Last Minute Mountaintop Maternity Shoot

It was 10:00am on a Sunday morning, I was sleeping in, pregnant and planning on being lazy for the whole day. I was woken by a phone call from a neighbor I'd grown up with, the second phone call I'd ever received from him in my life. "Hello?"

"Hey what are the chances you could make it out to basecamp for 1:00 to surprise Kate (his sister) and do a Birthday/Maternity shoot? We'll fly you in a helicopter up to Coral Lake." At this point I'm doing mental math about the time it'll take me to get ready and make the hour and forty-five minute drive out to McKenzie Trails West where I'm supposed to meet Kate and her husband Lane at the heliport. While also trying to shove myself into the last pair of shorts that fit and sending my husband a frantic message that the kids are his problem all day. "Also any chance you have something she can wear? I don't think she has any dresses at camp."

"Absolutely, I'll see you soon." I hang up and start filling my camera bag with anything I might need and throw everything from my client closet that fits the vibe into another. This was also the day that I learned my lesson for not having my camera battery always charged and ready. Now I needed to stop at Canadian Tire and grab what I needed to charge it in the car on the way there and hope it was enough. Plus grab the sparkling juice that her sister requested, plus get gas. Then I FLEW as fast as I could, the GPS only giving me 20 minutes of spare time and of course there was construction. 

Thankfully I made it with plenty of time and excitedly signed my waiver and waited impatiently for Kate and Lane to show up. There were big embraces and she was utterly delighted. I've known Kate my entire life, we rode the bus together, went to the same school and are now raising families at the same time. She was pregnant with her fourth daughter and due just a month after me, so this was so special and such an honor. I climbed into the front of the helicopter with the pilot and held my breath as we lifted off. The piercing blue of Abraham Lake coming into view as we headed up towards the mountains to the West. Ralph immediately began his tour guide thing, pointing out sheep on the cliffs and telling stories of hunters that he'd flown in. Kate and I could both easily relate. Ralph had flown supplies into my dads hunting camp many times and Kates family at McKenzie Trails West did guided hunting and pack trips as well as trail rides. Ralph landed the helicopter beside Coral Lake and we climbed out just in awe.