A Big Slice Of Heaven

Brown Eyed Cowgirls daughter, the most talented young woman
Who can seriously give her Momma what-for,
AND
roll her eyes so far back in her skull that I am pretty sure
She could see the back of her head
(I'm KIDDING, Megan!)
Kinda kidding anyways...

Not only is she beautiful and intelligent,
and a complete BLAST to be around,
The Girl Can RIDE.

Lodge Dog Sophie
She owns the place.
It is HER dwelling, she merely *allows*
her humans Bill and Juanita to stay and cater to her.
Meantime,
as various guests come and go,
Sophie likes to see how well she can train select ones.
Dear Husband?
Got t-r-a-i-n-e-d.
They got along famously!
(That is Dear Husband's boot Sophie is sacked out on.)

Dear Husband, staring out at the snow,
trying to figure out if anyone would miss us if we simply..
never came back East to the Southland.

For those of you worried about the cold,
It was amazingly easy to cozy up to one of several wood stoves
placed throughout the living area.

Ahhh yes- NOW we get to the GOOD Stuff!
The
RIDE.

And RIDE we did.
Ahead of me, you will see the rear end of the oh-so-nimble
Ranger. Proudly owned by -- no, wait a minute.
Ranger, a Mustang, claims Lodge owner Bill as his person.
According to Ranger, he is not *owned* by anyone but
HIMSELF.

And this was also an incentive for Dear Husband and I never to return home.
With views like this all around,
hours and hours and hours of trails,
Fantastic horsemen/ horsewomen to join us,
Why WOULD we want to leave??
(Hey Bill--- I miss your taters about now, and Juanita's amazing breakfast creations!)

We saw all kinds of weather on our ride.
As we left the Lodge staging area,
the wind was whipping,
snow was spitting,
and there were a couple of us wondering,
"What the HELL are we doing??"
But we did it anyways-- and the sun shone down on us for most of the ride.

Above are riding partners and just Damn Fine People,
Compass, to your left, mounted on her eye catching, trail crunching, uber mega sweet
gelding Eli,
And my pal and fellow insane woman,
GunDiva,
mounted on the ever nimble, beautifully marked, personality PLUS Mustang
Ranger.

Lest it seem like we were forgetting anyone,
Here we have the ever adorable and fun loving duo of Megan and her
incredible Momma, BrownEyed Cowgirls.
Megan is perched ably upon Lodge owner Juanita's mare Jessie,
and Momma BECG opted for GunDiva's personal ball of fun and spit fire,
Estes.

Let me tell y'all---
Riding with these women?
Is something I will never forget.
Not only are they ALL Damn Fine People,
But Duuuuuude they can RIDE!
Did this old cynical heart of mine wonders.

Oh- shoot- I don't have a shot of my adorable and talented mount for the day-
I was given the gift of riding a very handsome, incredibly sweet,
very well trained gelding owned by Bill and Juanita named
Washoe. I hope one of my other companions got a shot of him-
he is a CUTIE!

Once back to the Lodge,
After a quick warm up,
It was down to work for Dear Husband (who NAPPED during the ride,) and I.

We broke out the tools,
And started teaching.

Know what?
Altitude.
Altitude, baby.

I'm tellin' ya-- BECG, Megan, GunDiva, Juanita AND Compass
about had to cart my carcass back to the Lodge!

That thin air whupped my arse!

But with sunsets like this...
Mountain views like the above...
Company of wonderful people....
Amazing food....
And the feeling of being brought into FAMILY...

Well, it's no wonder we didn't want to come home.

Altitude and all,

It was a HUGE Slice Of HEAVEN.

Nothing more,
Nothing less.

So.
'Nuff of that mushy stuff.

Saturday night, AFTER the ride,
And AFTER the trimming,
We got wild hairs up our cold butts and headed into Denver to
Casa Bonita.

Now.
Y'all can revoke my Golden Hermit Status right now.
Cause this place?
Holy shit it was PACKED.
I was out (willingly even) in the biggest crowd I've been in
in more years than I can count.

Yep.
For real.

Revoke it.... I'll earn it back....

Casa Bonita.
Home of Cliff Divers
A Magic Room (where we sat)
An arcade,
and strolling mariachi bands.
The food by all counts?
Eh, not so great.
But the activity?
Well, if you like that sort of thing.....!

Thus brings to an end today's post on our journey to Big Sky Country.
It was filled with breath taking views,
People I hope to spend a lot more time with in the future,
INCREDIBLE food,
Well trained, beautiful and personable horses,
And a sense of peace and contentment worth more than any money,
and deeper than any words could ever express.

If you need an escape,
Head West.
Stay with Bill, Juanita, and Sophie at
Allenspark Lodge.
See the views.
Drink in the peace.
And harass the dickens out of Bill!
(Be sure to pop over to the Lodge blog for another view of the weekend!)


More to come later this week.
We have a ton of hoof photos,
reviews,
and education headed your way.
Stay Tuned!