Three days up at C Lazy U was exactly what the doctor ordered. Risas ended up having room for the wives to go up to the doctors' retreat this year and I was so excited! I finally was able to live in my alternate reality and play cowgirl for a couple of days. I pulled out my boots, bought myself a cowgirl hat (my first one!) and donned some button-up plaid shirts for our adventure. The weather forecast had us a little worried. Two days before the temperature was 105 degrees. On our drive up, our car read 19 degrees. What a temperature swing!
Kind of a chilly drive up to the ranch.
We had packed warm clothes, but didn't know if our bodies would adapt to the sudden swing. We had a chance to find our right after check-in during our first trail ride. The trail rides were what I was most excited about. I haven't ridden a horse since I was a Beehive at Girls' Camp, and have been aching for a chance to give it a try again. They paired me up with a horse named Sage, and Jeremy was given Sky. Both horses were pretty responsive for us and we rode them the whole trip.
Our wrangler took us up a trail through some Aspen trees and down by the lake. The aspen leaves had just turned a couple days ago so they were so vibrant! The orange color just flared next to the leaves that were still green. I'll admit it right now, I was in heaven.
On our way back snowflakes started to gently fall, and I realized that I should have layered my pants and worn some thicker gloves. My fingers were pretty cold. There was a fire ban in effect for county and we couldn't light our in-room fireplace, so instead we curled up under the covers to warm up and totally fell asleep. When we woke up it was like we were in a winter wonderland. I didn't think I was ready for Christmas, but I couldn't complain about the beauty of the snow at the ranch.
The jingle.
The snow had made everything quiet, and it was just so peaceful wandering around the property.
Dinner was the best. We ended up on a table with Whitney Wright and Matt Stevens. You know you'll always have a good time with them at your table. By the end of the night I was laughing true, tear-jerking, tummy seizing, laughs. If every day was going to be like that first day, I was set!
Each night after dinner, Jeff hosts a couple of poker games. There is no buy-in, but the winner of the table wins $100. The first night there I jumped onto a table and they taught me how to play. I understood the basics well enough, and I got really lucky a couple of hands. Soon it was only Jeremy and I left at the table. He ended up winning, but I thought it was so much fun. The next morning at breakfast Jeff came over, and assuming that I had won, gave me the $100. Jeremy was a gentleman and let the miscommunication stand. Not bad for my first round! The next night we didn't get as lucky, but I can definitely see how people love this game.
The next morning Jeremy and I signed up for a mountain bike ride. They had officially cancelled the ride because of the trail conditions, but we took out some fat tire bikes anyway and went exploring. Luckily the trails weren't muddy, just frozen, so we didn't have any problems. The scenery was stunning. I mean absolutely stunning. Those aspen leaves that had turned yellow and gold were perfectly contrasted against the fresh snow, overcast sky, and evergreens. I wish I had a camera that could do our view justice because wow...just wow...
We cleaned up for breakfast and made our way out for another trail ride. On this ride they let us trot, and I learned that I wasn't as nervous about riding as I thought I was going to be. I was having the best time. Now I justed wanted to learn how to go even faster!
Jeremy and I still had a run to do that day, so we started exploring and found a great trail that wound up a mountain. The trail was surrounded by pines and smelled amazing. We followed switchbacks back and forth until we came to the summit of the hill that was immediately behind the ranch house. It was the perfect run. On our way down we could hear the guns from the shooting range. Unfortunately for us we had to go that way to make our way back down! We tried veering towards the right so we wouldn't be right in their line of fire...but we couldn't get away entirely. I was grateful that they were kind enough not to shoot us!
After lunch we had signed up for a couple more activities, one of them was the ropes course. We warmed up by climbing the rock wall, which felt nice and comfortable. Then we moved on to the wiggling climb (don't ask me the real name.) That was a bit harder, but I didn't really have time to be nervous about the height or falling.
The obstacle I was most worried about was the leap of faith. Jeremy had told me about this before, and I was nervous just thinking about it. Basically you climb up a telephone pole, perch on top, then leap from it trying to grab a trapeze about six feet away. I know I don't have good jumping skills and I was nervous. I watched three other people go up. I think all of them at least touched the bar, but only a couple succeeded in grabbing the bar. I decided to climb up and jump before I could talk myself out of it. Up at the top you can feel the wind making the pole sway, and the trapeze bar swings in the breeze too. My words up top, "Heck no!" But I did jump, and completely shocked myself by successfully grabbing the bar! I was very, very excited.
Jeremy grabbed the bar no problem, and then decided to get fancy and tried to do a 360 grab. He missed, but he was the fanciest one of us all.
After we ziplined down across the pond...
we made our way over to the spa. We had decided to have a turn in the copper tub soak. It felt so cowboy. The huge copper tubs were in their own canvas tent, that had one wall opened up to the ranch. They were filled with bubbles and soaking salts and smelled so good. When I climbed in I couldn't believe how big they were! I could easily sink down to the bottom. We soaked for about 25 minutes and I was just thinking that it was the funkiest spa I had ever been to. After we got out I felt like I had melted away because I was so relaxed.
Enjoying the jingle. Every morning the horses come into the fences for the day, and every night they head out to pasture. There are a couple of donkeys that think they are just as big as the horses and jingle right along with them.
Our little stowaways for the trip.
Just enjoying the view.
Our very last activity was a turn at the shooting range. I am not very good at skeet shooting, and hoped that I would hit at least one of my 25. I surprised myself by hitting about half.
Jeremy is a much better shot and did a great job. He looks so natural with his hat, boots, and gun.
Even though the rest of our group had headed home, I really didn't want to go back to reality. We meandered around a bit and played a game of horseshoes. We took one last picture in front of the ranch house before calling it a day. I loved being up there. I loved pretending to be a cowgirl. I loved how sexy my husband looks in his cowboy gear. I loved not having to be in charge of anything and just having fun. I loved laughing for the first time in a long time. I think that maybe we're going to have to go back up again, because it was pretty much heaven up there.
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