Better Late Than Never Ranch

Ah the ranch. So many stories have been told over the past 10 years of marriage, a few photos have been shared and now I've finally seen it for my own eyes. To get there you drive through parley's canyon and continue east for quite a while. And by that I mean forever. Those that know me know I don't enjoy "rides" very much (I blame my mom and our 4 hour "sunday drives"). But honestly, this drive wasn't bad, the scenery was nice for quite a ways until we hit Wyoming. Then it was kind of flat, mostly dry, with a lot of brush and tumble weeds. It was at this point that Dan tells me "this is what the ranch looks like". I was not impressed. I'm not sure what I thought, but I definitely didn't think it would be a desert wasteland. I guess I was imagining cattle, and grass and prairie. So I spent the rest of the drive staring out the window hoping the scenery would change, and was pleasantly surprised to see these:




I was captivated. I'd never seen these in person before. I took picture after picture from the moving car. I even made Dan pull over so I could get a few non-blurry ones. So Dan told me that he Uncle Mike helped build them just before he passed away. I thought it was so great.

We got to the ranch (thankfully there were trees) and waited for the herd of people to show up. Dan spent some time on facebook. This was Dan's typical look for the entire trip.



Finally the group arrived and we started setting up our tents in the tall grass under the aspen trees. It was a beautiful setting. The weather was nice. I even rode on a tractor to get wood for a bonfire. I was living the dream of the ranch.



Until it rained.



Oh well, it made the trip that much more memorable! Here are more pics.



Hot dog roast in the rain.



Dining under the tractor.



Beach umbrellas to keep us dry.



And boots to keep little feet dry.








There were a few extra highlights.



The super cute bug net that Gretchen made to keep the mosquito off Emma.



Food cooked outdoor always tastes better than you'd expect.



Sun hats used to keep out the rain.



Picturesque outhouses that thankfully I never had to use.



And beautiful sunsets.

We also had a great time lighting off fireworks in the street, listening to Shawn's homemade ammo explode in the distance, 4-wheeler rides, and of course floating down the canal. Sadly I don't have pictures of any of these things but I hear through the grapevine the canal float has been documented and will soon be used as blackmail.