Steamboat Springs Sleigh Ride
We all went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for spring break.My good friend Barb, her boys: Kyle and John and her most significant other, Joe, invited us to join them on their trip out west. Barb’s favorite client has a home out there and she invited Barb to use the house for the week. Being the good faux friend that she is, she invited our family to go along. It was a spectacular house, set up high on a hill, all by itself, very majestic and very comfortable. We had a splendid time. The kids all get along with each other, except of course with their own siblings, but we knew that going out. Kyle had taken Becca to her Prom last year. and John and Jill have been good buddies since they were five. Even Joe and Bob got along and watched golf, and golf and more golf. We made plans each day to do something and you have seen the photos from our dog sledding day that I posted on April 13th. Well, here is our next adventure. Sleigh riding!
These photos are from our Sleigh Ride. We all had the following vision when we booked this little joy ride: Deep white snow, red sleigh with blankets, a ride into the woods and there at last, sitting in the middle of a meadow was a cabin, with smoke coming out of the chimney. We would walk up to the front porch, take off our snowing boots and go inside and smell the home cooked meal waiting for us. There would be cups of hot chocolate, a fire, and big comfy chairs. It would smell like pine needles and cinnamon. Doesn’t that sound so great? And for 80 bucks a head, to speak rancher lingo, it was reasonable to think that this was well within our reality. SNAP OUT OF IT YOU FOOLS!
OK ! We got the red sleigh and some wet blankets, and these pretty white Percheron horses. We also got a parking lot full of horse poop and therefor, shoes and boots full of horse poop. We got a 10 minute ride into a field, 10 minutes of just sitting in the rain and 10 minutes rding back to the parking lot full of poop that we just left a mere 30 minutes ago. The cabin in the woods, it was the shack next to the horse poop parking lot.
We got these really nice cowboys.
We went in with our poopy shoes on, the furniture was Costco tables and folding chairs. Yes, they had red and white checked tablecloths, but they were plastic,- dear lord, do they not know who they are dealing with here. The same very nice cowboys that took on us our ride were also our waitresses, after they put the horses away and trampled back through the horse shit. They specifically told me that they washed their hands before they served us. Yeah, like that dirt is coming off any time soon!
But the cowboys were really very nice. After dinner, one of them, Kenny was what they called him, sang and played the guitar, violin and harmonica for us. Joe even bought his tape, which we listened to all the way home, and every day after that too. Actually , he was quite good. And after four days, we know all his songs. Yeehaw
Then the party was over. We didn’t know it was BYOB or we would have brought in some hooch to soften the blow of reality in our little sleigh ride dream. The table next to us knew about the BYOB and had wine and beer. We traded our Heinze Steak sauce for a glass or two of the red wine. Just like the real wild west, we were trading booze for beads. I have no answer as to why this guy is wearing this crazy wig, he was at the table next to us. After we saw his dancing we didn’t drink any more of his wine and we let him have our ketchup and salt for free.
This is the most important lesson that we learned that day.
Faux Farm Girl
Ann Garell Davis