Elk Mountain Ranch

After we finished up our morning trail ride we had a little time before lunch. We found some horseshoe pits. This is where Mr. Cowboy proceeded to kick my rear in a game of horseshoes. I guess I put too much flick of the wrist in the toss. I just was not good at it. But Mr. Cowboy was good. He got ringers and beat the pants off of me. Just look at that form. We then had a picnic lunch. We had fajitas and these huge Cow Patty Cookies. They were so yummy. Here is Mark getting some rice. He is from England. He was so hilarious. I had such a wonderful time getting to know him and his wife, Karen. When ever he would talk about her he would call her, "My Beloved". It was so sweet. Lunch was so good. They had us eat off of tin plates and our drinks were in these tin mugs. It was so cool. Very rustic country like. I would love some of those for my kitchen. Mark, the man from England, had never eaten a fajita before. So, I showed him how to make it and eat it. He loved it. So did Mr. Cowboy. Their food was so good there. We have full bellies and we are ready to go on an afternoon trail ride. Before every trail ride Tom and the Wranglers all get together and talk about which group they are going to take out and who is going to lead the group. (Pony Girl, these Wrangler pictures are for you!!) They try to change around groups so that you get a chance to ride with each Wrangler at least once. It's really fun to get to know the Wranglers. To hear their stories of where they are from and what they want to do after they are done being Wranglers. None of them want to stop being Wranglers. While the guest sit up in the stands the Wranglers bridle their horses and then when it's your turn to ride they get your horse and bring it to the center of the arena. Then they will call your name. My horse was Billy. In that picture he was being led by Jason. Jason and Billy are pretty close. They had a "Come to Jesus" moment last year. It was so nice to have my horse brought to me!! I was getting spoiled! Our afternoon ride took us up into a different part of the mountains. We rode with Martine and Spike for the rest of the week. See Billy and Romeo eye balling each other? I think Billy was a bit intimidated by that big bay paint. I really wanted to take Billy home with me. He was such a good boy. I tried to make a trade. Billy for Ozzie. But nobody wanted to swap.......I wonder why???? I really enjoyed having so many trail rides with Mr. Cowboy. It was much needed alone time. Mr. Cowboy got to ride Ally. She was a wrangler horse and they were trying her out on guests. She was a really good girl. But I was still partial to my dun paint, Billy. After the ride I got some pictures with me and Caleb. I was wearing my old Counselor shirt from Centerville Mills. The camp where I was the Counselor and Caleb was one of the campers. Just look how tall Caleb got!! Last time I had seen him he was about 13 years old. There, that was more like it!! When Caleb would come to camp he would always were these blue jean overalls. We would all call him Farmer Fred. Oh the good times we had. We had a little time before Dinner, so we played a little pool. Mr. Cowboy is a great pool player. Me.....uhm....not so much. I lost. But I am okay with that. Dinner was cooked on this awesome outdoor grill. I think I need one like this in my backyard!! The cooks were these three girls in their 20's and they were very good! I was impressed! Even dessert was wonderful. All the entrees and desserts were made from scratch. No wonder I gained 4 pounds while being there. I ate so much! After dinner there was a hay ride out to a fire pit. I am telling you, Monday seemed to last forever. I was loving it. Monday night was Caleb's night off. But instead of going into town with the other Wranglers he came with us on the hay ride. We had a really fun hay ride. We sang a lot of old camp songs. I think we sang so loud we almost lost our voices!! But it was so worth it!! The view of the ranch while on the hay wagon. We rode for a good while. Until we came to a field where we all hopped down and got ready for some smores, hot chocolate, and popcorn. As the sun went down it was getting a bit chilly. So we all huddled as close the fire as we could. See those really cool looking metal red pitchers? Those had the hot coco in them and coffee. The sun was going down and we all had a great time talking and laughing. We really had a great group of people there that week. There were a few kids there. A couple of 13 year old girls and a 12 year old girl with her brother that was 10. They were fun to have around. There was also a family from Denmark that has two girls, 15 and 19 year olds. Ruby was one of the cooks at the ranch. She got the popcorn popping. It was really neat to have popcorn popped over an open camp fire. The sun was setting behind this huge puffy cloud. The huge puffy cloud was making a really neat shadow across the sky. Pretty neat huh? Martine, my new friend from Paris, pointed out the cloud's shadow. Again, my lack of picture taking skills just didn't do the shadow any justice. Watching the sky get darker and sitting by the camp fire sipping on hot chocolate and talking with new and old friends was a perfect way to end our first full day at Elk Mountain Ranch.