The Western Pleasure Guest Ranch looked exactly like the type of place the Gleasons would like to check out. We talked about it all summer and never did it. We decided to make it a winter adventure. The drive up to Sandpoint was beautiful. We were headed to a horse drawn sleigh ride, a dinner and some country music.
Little did we know that the ranch was about 15 miles north of Sandpoint. We stopped to snap this picture along the way. You can tell that there was a lot of snow by looking at the legs of the deer.
It was starting to get dark. Short days in the Pacific Northwest this time of year.
Almost there!
It took us about 2 hours to arrive at the ranch. We were greeted by one of the dogs that wander the ranch.
There it is, the lodge.
There was a roaring fireplace inside the lodge. My guess was that this wasn't the only stash of wood.
Gorgeous. Time to check in!
All the windows were painted with designs.
There were also a lot of animals hanging around.
We are ready to head out into the cold for the sleigh ride. It had to be around 10 degrees or even colder. What a unique experience. A first for both of us. We were all geared up with toe warmers, wool gloves and sweaters, blankets and even some down feathers.
A smaller party rode in an official sleigh.
The horse stalls.
We had a visitor jump on our ride. This dog rode with us for about 10 minutes and then hopped off in the woods. He made it back to his home. I am sure all the dogs know their way around.
We really didn't get very cold. The ride lasted about 20 minutes. My hands got cold. Guess why? Taking pictures. Mike shared that responsibility. The horses were amazing. So beautiful. Not sure what term to use to describe a horse. Mighty, strong?
A light snow was falling to make the ride even more special.
It was dark but there were a few lights on the sleigh so the driver knew where to go. I thought it might take away from the ride being dark. It didn't at all. We could see all the snow covered trees and the path we were on.
I knew I was allergic to horses but didn't even think about it while outside. I was riding behind them not on them. My chest tightened up a bit but I thought it was from the cold. It wasn't. Once I got inside and away from the horses it got better. I didn't even think about taking any allergy medicine. Who would have thought...
Time for dinner but Mike and I wanted to get some pictures of the horses!
This is what we rode in. I guess it has runners so it could be considered a long sleigh.
Dinnertime!
There we several sleigh rides. We waited as people filed in after their rides.
Mike made some new friends as usual. We are both good at that.
This is a real bear trap. HUGE! You can't really see how big it is in this picture.
One of the friendly dogs.
Our table was reserved!
I was taking a picture of this bear and Janis, one of the owners I assume, asked if I wanted to know the story about this bear. Of course I do. Good blog material. When she was 5 there were a lot of bears in the area. More than normal. The family wondered if they were being let go in the area by state park workers or something like that. She said it was only this one year that there were so many. They were killing the ranch animals all around. They were killing the calves on this ranch and her dad got tired of it and BOOM he shot this bear. Now there is a permanent spot for the bear hanging on a wall.
Everyone is here. Let's eat.
It wasn't just Mike in line first this time. We happened to be sitting close to the food so we got the first choice of the food. Beef brisket, ribs, veggies, salad and cornbread. Delicious. There was dessert too.
Next up the music! So good! Devon Wade. We could have listened to him for hours but we had a long rode home. Click to listen.
And some more tunes.
One more!
Wow, what a night. Next time we want to stay over night and make this a Christmas tradition. It was a great way to top off Christmas. You should all go see this place. Really, you should.
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