I left off last time on my exciting experiences in Pocatello. I am back in Bozeman and am attempting to catch up on my rest. The events in Idaho continued to be exciting for me. I left off on Wednesday so…Thursday was another early morning as the 17 queens (local queens included) broke up into groups to tour the Pocatello and surrounding communities schools. I was grouped with Miss Rodeo Arizona, Elizabeth Scott and Miss Rodeo Arkansas, Brittany Sing. Dennis Helstad the rodeo clown also joined us and had some funny tricks up his sleeve for the younger students. I felt right at home in the schools because that has been my field of comfort for so long. In front of 2 groups of about 40 to 60 kids I led a discussion on what it takes to be a cowboy and what happens at the DNCFR. They were full of questions!
The next event was skiing up on Pebble Creek ski hill outside of Pocatello. There wasn’t any snow in town so we were all questioning what kind of skiing it would be. Well there were several days of 60 degree weather so it was extremely icy. Many of the girls had never even seen snow before! Needless to say, they were a little shaky in learning, but everyone at least tried! Myself, I am not the most seasoned skier but I mastered the bunny hill so I ventured to the second out of the three chair lifts and went to a more intermediate slope with Miss Rodeo Arkansas. She was about the same level of skier as I was so we felt comfortable going together. Things started a little shaky because of the ice but I gathered my footing and was going along just fine when somehow I fell (I do that often) but this time I couldn’t stop. I lost both my skis and slid right into the thicket of trees on my rear end. I hit at least three trees on my way down and still couldn’t stop! I am not sure how or what stopped me but finally I did stop. I was hurting pretty good but I seemed to be all right. After laying on the slab of I ice for awhile a nice man came to help me up and search the mountain side for my skis. We finally did find them somewhere in the trees. After he came up to hand them to me he asked if I was “one of those queens”. I said yes and when he asked me which state I sheepishly said Montana, embarrassed because the queen from Montana should have been able to ski better than she did! He laughed and said “Well I had better introduce myself then.” It turned out to be Dave Wiefrich from Brookman Rodeo! He said he’s sorry we had to meet this way but he’s glad I am ok. It was extremely difficult to ski down the rest of the hill because I was so scared but I felt it was kind of like getting back on your horse again not to mention I was too stubborn to let them cart me off on a snow mobile as long as I could still walk! I went down the bunny hill once more to ensure I wouldn’t be too scared to ski again and after that, I was done for the day! My new nicknames are “ice burn” and “digger” amongst the stock contractors from Montana and by the time rodeo rolled around everyone had heard about the queen from Montana. I promise I represented Montana much better on horseback than on the ski hill!
Friday we all went to Wal-Mart to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Together we raised over $700 in just three hours. I met a little angel by the name of Anna who is only three years old. She was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and just finished treatment a few months ago. She won’t be completely clear of her cancer for at least 4 more years of checkups every three months. She was a courageous little girl and has never complained a day in her life. She was amazing and I felt like I really made a difference because of all the money we raised for the hospital that treats children like her.
Other than that the weekend was full of incredible rodeo! Sadly the Montanan’s didn’t take home a national championship from any of the standard rodeo events but JC Mortenson did come back on Saturday for the mutton bustin’ and came back to Montana $1000 richer! He won more money than the cowboys that walked away with a Dodge pickup won! What an honor that must have been for him. Dale Stoller, Brett Fleming and Ryan Seimsen were the cowboys that made it to the Wrangler Round and made a really good run for the national championship. Well that is a pretty good review of my trip to Pocatello. It was definitely a trip I won’t forget. And for those of you who are concerned, my bumps and bruises from my skiing accident are healing beautifully!
The next event was skiing up on Pebble Creek ski hill outside of Pocatello. There wasn’t any snow in town so we were all questioning what kind of skiing it would be. Well there were several days of 60 degree weather so it was extremely icy. Many of the girls had never even seen snow before! Needless to say, they were a little shaky in learning, but everyone at least tried! Myself, I am not the most seasoned skier but I mastered the bunny hill so I ventured to the second out of the three chair lifts and went to a more intermediate slope with Miss Rodeo Arkansas. She was about the same level of skier as I was so we felt comfortable going together. Things started a little shaky because of the ice but I gathered my footing and was going along just fine when somehow I fell (I do that often) but this time I couldn’t stop. I lost both my skis and slid right into the thicket of trees on my rear end. I hit at least three trees on my way down and still couldn’t stop! I am not sure how or what stopped me but finally I did stop. I was hurting pretty good but I seemed to be all right. After laying on the slab of I ice for awhile a nice man came to help me up and search the mountain side for my skis. We finally did find them somewhere in the trees. After he came up to hand them to me he asked if I was “one of those queens”. I said yes and when he asked me which state I sheepishly said Montana, embarrassed because the queen from Montana should have been able to ski better than she did! He laughed and said “Well I had better introduce myself then.” It turned out to be Dave Wiefrich from Brookman Rodeo! He said he’s sorry we had to meet this way but he’s glad I am ok. It was extremely difficult to ski down the rest of the hill because I was so scared but I felt it was kind of like getting back on your horse again not to mention I was too stubborn to let them cart me off on a snow mobile as long as I could still walk! I went down the bunny hill once more to ensure I wouldn’t be too scared to ski again and after that, I was done for the day! My new nicknames are “ice burn” and “digger” amongst the stock contractors from Montana and by the time rodeo rolled around everyone had heard about the queen from Montana. I promise I represented Montana much better on horseback than on the ski hill!
Friday we all went to Wal-Mart to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Together we raised over $700 in just three hours. I met a little angel by the name of Anna who is only three years old. She was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and just finished treatment a few months ago. She won’t be completely clear of her cancer for at least 4 more years of checkups every three months. She was a courageous little girl and has never complained a day in her life. She was amazing and I felt like I really made a difference because of all the money we raised for the hospital that treats children like her.
Other than that the weekend was full of incredible rodeo! Sadly the Montanan’s didn’t take home a national championship from any of the standard rodeo events but JC Mortenson did come back on Saturday for the mutton bustin’ and came back to Montana $1000 richer! He won more money than the cowboys that walked away with a Dodge pickup won! What an honor that must have been for him. Dale Stoller, Brett Fleming and Ryan Seimsen were the cowboys that made it to the Wrangler Round and made a really good run for the national championship. Well that is a pretty good review of my trip to Pocatello. It was definitely a trip I won’t forget. And for those of you who are concerned, my bumps and bruises from my skiing accident are healing beautifully!
No comments:
Post a Comment