Friday, July 18, 2008

The End of a Heavenly Week!!!

We're back!!!!! Once again, I uploaded the pictures in reverse order, and I don't have the patience to sit through another upload, soooo you will see these in a random order! This is my grandson & my sister feeding the horses that are residents at the ranch where we stayed. We stayed at Elk Creek Ranch in Lake City, CO. It actually is listed in Gunnison, but it's 9 miles north of Lake City and 45 miles south of Gunnison, so I'm going with Lake City. It is a working ranch (we didn't see any workers!!!), so there are two areas of horses. And they are quite friendly---especially if you take them treats!!!


We did the horseback ride again!!! Believe it or not, we got the same guide as last year. His name was Jeremy and he's in 5th year college. We were hoping he & Kelsi would bond, --- nope. They did talk the entire way tho!!! My horse was "Ace" and he was a sweetheart! Jennifer's horse was "Madonna" and it was ALL ABOUT HER!!!!! The horse didn't want to cross the stream, wanted to stay in the barn, lagged behind all the others--somehow Jennifer brings out the best in a horse! Don't remember Ashley's horse's name either, but it was a "lagger" too. And when we would stop to let them drink, it had to stay and dig for a while!!! Kelsi's horse (once again, forgot the name!), was the "leader" of our trip and was quite a well trained horse. Except it kept kicking my horse in the face; could be because mine kept "goosing" him in the butt! We were gone for 3 hours and it was pure enjoyment!
Hank had a great time on all the farm implements that were on the grounds. I thought this of him and his daddy was too cute. And aren't these mountains gorgeous??? We woke up to that view each morning.
This is the house where we stayed. One mile off the highway through 2 locked gates. No one else around for miles!!! No cell phone service---no internet. It was heaven!!! We did have TV, so my dad could keep up with CNN. Other than that--peace, sweet, sweet peace. I cooked breakfast 2 mornings---the first morning we had French Toast made with homemade blueberry-banana bread & strawberry-banana bread, eggs and bacon. The next morning--biscuits and sausage gravy!! We cooked dinner 3 nights! Had 7 friends over for dinner on Tuesday night. Believe it or not, they are from hometown, and hometown church. We had a great time. And we laughed about the fact that we had to go 14 hours away to get together. But isn't that how it is??? At home everyone is too busy to coordinate schedules.

One day while there, a juried art show was held in the town park. Wow--there were some beautiful items, and it was so relaxing. There is just a certain "attitude" in small upper mountain towns. No one cares how you dress, who you are, what you do===it's just a friendly atmosphere. Kind of like old hippies on field trips!!! Ha ha ha Without the drugs or sex!!! Now, isn't that perfect???

And little Hank was the perfect vacationer. Those long hours riding didn't upset him one bit! (love those DVD players!!! Although he was limited to 2 during trips). He interacted in conversation--think the game "Mad Gab"!! If you haven't played this, look it up and you'll understand! And he took 2 and 3 hour naps in the car!!! During our stay, whatever we dragged him to do, he loved. And staying at the ranch was great---he could play outside and be as loud as he wanted!!! And there was so much "farm" stuff for my little farmer!!!

Family vacations, where the entire family goes, can be tense, trying and totally useless---believe me, I have endured a few of those!!! But this one was good. I'm so grateful to have all of them to take, regardless of their "weird" habits---not mine!!! ha ha ha. We came back still loving each other and wanting to be around each other. That is a major feat!

Well, bloggies, I'm a bit tired (drove straight through last night) so I'll close for now, but I'll regale you with tales of Colorado later!!!!