What a week! I was in Ellensburg, Washington for eight days for the rodeo and Miss Rodeo Washington pageant. They kept me pretty busy during my stay. I arrived on Sunday evening in time for the pageant pajama party where I met all of the contestants running for Teen and Miss. There were 4 in both categories and after spending a week with them I am pretty happy that I am not a queen in Washington. These girls were amazing.
The pajama party was fun as always and everyone should be proud to know that I took 2nd place in the Chubby Bunny competition, fitting six huge marshmallows in my mouth and still being able to mutter “I’m a chubby bunny!” The next few days were packed with pageant activities. I got to do a queen buzz during their horsemanship competition. Unfortunately, I was put on the horse that w
as rejected to the queen draw because he couldn’t carry flags. Little did I know he doesn’t like queen buzzes either because I soon as I got in the arena he immediately started bucking. I was able to ride him and keep waving at the same time so he must not have been bucking that hard. Later in the week we all had lunch at one of the Miss Rodeo Washington board member’s house. We were fed great all week but this lunch was special because Santa happens to have a workshop in Ellensburg and this is his busiest time of the year. He requested the rodeo queens to help out wrapping presents! He is definitely a busy guy but a smart one too for asking 10 or so girls help wrap Christmas gifts! We wrapped a ton and felt like we were a really big help.
The girls competing had the most amazing clothes provided by Riding High USA from right there in Washington. They were all dressed fit to compete at Miss Rodeo America and I couldn’t believe how polished they were. The style show was incredible. Their theme was “Pink Acres” and the association donated most of the proceeds to a local girl diagnosed with cancer. I even got to tell a joke during the Hee Haw portion of the show, “How many Montana State Freshman does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “None, that’s a sophomore course!” That was my only line and I nailed it! I was pretty proud of myself and even though my role was small, it was definitely
a crowd pleaser!
The rodeo started on Friday and that was also the day of coronation. It was the closest pageant I have ever watched; the judges really had a tough job throughout the week. Congratulations to Mandy Melovich, the new teen, and Jessica Crouch, the 2008 Miss Rodeo Washington, they will both do an outstanding job next year. The rodeo in Ellensburg was pretty big and it attracted the top cowboys in the standings. Each day I felt like I was at Tour Finale rodeo because of the cowboys and also the stock. There were a total of 7 or 8 stock contractors who brought only the best bulls and broncs. The day of the finals I got to see the 3-time bucking horse of the year, Grated Coconut and his mom buck.
The girls and I rode in the huge grand entry and had a queen buzz every day. There were at least 150 people in the grand entries. We would enter at a fast lope and make it all the way around the arena and then slow down a bit, following the person in front of you
, doing a serpentine pattern around 4 people stationed with American flags. I was very well mounted all weekend. Gary Rempel was a pickup man there so I rode his horses all weekend and during the parade. Sunday served to be an interesting grand entry for me. I was riding Gary’s horse Quizno and as we make our first buzz around the arena, my stirrup leather broke! The stirrup fell clean off into the arena dirt and my fender was hanging, slapping poor Quizno in the knee. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we finished the buzz and serpentine with one stirrup. Thank goodness Gary had another horse saddled for me to ride for my queen buzz after bareback.
I was amazed at how many people showed up to the parade on Saturday! It was the biggest one, by far, of the year…including Cheyenne. Ellensburg is a town of only about 30,000 people but Seattle is only 100 miles away and Spokane isn’t real far either. Labor Day is the official end to summer so now I progress my preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. If you have any good impromptu questions, rodeo knowledge or something you think you can stump me on, I need all the practice I can get. Send ‘em on! Next week Lorissa and I go to Lewistown to visit the Montana Trappers Association. I am glad to be back in Montana!
The pajama party was fun as always and everyone should be proud to know that I took 2nd place in the Chubby Bunny competition, fitting six huge marshmallows in my mouth and still being able to mutter “I’m a chubby bunny!” The next few days were packed with pageant activities. I got to do a queen buzz during their horsemanship competition. Unfortunately, I was put on the horse that w
as rejected to the queen draw because he couldn’t carry flags. Little did I know he doesn’t like queen buzzes either because I soon as I got in the arena he immediately started bucking. I was able to ride him and keep waving at the same time so he must not have been bucking that hard. Later in the week we all had lunch at one of the Miss Rodeo Washington board member’s house. We were fed great all week but this lunch was special because Santa happens to have a workshop in Ellensburg and this is his busiest time of the year. He requested the rodeo queens to help out wrapping presents! He is definitely a busy guy but a smart one too for asking 10 or so girls help wrap Christmas gifts! We wrapped a ton and felt like we were a really big help.The girls competing had the most amazing clothes provided by Riding High USA from right there in Washington. They were all dressed fit to compete at Miss Rodeo America and I couldn’t believe how polished they were. The style show was incredible. Their theme was “Pink Acres” and the association donated most of the proceeds to a local girl diagnosed with cancer. I even got to tell a joke during the Hee Haw portion of the show, “How many Montana State Freshman does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “None, that’s a sophomore course!” That was my only line and I nailed it! I was pretty proud of myself and even though my role was small, it was definitely
a crowd pleaser!The rodeo started on Friday and that was also the day of coronation. It was the closest pageant I have ever watched; the judges really had a tough job throughout the week. Congratulations to Mandy Melovich, the new teen, and Jessica Crouch, the 2008 Miss Rodeo Washington, they will both do an outstanding job next year. The rodeo in Ellensburg was pretty big and it attracted the top cowboys in the standings. Each day I felt like I was at Tour Finale rodeo because of the cowboys and also the stock. There were a total of 7 or 8 stock contractors who brought only the best bulls and broncs. The day of the finals I got to see the 3-time bucking horse of the year, Grated Coconut and his mom buck.
The girls and I rode in the huge grand entry and had a queen buzz every day. There were at least 150 people in the grand entries. We would enter at a fast lope and make it all the way around the arena and then slow down a bit, following the person in front of you
, doing a serpentine pattern around 4 people stationed with American flags. I was very well mounted all weekend. Gary Rempel was a pickup man there so I rode his horses all weekend and during the parade. Sunday served to be an interesting grand entry for me. I was riding Gary’s horse Quizno and as we make our first buzz around the arena, my stirrup leather broke! The stirrup fell clean off into the arena dirt and my fender was hanging, slapping poor Quizno in the knee. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we finished the buzz and serpentine with one stirrup. Thank goodness Gary had another horse saddled for me to ride for my queen buzz after bareback.I was amazed at how many people showed up to the parade on Saturday! It was the biggest one, by far, of the year…including Cheyenne. Ellensburg is a town of only about 30,000 people but Seattle is only 100 miles away and Spokane isn’t real far either. Labor Day is the official end to summer so now I progress my preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. If you have any good impromptu questions, rodeo knowledge or something you think you can stump me on, I need all the practice I can get. Send ‘em on! Next week Lorissa and I go to Lewistown to visit the Montana Trappers Association. I am glad to be back in Montana!
1 comment:
Glad you liked your stay in Ellensburg.
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