PORCH PONDERINGS

Photo Shoot as 'Senior Models' Ha!

Last week we went on a photo shoot for Southeast Montana Tourism. What a fun excursion that was!

Here's what happened:
Day 1 - we toured the Little Bighorn Battlefield with a native American guide. She gave us a tailed guide to the battles, from the tribes' perspective. Amazing guide she was. I was in awe. Then we went to a little cafe nearby for another shoot, for a burger meal. This was to be for the 'Burger Trail' that we developed for SE Montana. Fun little road trip you can take to eat hamburgers at little restaurants.

After that we went to the Big Horn County museum, which is wonderful by the way. More photo ops. By this time, we were done for the day, and went to our motel to get ready for the next day.

Tuesday we went to the Tongue River reservoir for a day on the water. We took out a pontoon boat, motored on the water for a time, had a picnic on an island, motored around some more. Hubby's goal was to catch a fish, which, providentially, he did! A small sauger was filmed for posterity. After that trip, we booked it down the highway to our next venue, Broadus, MT.

Broadus is a tiny town, 451 population, but a fun little place. We booked a room at a motel. So when we go to check-in, no front desk. Hmm. But there is a phone to call someone. So hubby calls. The person on the other end says "Hello? Hello?" and this happens at least for three times we tried this phone. I remembered another motel a few blocks over, so we go there. Remember, we don't use a cell phone. So this very nice man calls the cell number for our lodging. The woman says to me, "Did you try to the phone?" Mercy me, I was at wits end by this time. We got it straightened out, got the code to the room, push button lock, and room #. Nice enough room but no phone or clock. Is this a current trend? What if we had an emergency? How do you set an alarm to get up?

Any way, the next day we had a few photos taken at an antique store before my board meeting for SE Montana. Then the photographer and hubby went their merry way for more photos. We went after the meeting for a museum visit, fun shot of me in front of a pristine Ford Fairlane convertible whose color just happened to match the boots and top I was wearing. After that, we motored a few blocks to a local clothing store that does a booming business with tourism from SD. The photographer got shots of myself and two other women oohing and ahhing over clothing and shoes. But no, I didn't get to buy anything.

We parted ways for the final time with our now good friend, the photographer, at this point. Our final night was in Miles City, an hour's drive north. Exhausted, we spent the night there before driving home the next day.

So - a photo shoot. Stand here, do this. Wait - don't eat that yet, but pretend to take a bite. Smile - act like this is the most wonderful day of your life! Put that fish in the net, take it out of the net. Hold the fish up. Smile! Walk slowly as I film.

I am still trying to recover.