The Ranch is a few hours from Denver and the stay was only for 2 nights so it didn't make sense to pay for a flight and rent a car. Since we had bought the truck we decided to make it a 5 day road trip! We had to buy new wheels and tires for the long trip. I call them my "Mom Tires". Don't worry, we kept the black ones. These are just for road trips.
We passed Bentley Street again.
First glimpse of the mountains.
We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's that had outdoor seating with a mountain view!
We aren't used to seeing snow on Memorial Weekend. We are usually out by the pool.
We booked a hotel in Downtown Denver for the first night. We sent a picture of the Capital Building to Dad.
We walked over to a place called Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery. It was only fair to send Mom a picture too! The food was good!
We walked around Downtown for a little bit.
Then we went back to the hotel and sat by the fire.
We got a little silly with the panoramic feature on the phone.
Back on the road!
More snow!
When we pulled off of the main highway toward The Ranch (still over an hour away), we got out and took a selfie.
We drove and drove and drove...
Then we had to get out the paper directions from the owner because it doesn't come up in GPS. We had to do it old school and set the odometer and turn at the signs (or lack there of)...and then we finally arrived. This is a picture of the barns, horses and the house where the family that helps take care of The Ranch live.
Then you follow a little road down to the Main Lodge and Cabins.
We shared a cabin. We had our own rooms with 2 beds with a bathroom in the middle. This was our room. There were a total of 11 cabins and we had the entire place to ourselves!
Picture of the lodge at night from our cabin. There was still snow on the ground.
This is literally a birds eye view of the cabins. There was "crow's nest" on top of the lodge and Mikey climbed up and had coffee one morning.
Looking out the front door. AKA ATV parking.
There were 4 massive fireplaces in the Main Lodge. One in the living room.
One by the dining room table.
Another one downstairs in the massive mud room. Stay tuned for the 4th one.
This was a big window looking out at the range. Unfortunately this is our only picture of Nigel. He was our private chef and tour guide. He was awesome!!
We found the bar!
Upstairs was a huge game room with the 4th fireplace.
So if you haven't picked up on the theme of this place...everything is massive. What I don't have a picture of is the massive kitchen and the massive pantry. What was I thinking?!?! So in place of a picture I will give you an idea of all of the food we ate. Which was all sooo good! We had elk burgers, pasta salad, potato salad, cucumber salad, bacon, eggs, baked potato soup, grilled ham and cheese, steak, brownies, cookies, pork chops, scalloped potatoes, biscuits and gravy. He even made us sandwiches with all of the fixins before we left on Sunday. Another bonus, no dishes!!
We got to feed a new baby calf. I stuck my hand in its mouth and it sucked my hand. It was so cute.
We went horseback riding! They said Mycah was the first one to use the step stool to get on her horse.
All ready to go!
All I can say is that every single view was absolutely breathtaking and this was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
Snow storm coming our way.
Heading back...
It started snowing right as we got back to the barn. I'll take the photo cred for this one!
Saturday morning, Mikey and Dustin got to help out with a cattle drive. They were moving about 100 cows & calves from one pasture to another. They were telling us that they get moved once they feed on one pasture for a while. The challenge with moving them is that the moms and babies get separated during the chaos. The babies always try to go back to where they are last nursed. So you have to keep them with the herd and then once they get to the new pasture they watch the moms and babies reunite....another theme of this trip...once in a lifetime.
Nigel took Mikey, Dustin and Mycah ATVing. They went all over the property. It is over 7 miles. They saw Elk and the most breath taking views.
I stayed in and read a book by the fire with this breathtaking view.
This is from the barn looking down at the lodge and cabins. I could not get enough of that view.
Later, Mikey took me out in the ATV to show me the highlights. Again, this was another once in a lifetime experience. It was so surreal being just the two of us in the middle of nowhere with mountains and streams surrounding us. No noise, no planes, nothing.
He wanted to bring me down to this little pop-up/fishing house on the stream.
We promised Mom we would build her a snowman.
Look at all of this hay!!
Another unique experience...Mikey branded a calf!
I think I have used all of the words to describe this experience as best as I can. Unique, breathtaking, once in a lifetime, beautiful....and that doesn't even begin to describe it. Unfortunately it had to come to an end. We left Sunday after lunch and headed to Colorado Springs for the night.
We had a mountain view of Pike's Peak, and a big storm blew in.
We stayed in and ordered pizza. Monday morning we said goodbye to the mountains and drove home.
It was a quick 5 days, but so much fun and so many memories!
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