MONDAY

We all woke up by 6:15 with the sun. We were all antsy to get our day started. After we got dressed we walked down to the barn to watch the wranglers round up all the horses for our morning ride. It was neat to see all the horses running down from the mountain to get their breakfast. There are 65 horses who all get to roam free throughout the canyon.

We met a family from Minnesota who showed us the basketball court and rock-climbing wall in the loft above the barn.

We also met several dogs-Cotton, Queenie, Rascal, Puzz, Darlett, Callie and Corliss. We chatted with some of the wranglers before heading back to the lodge for breakfast at 8:30. Today we had eggs, bacon, pancakes, orange juice, assorted cereals and fruit salad. After staff introductions and an overview by the owner, we all headed back to the barn to meet our rides.

Dad got "Pete", Mom got "Diesel", Doug was on "Moe", Nick was on "Red Man" and Christina got "Toby." We get to have the same horse for every ride we take this week.

Our first ride was great. The trails were rugged and rocky though.

It got tense when we came upon the bull (Diablo) and his herd, but two of the wranglers (Carlos and Beau) went to the front of the line to shoo them out of our way.

Everybody did pretty good except for Mom and Christina coming down the steep slopes. Mom screamed and Christina got scared because both Diesel and Toby prefer to gallop down the hills--but they made it down the slopes without falling. (The wranglers assured us that horses are more sure-footed than people and we all had to trust that our horses know these hills better than we do!)

Once we all dismounted we headed behind the lodge to the "Shootin' Shack" for target practice. Jeff (a wrangler) took turns with each of us to show us how to handle a .22 rifle.

Dad and Nick were the only ones who hit their targets. All of the kids went first, and then while the grown ups were shooting the kids climbed over boulders, picked flowers and crossed streams and got muddy playing tag and hide and seek while waiting for their turns with the pistol next.

After we were all through we headed back to the lodge for lunch. We had gigantic cowboy burgers and fries, with cake and cookies for dessert.

After lunch we stopped again to pet and feed the goats and sheep.

Then we went to the barn loft to learn how to work the equipment and practice on the rock-climbing wall. Mom just watched and took pictures here though. She said she never has been interest in climbing and isn't about to start it now!

Dad and us kids all made it up to the top of the 1st wall, Nick and Christina went ½ way up the 2nd wall and Dad made it all the way up to the top of the 2nd one. Christina and Nick both made it ½ way up the 3rd and hardest wall while Dad made it about ¾ way up. The climbing instructors (Chad and Jason) had everyone hooked up to ropes and harnesses so that they wouldn't fall if they lost their grip on the wall. Christina said it was fun to "fly" when she thought she'd be falling instead.

After climbing it was time for our afternoon ride. We all did fine--except for Mom who screamed again and promptly re-named her horse "Diablo." She said when she heard the name Diesel she figured that her horse would be big and slow which suited her just fine. (It turns out that he is more like a big Mack truck-which we guess is the same thing!)

Dinner back at the lodge was pork roast, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots, biscuits and fruit. Ice cream sundaes were a great dessert!

While Dad, Doug and Christina went back to the barn loft to play volleyball with the other guests, Mom and Nick went stargazing instead. Nick showed Mom the International Space Station, Orion the Hunter and Sirius.

Then they went downstairs in the lodge to play pool, air hockey, table tennis and foosball.

It was only 9:15 by the time we turned it, but we were tired from the long fun-filled day. It was also at this time that we realized we all got sunburned-that'll be a trip to the ranch's gift shop in the lodge for some sunscreen tomorrow!

Continued on Tuesday
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