We arrived in Denver the night before and drove to the ranch in the morning.  Check in was at 3pm and we left around 11 to give us time to eat lunch and make any necessary stops.  

The drive to the ranch was interesting.  After eating lunch in Loveland and heading north, we were on a windy uphill road. At one point there were rocks on every side of us.  It was so beautiful.  

When we still had two hours to drive, we lost cell service and then with 12 miles to go we turned onto a dirt road that was in the process of being grated, so I had to be sure to avoid some giant rocks. 

We arrived at the lodge and everyone was very friendly.  The person at the desk took us over to our cabin called The Bunkhouse (near the stables) and showed us everything we needed and explained the layout of the ranch.  There were snacks and drinks in the main lodge and that was also the only place to get wifi.  There is  also a saloon with lots of games and a bar.  Cocktail hour was at 5:30, but we were able to meander around until that time. 

My husband visited with the horses and I said hello to the baby goats.  I picked up a delicious cookie and some iced tea from the lodge and sat for a bit texting my parents.  I returned to the cabin to find my husband and we walked around looking for the donkeys (who are free range) and saw the goats again feeding them some grass from the other side of the fence.  My husband said he went in to visit them and they were all over him, so I remained outside. This time I saw the giant potbelly pig.  

We hung out for cocktail hour and met a few other people staying at the ranch and then had dinner.  Since we are such picky eaters, we made sure to talk to the chef about our food.  He did a good job accommodating us.  After dinner we walked out to where they have a hidden salt lick and saw a moose!  She got pretty close to us (we were on a bridge about 20 feet from the salt lick), but scampered away when we moved. I was very happy to see a moose on this trip!

We returned to the main lodge and they had a girl playing guitar and singing and chatting with everyone in the lodge and in the back yard area they had started a fire and left us supplies for s’mores.  (They also had hot chocolate in the lodge.) They had a man come and set up a telescope and show us different things, but we didn’t stay long enough to see everything.  We were tired. As we were walking back to our cabin, we met the donkeys ande petted them for awhile. When we returned to our cabin, they had turned down our bed, closed the curtains, and left us some chocolates and rum!

The next morning we woke up early. They left us tea and hot chocolate as well as some pastries outside.  The pastries were delicious!  We had two choices for breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, and potatoes or a French toast casserole (the special).  We both had the eggs.  At 9:15 we headed to the boot barn to try on some cowboy boots for our trail ride.  We both found some that felt a little big, but better than any others.  We met Veronica and she reviewed how to ride and we were already familiar with all the commands.  

My husband rode a horse named David. My horse was Aladdin.  I took up the rear with Aladdin while David spent most of the ride farting on Aladdin’s face. Aladdin was a great horse.  He kept up, only once tried to stop to eat grass, and was very alert the whole time.  We saw a bunch of marmots and prairie dogs on our ride.  We went through fields, a couple of streams, and the woods.  It was a lovely hour and a half ride in which we walked the whole time.  

We returned to our cabin to rest up and then headed to the main lodge for wifi and lunch.  Everyone got fish and chips for lunch, but we got chicken and chips.  After lunch we had about an hour before our fly fishing lesson so we changed clothes and I read for awhile.  

We had to put on waders and boots that they gave you.  My boots were three sizes too big in order to accommodate the waders.  We went to one section of the river for Kayden to show us how to cast and we practiced a few times.  On one of my casts, I got a nibble, but the fish fell off.  Then we went to another section of the river to fish.  We got several nibbles, but neither of us were able to hook a fish.  It was a different way of fishing.  And we had the waders on and didn’t even go into the river at all!  I don’t think I’m going to become a big fly fisherman anytime soon, but it was fun to learn how to do it. 

 After rinsing off a resting a bit, we went out to see the horses, goats, and pig. The horses were much too interested in eating to visit with us, although one let us pet them. The goats were very excited to see us, especially when one of the workers gave us animal crackers to feed them. They were quite excited. The little ones were so adorable. There are a couple that will even cuddle with you. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that last night before we went to sleep we heard a cat meowing outside our door trying to pull the screen open.  I had read not to let the cat in your cabin, so we didn’t. She showed up again in the morning next to my window.  Nick said she shows up at all the new guests’ cabins.  Veronica said that if you let her in that she will rip the curtains to shreds and pee everywhere!  We saw her a couple of times later in the day and she was playful and sweet.  I’m glad I got the back story about her!

We went to cocktail hour, but didn’t want a drink with gin, so she made us something we enjoyed.  We had met with the chef at lunch time to make sure we had the food we liked at dinner.  They were having Shepard’s Pie.  We had chicken with mashed potatoes and I had the vegetables too. Dessert was peach cobbler.  It was all very tasty. That night the entertainment was dancing near the saloon next to our cabin. We walked out to see if we could see another moose, but no such luck!  

The next morning we had our hot drinks and pastry tray left outside again.  We headed over to eat breakfast before we headed out to our second horse ride.  We started riding with another couple, but we broke off into two trails after we headed up the mountain.  My husband didn’t want to ride as long as the other trail needed.  I asked if I could trot later and after we went up and down the mountain (with a beautiful view of the ranch), the chief wrangler took me out to a pasture and talked to me about trotting.  He wanted me to try and post while trotting.  We trotted twice around and he said I bounced around less than other people.  I’ll take it! 

My husband got off the horse and tripped a bit, but what I didn’t know that he twisted his ankle.  They require you to wear cowboy boots on the horse.  The only issue is that neither of us could find boots that fit us well.  When he got off the horse his ankle turned in the boot on the gravel drive.  It swelled up to the size of a softball. I got him some ice before we headed to lunch in the main lodge. They had some delicious tacos in which you could put whatever toppings on that you enjoyed along with French fries. 

My husband had a really hard time walking, so I asked if someone knew how to put on a compression bandage.  Luckily the man who was going to take us shooting was able to wrap my husband’s ankle. He also picked us up in the truck next to our cabin.  While in the truck, my husband got stung twice by a yellow jacket! He had a rough day! They got him some sting relief, which really helped him feel better. 

We did an off roading ride to the shooting area.  We went through the river and over some big bumps.  It was kind of fun!  They usually walk, but the bridge was out.  We started out with archery.  I remember loving it in gym class in high school.  I actually did pretty well.  I hit the target three times and I hit the moose target in the foot!  I could definitely see myself doing archery more in the future. 

Then we went over to the knife and axe throwing area.  We were able to throw two knives, small axes, and there was one big axe that you had to throw overhead.  I did really well.  I hit the second knife I threw!  My husband hit the first axe he threw.  Then I hit with the big axe.  I could tell the instructor was impressed with that! 

Lastly, we went to the shooting range.  I am terrible at shooting real guns.  I am excellent at shooting in video games!  I didn’t hit one shot with the smaller rifle at targets.  Then he wanted us to try a 410 to shoot skeets.  I knew I would be terrible at shooting skeets.  I shot with the 410 and the 20.  I didn’t hit anything.  I did get closer to hitting it, or so they tell me. It was fun, so I really didn’t care.  

We relaxed in our cabin before cocktail hour.  It was margaritas, which we enjoyed.  Dinner was fish with carrots and roasted potatoes with ice cream for dessert.  I sat around after dinner chatting with the manager of the ranch, Johnny, the massage therapist, Betsy, and one of the other guests.  It was a small world moment when Betsy and I realized that she grew up where I went to college and grad school. It was pretty neat to talk to someone about that area. 

The woman who I was chatting with after dinner was staying in the cabin near the salt lick, so she invited us into her cabin to get away from the bugs and look for moose.  Sadly, there were no moose that night. As my husband was lamenting that he had not seen the donkeys, they came out from underneath the porch! The woman had some treats for them and we fed the two that would come near us.  We petted them for awhile, then headed back to our cabin to rest. 

We woke up to some delicious banana bread on our tray.  We headed to breakfast and there was only one guest there with us. (The others had attended the rodeo an hour away the night before.) We talked to Johnny about checking out and he checked our bill for us. We had about an hour to get everything together, but he told us we didn’t have to rush, which was really nice.  I brought the car over to load it and he stopped by again to check on us and offered to help load the car. I told him that everyone was so friendly at the ranch.  We were really impressed by the service.  We drove over to see the goats (and two new potbelly pigs) before we left.  

This was a really amazing experience.  We were able to go to the ranch using our points and I’m really sad that we won’t have that opportunity again.  I loved all the activities that were offered, especially horse back riding. It was fun to learn how to fly fish, throw knives and axes, and shoot skeet.  I actually liked that we had no tv or internet in our cabin.  I think it was more relaxing.  The people working there were wonderful. They were super friendly and always ready to help us with anything we needed.  I loved it.