Ashley Family Bonding Trip: Day 4 – Climb Every Mountain

Tuesday, May 27^th

Previous Posts:  Day1, Day 2, Day 3

After a night of cards and wine, we decided another big breakfast was in order, so Dad and Leigh jumped into action, putting together a delicious meal of French toast and bacon, while the rest of us tried to stay out of the way.  After lots of broken eggs* and one paper towel sacrificed to the fire gods, we were able to enjoy a hearty ranch meal.

After breakfast, we packed some lunches to go, including sandwiches, watermelon, baby carrots**, chips, and – oh yeah – beer, threw everything into the Rag van, and headed off toward the Bighorn Mountains.  First, we stopped briefly at the Padlock Ranch office headquarters to drop trash, and then at Kmart to buy conditioner, Hot Tamales, Lemon Heads, and shoes for Aunt Linda.  After that excursion, we were on the road again!

The Mountains and the Bighorn National Forest within the Mountains are completely gorgeous.  The areas we passed through ranged from around 3,000 feet to 8,000 feet of elevation, although the tallest peaks in this area can get up to 12-13,000 feet.  Due to the elevation and the wet weather the area had lately, it was chilly in the mountains, and several areas still had snow.

We stopped a few times for the scenic views:

 

After driving for a little while and marveling at the views, we stopped for lunch at one of the lodges and enjoyed a picnic in the clean mountain air.

Product placement!
New Belgium, feel free to send me a check for this…

Yeah!  Thumb came on vacation with us!

Chris, out for a wander

Time to pack up the van!

It was a bit windy

After lunch, we continued on our way into the mountains, toward some snowbanks Trink reported seeing earlier in the week.  At this point, the three Florida kids in the back of the van (Jim, Leigh, and myself) had taken to chanting, “snow, snow, snow, snow” every time we passed a patch, wanting nothing more to hop out and play in it.*** Risa found a good spot for us, and we bounced out to enjoy the cold a bit.

"Aaaah!  There's snow in my shoe and it's cold!"

A snowball fight always starts innocently enough...

Leigh's snowman!

Leigh's snowman, including a sense of scope!

After hopping back in the van and warming our hands, we continued on to find the elusive snowbank.  After a bit more searching, we found it!  My first instinct, after gazing in wonder at this glorious expanse of white, was to figure a way to climb on top of the bank.  We’d been carrying a small step stool inside the van to help folks in and out of the side doors, and I figured this was my ticket.  With Chris offering a helpful stream of advice**** and using the step stool as a starting point, Jim helped heave me onto the bank, where I posed for pictures.

I'm so glad the leg muscles I honed through several marathons
helped make this moment possible.
Coach, you've trained me well.

Hooray, I made it!

Okay, let me down – it’s cold.

Figuring it looked like fun, Leigh replicated my adventure, losing a shoe in the process:

Crap!

She did me one better, however, by having the presence of mind to make a snow angel while she was on the bank:

Winter fun times!

Get out of the damn road!

Our erstwhile van drivers and esteemed tour guides!

Happy, slightly cold, and out of the breath from the elevation change, we hopped back in the van to start the trip back down to the (relative) flatlands.  The van grew quiet as everyone recovered from our excitement, until someone awoke us all with a scream of “MOOSE!”  Sure enough, off the road to our right, we spotted this magnificent creature:

While the rest of the group stayed in the van, Leigh, Jim, and I snuck a bit closer to get a few better shots:

Sneaky, sneaky!

Who has two thumbs and a picture with a moose?
That guy!

With that excitement over*****, we hopped back in the van (again) and returned to the Lodge. 

There's always time for GORP. 

Once we got back to the Lodge, we decided to hop back on the horses, this time trading out Jim and Risa for Chris and I, so we could try our hand at riding.  Chris did well, and I managed to stay on my horse Tony for the entire time (even while trotting!  Which was uncomfortable!).

Hanging out with one of the farm dogs.

Here we go! 

The nearby reservoir

Exactly what did we do without camera phones?

In case anyone is unclear,
Chris is the one pointing his horse in the right direction.

Not shocking, that.

Yeehaw!  I’m not really a cowboy at all!

Dad on an unhappy Dexter again

We finished our ride, wiped down the horses, and then had a chance to watch Cowboy Chad engage in actual ranch business, reshoeing a horse.

That's real cowboy work!

After cleaning things up at the paddock, we headed back to the Lodge to clean ourselves up in time for a chalupa (Mexican pulled pork) dinner.  After dinner, Risa broke out these neat lanterns she found online for our last evening of family bonding, since Jim and Leigh would be heading out the next morning.  On the lanterns, we all wrote wishes, thoughts, and prayers to send skywards, and then we headed out on the patio to light them up and send them on their way.

Fly, little dudes!

After that, several of our party headed downstairs for a poker tournament, but as probably expected, I wandered upstairs to bed.

Later!

Amy

* Because you can’t make French toast without breaking eggs… =)

** THE LIE!  Be sure to read this shocking (and short) expose on these tiny orange fibbers, complete with GIFs.

*** Okay, maybe it was just me.

**** Him:  “Honey, don’t do this.  Please don’t do this.  You’re going to hurt yourself.”  Me: “YOU 

DON’T OWN ME!  Okay, I’ll try to be careful.”

***** Leaving only a bear remaining on our list of “animals we have to see while on this vacation.”