What’s up dude … ranch?

Monday we took a five hour excursion to a prospective client of mine. We drove to Antimony, Utah where we spent the night and several hours Tuesday morning at Rockin’ R Ranch. It was a Wild West experience that the kids can’t stop talking about.

Dominic’s new favorite word must be “horse, horse.” It can’t be uttered just once, but multiple times. He and Eliana had a great time watching the horses, riding a horse, talking about the horses and pointing out all the livestock we saw.

One of my favorite moments was when a sheep came over by the fence and baahed, scaring Dominic to death. The look on his face went something like this: how cute and fun, a sheep, then complete surprise followed by a startled look and an upset scowl. He just started crying and saying, “I scared.”

We walked around the Ranch Monday night — quite the family night activity, huh? We had dinner with the tourists staying there — most from Germany, one family from England. We slept in a room with two Queen beds and no TV or phone. It took a good hour for E&D to calm down and fall asleep. They were having too much fun tickling each other, hitting each other with their pillows and yanking blankets away from one another. I vaguely remember Vickey going over to their bed to lie between them to get them to calm down, but I could have been dreaming. I was tired after working that morning then doing all the driving, give me a break.

Tuesday morning we got ready, ate breakfast (which had cooled by the time we got downstairs at 8:30 a.m.), then went out to the corral where Eliana and then Dominic got to ride one of the smaller horses. The cowboy walked them around real gentle like and made sure they enjoyed the ride.

I met with the ranch owner and manager for a while, discussing marketing needs.

Then we drove with the manager out to another property a few miles north of town where they hope to set-up a shooting range. The scenery was just plain beautiful. It was like all the beauty of Upstate New York (my home stomping grounds) but without the trees. We even saw wild turkeys and Bald Eagles.

We stopped in Circleville for lunch at a greasy spoon, if you know what I mean, and continued on our way home.

We got home last night just in time for me to pick up Tank from the Swans before they embarked on their Hawaii vacation this morning and for the family to attend the Cronk’s birthday parties for Addison and Braydon. Then I had a home teaching appointment set for 7:30 last night.

We always go from one thing to another. Perhaps that made the 18 hours we spent at the ranch — out of mobile phone range and away from television — even more enjoyable.

Rockin’ R Ranch is frequented all summer by families large and small, from the States and abroad. If you’re interested in a taste of the Old West, I highly recommend it. And if they become a client, I may even be able to hook you up with a reservation. I’ll keep ya posted, partner.

One Response to “What’s up dude … ranch?”

  1. Angie Faraci August 8, 2007 at 2:04 am #

    Wow–that sounds like a blast! What great memories for the family!

Leave a Reply