Way Out West: Raising the Bar (in Bar Lazy J)

We are already into our THIRD week of our 2014 season (seriously??) and what wonderful weeks we have already shared! We can honestly say we had an opening day like NONE other with rain and the river rising and then NO electricity an hour before dinner—eeks! But THANKS to a gas stove, some beautiful ambience by candlelight and great guests who loved every moment of it (especially when it came back on over dessert), it was a wonderful opening day and the week just got better and better. We’re happy to report the river has been steadily decreasing since then and getting more back to normal and we anticipate it will continue to do so. Not that a higher flow has impeded much around here—nothing much slows us down! And to prove it, here are some pictures from our awesome OPENING week which is Adults Only time here on the ranch!

Adult weeks pack a punch of their own…

It was a FULL HOUSE! (Pun intended mind you….)

So now take a good look at this good lookin’ couple! Gary and Patty are long time returning guests here at the ranch and this year they raised the bar for our Buckhorn Saloon Night guests! During our Adult Only weeks, we offer a blast back to the Old West with rounds of Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘Em in our Buckhorn Saloon. Our staff dress the part and now our guests are beginning to join in the fun. So to encourage the participation, we’re offering a prize for the best old western dressed (Make that the best dressed in the west?) person or couple for 2014. Patty and Gary have set the bar high, so you might have to do some diggin’ and costume searchin’ to beat them!

Meanwhile the horses are enjoying the warm days and cool nights and we’re enjoying the gorgeous green trails and BEAUTIFUL wildflowers! Wow!

And we’re known to have a spontaneous campfire or two…

……Complete with laughs ~~for~~ (we meant “at”) everyone.

Need a hot branding iron? We do boots, belts, wallets, and husbands.

And ya never know what ya might find on trail!

We are thrilled to report the trap shooting is a BIG hit! Both figuratively and literally! Chad is an incredible instructor and men, women and teens alike are blowing those clay pigeons out of the sky. Claudia here is from Germany (and provided many of these great photos this week—THANK YOU Claudia for sharing!) and had never shot a gun in her life. She shot 15 of those targets out of the air and is already talking about her next lesson next May when she returns again! Thanks Chad for making this new activity available to our guests as part of their all-inclusive trip. They are loving it!

Those pictures are just a PART of all the fun we had and we were truly sad to see our friends go—we had many new guests join us for opening week and we know they had as much as we did because opening week for next year is already 90% booked! Nothing tells us better that we’re doing it right then when folks are already getting their names in the book for our next season.

But the fun at Bar Lazy J was JUST beginning! Within a few hours of our opening week friends leaving, our guests for our first FAMILY WEEK were arriving! And we gave ‘em an authentic ranch welcome by sharing our version of “rush hour” as we brought in the herd just before dinner.

At least twice a day you can see the herd heading in and then back out for the night. When you wake up to the sound of horse feet in the morning—you know it’s gonna be a good day!

Here’s a peek at the rest of the week—just some of our favorite moments. We couldn’t possibly share them all, or it would take a full week to see ‘em!

And if there’s one thing we do right—it’s making sure those kiddos sleep good!

But they’ll need all that rest for the NEXT day!

But that doesn’t mean you can’t catch a quick nap in the place of your choosing… Of course sometimes you don’t even choose. You just sleep!

Oh and LOOK what’s almost ready this week! We had to lay some concrete to expand the pool deck for a good fit, but it’s drying as we speak and we’ll be breaking in our new waterslide THIS WEEK! This week’s guests are excited to give it a run--Woohoo!