Our first full day at the ranch has been a busy one. We were awakened early by birds outside and the sun shining through the windows. Oh well, no sense wasting a nice day. Had breakfast as soon as they opened - 7:30 - we were the first there. Al, who will be our waiter all week except the one day off he gets, was there to greet us. They have a decent number of food choices plus plenty of fresh fruit and juices - the bagels are great! Everyone is so nice here, it is easy to see why so many people seem to return year after year. We sat out on the patio - covered but still outside - a bit cool but it felt nice and we knew the day would quickly heat up. Some critters came around, which we all thought were nice fat chipmunks but we later learned they are Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels - quite a bit larger than chipmunks. You can tell the difference because the stripes on ground squirrels don't continue onto their faces like they do on chipmunks. Anyway, Al told us they can't put the butter pats on the tables until guests arrive because the critters love to steal them - they find butter wrappers all over the place!
After breakfast, Ali got ready to ride - he was doing a relatively "easy" ride - Big Elk Park to Lake Meadows. Of course, adding the miles from our ranch to the starting point plus it being our first day at 8500 feet, meant this "easy" ride isn't quite as easy as described. He had a great time however, saw some interesting things, and yes, managed to take some photos so I could share them.
Rebecca and I weren't riding until 9:30 - the earliest one they offer. Ours was a beginners ride to Deer Ridge. The scenery on the way up was great but the view from the top was really impressive. Rebecca got to ride a nice black Quarter horse named Bonnie; I had a gorgeous black Mustang named Honey. We both loved our horses and got along well with them. We loved them even more when we started our descent back to the ranch! While considered a beginners ride, the steep decent was quite difficult - if it hadn't been for some very sure-footed, well-trained horses, it would have been much more difficult. It was a great experience and Rebecca was awesome with Bonnie! At the end of one steep decent that was very rocky with sand, the horse in front of ours, Banks, decided to show us he could do more than just lumber along and he went off on a loping run. Of course, Bonnie and Honey followed to the delight of both of us!
After we got back, a few minutes after Ali, what do you think Rebecca wanted to do?? Swim, of course. Even I felt like a quick dip before lunch would be great but the sun went behind a cloud, it cooled off, and I chickened out. After lunch by the pool, and my struggles to get photos copied over to the laptop, we headed into Estes Park to pick up some provisions (good beer and wine - the ranch offers Bud and Coors, neither of which are Ali's favorite) and run by the bike store to pick up some chain lube, which Ali forgot to pack. We saw some awesome storms in the mountains (photos to follow) and Rebecca noticed the Aerial Tram that runs up one of the mountains in Estes Park. She said she wanted to go so after I quick trip to the Visitors Center in town to find out how to get there, off we went.
When we pulled into the parking lot, Rebecca said, "Look, there's a deer!" When I finally saw it, I said no, it looks like a female moose. We later learned it was actually a cow elk that hangs around there - a bit disappointed but happy to have seen our first "big" wildlife."
The tram was built in 1952 and each car (one up, one down) holds just 10 adults (plus the tram operator). Ali kept wondering when they last refurbished it. It was a quick ride (about 10 mph according to the tram operator) to the top where we learned the favorite activity was to feed peanuts to the chipmunks, ground squirrels, and gray jays that frequented the area around the tram and its buildings. The views were stunning too. Rebecca enjoyed feeding the wildlife, I took a bunch of photos (yes, those will come too!), and then we headed down. Back in the car and back to the ranch to relax a bit before dinner and tonight's entertainment, a magician.
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