What a great time I have had in the last week or so! I ran over to Billings on Friday morning to meet up with Lorissa so we could have our photo shoot together. We drove to Miles City where Kara with On the Move Photography was ready for a day of taking pictures. Overall I think we got some really nice shots taken of me for the Miss Rodeo America pageant and of Lorissa and me for the Miss Rodeo Montana pageant. I can’t believe we are already talking about either of those!
The next day I was scheduled to fly out of Billings for the NEBRASKAland Days and Miss Rodeo Nebraska Pageant in North Platte. The queens weren’t scheduled to do anything until Sunday but my connecting flights wouldn’t get me there in time so I chose to go a day early. The plane ride into North Platte was a little shaky. I think there were only eight seats total and there wasn’t even a curtain dividing the cabin and the pilots. I had no idea what to expect out of Nebraska after that plane ride!
I wasn’t disappointed though, North Platte always arranges for the visiting queens (usually around 15 of us) to stay in host homes across the city. My host home was Jody and Cindy Smith; they were truly amazing hosts to me and I couldn’t have asked for better. They showed me what true Nebraska hospitality was!
Since I was crowned this January I have had several first time experiences. This trip served me no different. I got to ride my first motorcycle, a Harley, and I got to ride on a jet ski for the first time. Of course I let Jody of my host family drive the motorcycle and show me the town but the jet ski was a little different. On Sunday since we didn’t have anything scheduled the Smith’s took me to the local lake along with Katie, the newly crowned Miss Rodeo Arizona and Lindsay, Miss Rodeo Alabama. I hadn’t met either of those girls yet so it was great hanging out with them; we really had a blast. After watching the other girls who have jet skied before I decided to try my hand on one. I was hesitant starting off but really got the hang of it and was really glad to find out that this was something that I could crash…and it was fun to do it! When the day was done I even got to bring back a little piece of Nebraska sun as I improved my tan!
With the fun came some business matters. All the queens attended the horsemanship portion of the Miss Rodeo Nebraska 2008 contest. I have to say, Nebraska girls sure know how to ride. Later that evening the contestants and visiting queens all gathered for a get acquainted BBQ. For those of us queens not from the Midwest we got a little nervous when a huge thunderstorm brought in some pretty nasty looking clouds and severe winds. Needless to say we were moved to the garage and thank goodness I didn’t have to see my first tornado while I was there! My host family spoiled me so bad during my stay there that they let me drive a Grand Prix right off the car lot they own in North Platte. Most of the other girls were pretty jealous!
The next three days held a lot of fun events for the visiting queens. I signed over 500 autographs at local sponsors, banks, western stores and my favorite was the kid’s parade. It was the official kick off to the NEBRASKAland days and allowed kids to put on their costumes and parade around the block. I saw some pretty neat costumes while walking with the kids and signing autographs. Of course we were busy with the pageant events. This year was the second year they had a Miss Teen Rodeo Nebraska so I got to see those girls model, speak, and ride. They were great girls. The Miss Rodeo Nebraska contestants were no different. The five young ladies competing for the title were obviously having fun and all did very well. Among the many highlights of the trip was the cowboy bowling where we bowled with the PRCA cowboys. We didn’t get to stay very long but that was probably a good thing because I was losing to Miss Rodeo Wyoming pretty bad when we had to leave. Before going out to the rodeo the last night there was a big group dinner including the Miss Rodeo Nebraska committee, queens, host families, etc. Paula Stobbs, one of the drivers during the week gave us all special queen awards for the week. One state girl was the Queen of Bling and wouldn’t you know I was the Queen of Crashing! The ski trip from Pocatello seems to be sticking with me and I was pretty excited to tell everyone about my bravery of crashing on the jet ski. Although on my trip back to Montana I was thinking I should be the queen of lost luggage because I haven’t flown anywhere without the airlines losing my luggage…ever! Queen or not, regardless of the length of layover, I think my bags are marked for it! I spent the rest of the day in Billings waiting on my bags which finally did show up. I was relieved to have them back and really glad to be back in Montana even though I had a blast in North Platte!
The next day I was scheduled to fly out of Billings for the NEBRASKAland Days and Miss Rodeo Nebraska Pageant in North Platte. The queens weren’t scheduled to do anything until Sunday but my connecting flights wouldn’t get me there in time so I chose to go a day early. The plane ride into North Platte was a little shaky. I think there were only eight seats total and there wasn’t even a curtain dividing the cabin and the pilots. I had no idea what to expect out of Nebraska after that plane ride!
I wasn’t disappointed though, North Platte always arranges for the visiting queens (usually around 15 of us) to stay in host homes across the city. My host home was Jody and Cindy Smith; they were truly amazing hosts to me and I couldn’t have asked for better. They showed me what true Nebraska hospitality was!
Since I was crowned this January I have had several first time experiences. This trip served me no different. I got to ride my first motorcycle, a Harley, and I got to ride on a jet ski for the first time. Of course I let Jody of my host family drive the motorcycle and show me the town but the jet ski was a little different. On Sunday since we didn’t have anything scheduled the Smith’s took me to the local lake along with Katie, the newly crowned Miss Rodeo Arizona and Lindsay, Miss Rodeo Alabama. I hadn’t met either of those girls yet so it was great hanging out with them; we really had a blast. After watching the other girls who have jet skied before I decided to try my hand on one. I was hesitant starting off but really got the hang of it and was really glad to find out that this was something that I could crash…and it was fun to do it! When the day was done I even got to bring back a little piece of Nebraska sun as I improved my tan!
With the fun came some business matters. All the queens attended the horsemanship portion of the Miss Rodeo Nebraska 2008 contest. I have to say, Nebraska girls sure know how to ride. Later that evening the contestants and visiting queens all gathered for a get acquainted BBQ. For those of us queens not from the Midwest we got a little nervous when a huge thunderstorm brought in some pretty nasty looking clouds and severe winds. Needless to say we were moved to the garage and thank goodness I didn’t have to see my first tornado while I was there! My host family spoiled me so bad during my stay there that they let me drive a Grand Prix right off the car lot they own in North Platte. Most of the other girls were pretty jealous!
The next three days held a lot of fun events for the visiting queens. I signed over 500 autographs at local sponsors, banks, western stores and my favorite was the kid’s parade. It was the official kick off to the NEBRASKAland days and allowed kids to put on their costumes and parade around the block. I saw some pretty neat costumes while walking with the kids and signing autographs. Of course we were busy with the pageant events. This year was the second year they had a Miss Teen Rodeo Nebraska so I got to see those girls model, speak, and ride. They were great girls. The Miss Rodeo Nebraska contestants were no different. The five young ladies competing for the title were obviously having fun and all did very well. Among the many highlights of the trip was the cowboy bowling where we bowled with the PRCA cowboys. We didn’t get to stay very long but that was probably a good thing because I was losing to Miss Rodeo Wyoming pretty bad when we had to leave. Before going out to the rodeo the last night there was a big group dinner including the Miss Rodeo Nebraska committee, queens, host families, etc. Paula Stobbs, one of the drivers during the week gave us all special queen awards for the week. One state girl was the Queen of Bling and wouldn’t you know I was the Queen of Crashing! The ski trip from Pocatello seems to be sticking with me and I was pretty excited to tell everyone about my bravery of crashing on the jet ski. Although on my trip back to Montana I was thinking I should be the queen of lost luggage because I haven’t flown anywhere without the airlines losing my luggage…ever! Queen or not, regardless of the length of layover, I think my bags are marked for it! I spent the rest of the day in Billings waiting on my bags which finally did show up. I was relieved to have them back and really glad to be back in Montana even though I had a blast in North Platte!
No comments:
Post a Comment