Rest of the Trip

So we've been slackers and never finished our blog. Well, better late then never! So when we left off, we were heading to Bizbee, AZ. As we mentioned before, Bizbee is a small, artsy sort of town in southern AZ. Once we arrived, Kerri took us on a long walk around Bizbee showing us all of the different areas of the town and also the old gas station she purchased to turn into a pizza shop. It is a very pretty town and it definitely has a lot of hills. There are random staircases throughout the town because it's so hilly. It's definitely neat to see. Later that night, we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then over to a local bar for a few drinks. The people ranged from super artsy, to hippies, to homeless, to the rich. It's a neat mix of people.

The next morning we got up at 5:00 a.m.(yes, 5:00 a.m.) and headed to the White Stallion Ranch. It's located about 40 minutes outside Tucson and it's an actual dude ranch. We figured it'd be a nice ranch, but nothing super fancy about it. Wow, we were totally wrong. This place was a five star dude ranch. The rooms were super clean, nice, and big, the food was great and there were other activities besides riding horses - pool, jacuzzi, tennis courts, basketball courts, movie theater, etc. So, once we arrived at 7:30, we joined everyone for breakfast and then went on a "slow ride." The slow ride means that the horses just basically walk in line all around the terrain for about 2 hours. Will knew exactly what he was doing as he'd been on a horse a bunch of times before, but for me, I was a first timer. Of course, my horse, Montana, was bad and tried to eat every bush in sight along the trail. No matter how many times I kicked him and pulled the reins, he wouldn't listen to me. So overall, it was a frustrating ride at times.

Later on that afternoon, we ate lunch and then I kicked Will's butt in tennis. I don't know why we thought it'd be a good idea to play tennis at 1:00 in the afternoon in 100 degree heat in the middle of the desert, but we did. Either way, Will lost so that was fun!! :) After a quick shower, Will went on a "fast ride" and I went to watch cattle penning. Then came a little pool time and then dinner.

The next morning we got up and gave the "slow ride" another chance. This slow ride was a bit different at it was a "breakfast ride." Meaning, we ride horses up to a point, get off, eat breakfast (people were up there cooking pancakes, bacon, potatoes, etc for everyone), and then we'd ride back. I requested a new horse. Well, this horse also hated me. He was the slowest horse ever. I was instructed to kick him to get him to go faster, but he was basically, "Listen lady, this is my speed. I'm slow. Get over it. No matter how many times you kick me, I'm not going any faster." Obviously I was frustrated with the horse on this ride too. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a cowgirl.

Everyone at the ranch was so nice. The funny thing was it was mainly women, about 80%, and also a bunch of Europeans. I guess people make a trip to the ranch as a weekly vacation each year and they are definitely very hard core about it. They have the cowboy outfits, hats, boots, etc. Will and I were definitely city slickers in our tennis shoes, jeans, and tshirts. The highlight was overhearing a conversation about a 35 year old guy and his 50 year old wife. Can someone say cougar?? Haha. I guess the woman had been going to the ranch for 18 years and the new hubby was being dragged along this year. He looked less then thrilled! At least it provided entertainment for us.