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

 

 

 

Cody, Day 4, Cody, The Wild Wild West

After a morning of enjoying our hotel time and being city slicker bums, we ventured out to see the town of Cody, named for "Buffalo Bill" William Cody. After my sweet hour of me-time, I had spent several hours of me and my guys time as I am bunking with the boys. Since we cut cable they are drawn to tv like moths to a flame, sucking away the hours. (And me, right there with them.) We watched part of The Matrix and part of Iron Man on Spike tv and far too many and explosives and commercials about a naked candy bar before I declared that "time was awastin" and that we needed to "git" while the sun was still shinin'.

 

First stop, lunch at the historic Irma hotel. (We vetoed requests for Pizza Hut and Wendy's with "someday you will thank me for this".)

A phrase from "Gaston" comes to mind:

"I use antlers in all of my decorating...."

Belly up to the bar boys for some ice cold pop

I post cantankerous sour-face photos, to show my children one future day when they are parents, that they too acted like this. There is romantic fantasy and there is reality, even on the sweetest of family reunions.

The museum actually was great once they got inside.

We especially liked the natural history museum.

Our favorite yellow-bellied varmint (the beaver-squirrel)

Second thoughts about encountering grizzlies in the great outdoors, (especially as we didn't buy the $50 can of bear spray!)

A highlight of the raptors lecture was watching a ferocious mama robin dive-bomb this educator's head during the presentation. She was not happy to see a predator nearby her nest and squawked through the entire lesson.

Incredible Native American beadwork

It's a little bit surreal to walk into the cultural museums of places that you have only studied about in school or seen in movies. The soundtracks of Legends of the Fall and Dances With Wolves have been bouncing around in my head as I take in the sights. The jewelry store where I stopped to buy a charm bracelet for my daughter used to be a bank and had once been robbed by outlaws. My kids are asking for cowboy boots and cowboy hats. We might come home talking like this:

First rodeo for all of us.

We learned new ranching terms tonight. A header ropes the horns of a steer and a heeler ropes the hooves. We especially liked sitting in the "Buzzards' Roost" section of the corral where we could see all the action of the bull riders before they came out of the chutes.

Yehaw!

No spurs allowed on the inflatables? Aw, shucks!

Tomorrow we head to the ranch to learn how it's done.

Glad we're traveling in a climate-controlled SUV over those mountains as we head further west! Kids, you think four hours in the car is a hardship? Back when I was a kid....

 

Cody, Day 4, Resting at the water hole

Today, my husband gave me an extraordinary gift. To some, this might not seem like much, but to me, it was just what I needed. He hauled the kids off to the hotel pool and gave me a quiet hour to myself. I love our children. I love making memories and having family togetherness, but my soul craves silence and alone time. He knows this, and is equally happy to surf the net while the kids scream in delight and have splash wars. Meanwhile, up in our vacant room, I soak up the quiet.

Psalm 62:1 My soul silently waits for God.

Psalm 61:8 I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.

I read Psalms. I do stretches. I pray over our day together. I think about how happy my belly is, full of creamy coffee and a decadent chocolate croissant. I wear yoga pants and do a barre workout from Pinterest and thank God for the lovely coincidence of having a full-length mirror in the room AND a view of the Western mountains. Gratitude wells within me for this lovely hour.

Barre workout from SparkPeople.com -

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/videos-detail.asp?video=28

Will's quote in the hot tub "This is the life!"

"Remaining silent, we trust and hope in God. One psalm suggests that silence is even a form of praise. We are used to reading at the beginning of Psalm 65: "Praise is due to you, O God". This translation follows the Greek text, but actually the Hebrew text printed in most Bibles reads: "Silence is praise to you, O God". When words and thoughts come to an end, God is praised in silent wonder and admiration.
Taize.fr"

 

Yellowstone, Day 3, beaver-squirrel sighting

Surprised to see pictures from my kids' points of view pop up on photo stream. Fun to have their perspective of our trip and not just mine as family photographer/chronicler.

 

Breath-taking beauty: birds-eye view of the Grand Prismatic Spring and a family hike up to see it. There are boardwalks that circle the spring below, but the steam prevents you from seeing the incredible color. A hike via the Fairy Falls trail gives a beautiful treasure.

The boardwalk view gives you a muggy view of the colors reflected off the steam. Here you can read about tiny animals that are extremophiles, able to survive in impossibly hot waters.

Like most things in life, it takes a bit of work, but oh so worth it!

At the top, near one of many burned trees in the 1988 fires.

 

 

Bubbling springs, geysers and children blowing off steam with preadolescent hiker comments such as "They call this (boiling, spewing sulfurous Dragon's Cauldron) an attraction?" Parental restraint to not smack some ingratitude with my maternal backhand as we walked through grassy meadows under brilliant blue skies. Vision people! Open up your eyes and soak it all in.

Snow-capped mountains, rolling green hills, and craggy red rock formations all in one drive.

Yoga moments by Lake Yellowstone

A picnic eaten INSIDE our rental car as the blustery winds and mosquitos would have discouraged even Yogi Bear from a picnic by the water. "Hey, Boo Boo! You are about to blow away!" (We are terrible campers.)

Beaver-squirrel second sighting properly identified as a marmot.

 

 

"Moose on road" flashing street signs and grizzly bear warnings keeping us hopeful and camera ready, but we're still on a bear hunt and tracking moose.

A pitiful attempt at teaching my family the art of singing a round on a scenic by-way to Cody. Hoping the fireside cowboys can teach what I could not.

Wooden Indians outside of trading posts. Browsing through arrowheads and polished rocks and admiring turquoise and silver and other Western artistry.

Around-the-clock cries for Chapstick (adjusting to the more arid climate)

A's attempts at speaking Western-ese "Don't rightly know, Missy" when I ask random questions like "Are those sage green plants sagebrush?" Realizing that we have become dependent on Googling things in cell service areas to satisfy our curiosity instantaneously. Seeing a Shoney's Big Boy in the middle of a field and wondering what the significance is.

Referring to one another as Darlin' and Pardner

Saying "happy trails" to the historic Old Faithful Inn and "howdy" to the Best Western (Kid comment on hotel chain name: Where else would you stay?) They were very happy to re-enter the wi-fi zone.

This hotel is amazing. We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge at Disney and Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. They were copies. This was the historic model. I loved watching Old Faithful blow from the balcony porch as people did one hundred years ago.

After all the walking and driving, it felt great to get a shower and settle into our hotel for tomorrow's day in Cody.