspoiled - a lovely white chalk addition to the vast grasslands. The buttes are part of the White River Badlands that stretch across Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. There are several well-developed trails for hiking around the buttes, just long enough to get some decent exercise but not at all difficult.

Father's Day may be the last day of the season when the weather is cool enough to visit the buttes. During the summer, the location becomes so unbearably hot that even a short hike is unadvisable. The best times to visit are the spring or the fall. If the sun, snow, rain and wind can carve the buttes and accompanying canyons into such interesting shapes, imagine what they can do to you!

This is an all-day adventure, so don't make any other plans. You won't want any time constraints to diminish the serenity of the eastern grasslands. For history buffs, an interesting route back to Highway 14 from the buttes is through the ghost town of Keota with an interesting old graveyard nearby.

Make Father's Day happy. Surprise dad, hubby or grandad with an authentic old western experience. It's got to be better than a tie.