I know why cowboys walk so slow...

**I apologize to NaBloPoMo for having not posted ANYTHING since last Monday...but I've just been having too much fun!!

I have the fabulous opportunity to be involved with a professional organization that has conferences. But these aren't just any conferences. These are vacation destinations with learning opportunities. Yep, the merging of two of my favorite things: travel and learning. The most recent conference was held at a dude ranch. Need I say more?

We arrived on Wednesday, and the activities were already in full swing: delicious dinners, informative meetings, horseback riding, tennis, two-step and swing dancing, networking, flirting with the wranglers... (just kidding!)

That next morning I took the "lope test." (For all of you greenhorns out there, "lope" is cowboy slang for "gallop.") The wranglers want to see you ride the horse at a lope around the corral to show that you are skilled enough to go on the "lope rides" out in the desert.

My horse, Gator, would not move.

Let's just say that I didn't pass the lope test that morning. He was so stubborn that when he finally started moving, it was nowhere near a lope, and barely a trot. I was so embarrassed, but not defeated.


Fast forward: I did pass the test the next day on a fabulous horse named Scattergun (pictured above). I then reserved him for the lope rides later that day, and we had a great time. On Saturday, I spent 4 hours in the saddle- more than I had in a LONG time, and I was definitely feeling it on Sunday morning. But, first thing Sunday morning, we went on a two-hour breakfast ride. We took a nice long lope ride to breakfast, which was prepared by the OWNER of the ranch (blueberry pancakes, melted butter, warm blueberry syrup, sausage/bacon, eggs, biscuits, and coffee--it was fabulous). Let's just say that I was really hoping that we weren't going to lope on the way home!

It was a great experience-- one of the evenings we had a barbeque cookout in the Cottonwood Grove. I had heard that "the javelinas might come out towards the end of dinner." Javelinas?? Aren't they pig/boar things??? Yes, they are what you think they are, and yes they did come out after dinner, but they hung around the outskirts of the barbeque hoping to find some scraps.

Speaking of javelinas, the naturalist at the dude ranch wants everyone to know that javelinas ARE NOT PIGS. I now know all of the anatomical differences, and that their most closely related living creature is in fact the HIPPOPOTAMUS. Who knew?