Day 5, Spotted Horse Ranch

On the road again...

Books filled our four hour trek back through Yellowstone and Jackson. We listened to War Horse to get in the horseman spirit.

We arrived at the Spotted Horse Ranch just in time for lunch and learned that eating is serious business at a guest ranch. Everything is served family style, so when you hear the dinner triangle clang, you'd best get to the table.

We took a gorgeous ride through mountain meadows in the afternoon. It is truly a joy to my soul to return to the mountains. I worked two summers at a guest ranch in Colorado and am so happy to have my children experience the beauty of this land by trail and horseback. I hope that they will choose to have adventures too when they are older and make choices of how to spend their lives.

Edwin (Granddaddy) used to own a horse named Taffy and longed for the days of jumping and roaming through cattle fields. For him the ride was a little mild....and he hadn't been on a horse in 50 years! I hope that when I enter my senior years I am still adventuring.

After the ride, we washed up for dinner (we were prompt this time) for chicken with sage and prosciutto. The sage green plant I was curious about, that we had driven through and now ridden through, was indeed sage, so it was even more fun to have a dinner that reflected the surroundings.

Chow Time on the Ranch

After dinner, we headed back into Jackson to see how their rodeo compared to the one we saw the night before in Cody. We enjoyed rootin' for Wrangler Dan, who not only led our trail ride, but rode a crazed bull just shy of the required 8 seconds in the Jackson Rodeo. We love the patriotic nature of rodeo people who display the flag by horseback, sing the national anthem with cowboy hat held over heart, and then get rowdy. We decided that we liked the fact that the Cody rodeo still said a Christian prayer beforehand (as opposed to the J.H. moment of silence), but the Jackson rodeo was faster-paced. The kids tried to catch several loose sheep and learned that you are more likely to be stampeded by another child with boots on than actually capture the prize.

Together time roaming around the ranch

Becoming a pool shark

Porch Time