One morning activity and one afternoon activity is typical, so I figured we’d have lots of time to wander. Turns out, the days fly by in a whirl of fun (like archery) and exploration (like Yellowstone).

After our full day in the National Park, it was nice to have another day at the ranch, and it turned out to be the kind of day we all needed, a more relaxed flow. Did it have something to do with the kids being in the outdoor youth adventure camp all day? Perhaps 😉

We all started the day with breakfast together at Horn and Cantle. The temperatures were cool and the fact I could wear a beanie and sit by a fire was invigorating!

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The sun began to warm the day up into a beautiful temperature that was reminiscent of mid-fall in the south. After breakfast we walked the kids over to camp, then scattered. The plan for the kids was horseback riding and I knew they were all excited except for Hailey. I wanted to see how she handled it on her own.

We spied from inside the outpost and it was so hard to restrain my mama bear instincts. She looked so apprehensive. I watched as they guided her horse over and she swung her leg over and climbed on. As they guided her horse over to the others to wait for everyone else, tears came to her eyes and I could see her telling the wranglers that she didn’t want to ride.

As hard as it was to watch her handle the situation alone, I was proud of her for speaking up for herself. The wranglers pressed to make sure she really wanted off, then she dismounted and the relief on her face was obvious. The rest of the crew took off excitedly and Hailey was nothing but pleased with her choice to stay behind to groom and feed the horses and play with the goat kids instead of ride.

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Once the kids were all set, us adults headed to the ridgetop to learn how to throw axes. I think we all had low expectations for the experience, but it ended up being a total blast!

Truman was our instructor again to our delight, and he did a fantastic job of teaching us the basics and tweaking our form as we got started. Soon enough, we were all ax throwing pros (ok, not pros, but we all got it to stick multiple times).

We played team games, competed against each other, and sent a text to my uncle asking him to make a set up for us all to play at Thanksgiving; it was a blast! It didn’t hurt that the weather was so beautiful, the view of Lone Peak was crystal clear, and a herd of elk ran by us at the conclusion.

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After chasing elk, we walked back down the mountain to get some lunch and peek in on the kids. With everyone in all smiles, we changed clothes and decided to skip mountain biking in favor of hiking a popular nearby trail, Ousel Falls.

The complimentary transportation at the ranch drove us the 10 minutes to the trail head and old us what a great hike it was. They were right! The trail is only 1.6 miles, but we ended up doing about 2.4 as we took every side path and winding trail down to the water possible.

It was a very popular spot, but it didn’t hamper our enjoyment of the beautiful trail. The kids would have loved it, and I was a little bummed to hike it without them, but it was a great time with just us adults!

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It felt so good to move that after the hike we opted to walk the extra mile or so into town to grab a well deserved brewski.

We sat on the porch of the Hungry Moose Market and Deli until it got close to 4:30, which was pick up time for the kids. The ranch transportation came to pick us back up and we arrived in time to greet our happily exhausted kid tribe!

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We relaxed for a bit and taught the girls how to play bocce before grabbing showers and cleaning up a bit for our final dinner on the ranch.

The kids ate and ran out to play with the birds, which gave us adults the chance to sip drinks and reminisce on the experience. We couldn’t believe how fast the time at the ranch flew by, but we enjoyed it so much!

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