MRI hits up Oregon!

For my next trip I was off to Oregon. That’s right, all the way across the country to Oregon; I could not have been more excited! I flew out of Dubuque Monday morning and after 3 flights I finally got to Oregon and met up with Mackenzie Carr, Miss Rodeo Oregon. While we (me, Mackenzie, Tricia Miss Rodeo Idaho, and Becky Miss Rodeo Nebraska) waited for Sammy Miss Rodeo Florida to get to the airport we went and had a great supper. After grabbing Sammy from the airport we heading to Mackenzie’s home to get settled in for the night. She has a beautiful home with a wonderful back drop. 

Western Oregon is so beautiful and they have SO many trees! It was almost like a rain forest.  On Monday we started off the week with our queen duties. 

We visited a small nearby school to talk about rodeo, visited local sponsors and had a great sponsored lunch at a local little coffee shop. After lunch we headed to the larger school and did a school assembly for the kids teaching them about rodeo. After the school visits we headed off to Portland again. We were going to visit Voodoo Doughnuts. They doughnut shop had be featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” and “Man vs. Food” which I watch both of those shows so I was very excited to visit the shop. They had so many different kinds of doughnuts! I think between the 5 of us we ended up getting about 10 doughnuts so we could each try different ones. 

We took a bite out of each and they were delicious!  I think my favorite was the maple and bacon one; yes it had bacon on it! That night we finished off the night by having supper with Mackenzie’s national director at a beautiful restaurant on the water. After getting some sleep we started off Wednesday morning by visiting a job site of Ax Men Mike Pihl. Mike was such a nice man and so happy to have us at his job site and show us around. We even got to keep our t-shirts and suspenders! Once we were done at the logging site we headed off to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory. They make amazing cheese and we had an awesome lunch while there. Our next stop was to Astoria to cross the Columbia River to head to Long Beach, Washington. Once in Long Beach we had a reservation to go riding on the beach. It was absolutely amazing! I have never seen the Pacific Ocean so not only did I get a chance to see that but I got to go riding right on it as well!   

After our wonderful hour ride we heading back over to Oregon and did some site seeing in Astoria. We stopped and saw the house where the movie “The Goonies” was filmed. Also we were so close to the docks we just had to go down and see some sea lions. 

I didn’t realize how loud they were, or how much they stink!  Once we had all of our pictures taken with the sea lions we loaded back up to head home for a BBQ with Mackenzie’s family.It was nice to have a relaxing night and have fun with her friends and family. On Thursday morning we were able to take our time getting up and moving. But once we did we loaded our things and were off to the east for Pendleton!  It was a 5 hour drive so we took our time and stopped to check out a beautiful waterfall as well called Multnomah Falls. 

It is the second largest waterfall in the United States!  It was so beautiful and mystical. After we had taken a thousand of pictures we got back on the road, stopped for lunch and were in Pendleton that evening. We finished off the night by a little shopping, touring the town and going to our host home to get some sleep. The next morning, Friday was an early one! We were up at 4:30 am to head to the rodeo grounds to get ready for the parade. Little did we know we actually didn’t have to be there at 7am like the paper said we did. The parade didn’t start until 10am so we had plenty of time to just… well just sit there! Once we got a little closer to the start of parade we met with the people running out wagon and got on our way. It was really cool to be part such a famous rodeo’s parade. After the parade we grabbed a quick lunch at the queen’s lunch and then headed to the grandstands to watch the rodeo. And wow! What a rodeo it was! I feel like I had never been to a rodeo. The arena was a track with a grass football field in the middle! 

They just had a little PVC railing going around the track and the horses would just over it or take it out! It was crazy! It was a very interest thing to be able to witness. The barrel pattern was actually on the track. So from the first to second barrel, and second to third the girls had to run across the field! The fast times were in the 28 second range! Once the rodeo was over we grabbed some supper and got ready for the Happy Canyon Show. 

It was a live show that portrayed how the Indians came to settle in Oregon all the way up until the white settlers came in. They had horses running in and out, fireworks and funny skits. Besides it being a little cold it was a lot of fun and really neat to watch! After having such a long day we decided to head back to the house and get some sleep. Saturday morning we started off with a tour of the Pendleton Underground. It is this set of tunnels that run under the city and they turned it into a museum to show different parts of the city in different time periods.

There was some places that where speakeasies, laundry services, butcher shops and even living courters for the Chinese when they weren’t allowed to be above ground after dark. It was really interesting to see all the history and have it come to life. After the underground tour we finished up shopping we wanted to get done, had lunch and were back on the road by 3pm that day. We were heading back west to Mackenzie’s house but I was being dropped off at the airport to head home. I flew through the night and was home Sunday morning. I had an AMAZING time while in Oregon and I can truthfully say it was a trip for the books and was able to check a lot off my bucket list!!!

Dayton and Ft. Madison rodeos

It was a great start to another very busy month… I started September off by helping promote the Dayton rodeo. I went up to Dayton to meet up with Jim Heckman, the local queens and some of the rodeo bull fighters, Will O’Connell and Cory Wall. I went around and visited the schools in the area. We did the school in Dayton, Boxholm and in Boone. 

At each school we spoke with different age groups. We were getting the kids all pumped up for the rodeo coming that weekend. At some of the schools we were able to speak to them outside. This was SO much fun! We even got to play with the kids at recess some. 

Once the school visits were over we grabbed lunch and finished up for the day. The next day I was down in Des Moines bright and early for a radio interview. I was on 97.3 the Hawk to talk about the Dayton rodeo. Lindsey and Danger with the radio were a lot of fun to talk to. That night was the first performance of the rodeo. I went up and got ready for the grand entry. Once we had gotten through that we were ready for the rodeo to start. We had hoped that the rain was going to hold off; we were lucky for the most part. Once the bull riding started so did the rain! And man did it RAIN! 

We tried to hold off by the food stand for a few minutes but then gave in. I was told there would not be any autographs that night so I b-lined it for my car and headed back to Ames. Even though it was a very short time I had a lot of fun in Dayton and helping beforehand.

Saturday morning I was off to Ft. Madison for a special rodeo.  It was absolutely amazing what I saw when I got down there. I have never seen such an event as the one that was down in Ft. Madison. They had so many people participating and so many volunteers! It was great seeing so many people and all the smiling faces. It was definitely a day I could not have been more happy to be a part of!  After helping out with the rodeo I headed home to get ready for the busy week ahead. I headed back down to Ft. Madison Monday morning for the little spurs rodeo. Now when I heard about this rodeo I figured it was everything else I have seen before, a few kids riding sheep, maybe some stick horse racing. But man was that just the half of it… there was over 200 kids for this rodeo!!! 

It went from 10am to 3pm! It was a long day but man was it fun! Those kids never gave up all day long! They were still having fun even at the end of the day. Later that night I was judging the little miss rodeo and all around cowboy contest. It was so much fun! There was one cowboy and 11 cowgirls! They all did such a great job getting up, answering questions and doing a little talent. It was a great way to end a wonderful day. I was staying with the Metcalfs that night which was a lot of fun having the little boys Owen and Cooper there! We all had breakfast together on Tuesday before I was off to school visits. I went to two local schools and told them all about the Tri-State rodeo coming up that week and weekend. Once I was done with the school and got checked in at the hotel I was off with the Sherwoods to the rodeo committee dinner. All the committee members were there and it was great to be a part of. They have such a wonderful team that puts on the Tri-State rodeo and I felt very blessed to be in that group. On Wednesday Brooke, Miss Rodeo Illinois was with me and our first stop with a new sponsor of the rodeo. We were at Hardees from 11 until 1. We had a great time talking with customers and even helping with the drive thru window! After Hardees we met up with Cory Wall and Will O’Connell and did one last school visit. At this school Chase Binion had one of their horses so that was a big hit with the kids! Once the school visits were over Brooke and I went to get ready for the first night of the rodeo. We had a great time at the rodeo that night and a pretty good crowd for Tough Enough to Wear Pink night. Brooke and I finished off a good day with grabbing milk shakes before heading back to the hotel. On Thursday we had some free time so I had a chance to go shopping and visit the town a little with my parents would had come down the day before. It was nice to spend the day with them especially since I am busy a lot lately.   

Thursday night we had the rodeo again and after we started working out our dance routine for coronation on Saturday. Friday morning we started with more dance practice then off to the arena for horsemanship. Both contestants did a wonderful job with horsemanship. That afternoon while the interviews were going on we worked on thank you notes and the coronation that next day. That night was the rodeo again and you could tell it was a Friday night. The crowd was great and ready for a good time! We did get rained on a little bit but nothing too terrible. On Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the parade through town. It is a very long and busy parade but this year it seemed to go so fast! It was a lot of fun to talking to the people and cheering on the Cyclones when most of the people were Hawkeye fans! (the big Iowa vs. Iowa State game was that day) Once we dropped the horses off back at the trailers we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our production. Once it started we started off by hearing the girls’ speeches. They all did such a wonderful job. It was great seeing the junior contestants getting so involved and doing so well. After the speeches were done we started off with the dancing and modeling.

It was a lot of fun to be back on that stage giving away my title. I even got to do something special and had a little dance/skit with Brooke that we had a lot of fun with! After all the crowning was done and I got Rachel Burton her new sash and the pictures were done we got ready for one last rodeo.  It was great to see the newly crowned girls do their thing. I knew that they would have a great year and do a wonderful job!  Before heading back to the hotel that night I was able to see the Casey Donahew band with Charity, Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa. It was a great way to end the week. Before heading home on Sunday we helped with the pancake breakfast at the airport. I was then on the rodeo again to do laundry and repack for my week trip to Oregon! It’s a never ending process!!!