Family Reunion: Bair Ranch

We left Rib City to go to our cabin in Bair Ranch just 20 minutes from Glenwood Springs. The ranch is 5,500 acres and is owned by the original family that bought it in 1902.

We arrived to a big surprise-The entrance to the Ranch was completely flooded so we had to unload our entire cars, walk across the railroad tracks, and load them up on this trailer in the hot sun. Luckily, it was all made a ton easier because of Price & Mae’s  kids. They just got right in there and helped everyone. We had no idea this was the beginning of a series of crappy difficulties in store for the next 3 days.

This tractor was extremely slow and jerked us and our stuff forward on all the down hill parts. The kids all loved it but I was afraid one of them was going to get crushed by the stuff. On our way up the hill to the cabin, which was a mile and a half away, a mommy and her puppies started following us. The kids kept calling the puppies and I told them not to because they might get hurt. The driver of the tractor kept yelling at the mom to go home. Well, all of a sudden we hear screams for the driver to stop,who can’t hear us since the tractor is so super loud. I look back to see hysteria in some of the adults, so my first thought was that one of the kids had fallen off the side. We are all screaming at the driver and waving our hands and he finally stops. One of the puppies had been run over by the back tire and the kids and some adults saw it happen. It was terrible. The only thing the driver said was “Is it dead yet?” He left the puppy there and we continued on our way.

We arrived in one piece to our cabin. We had no idea that this had only been a prelude to what was to come. We walked into a strong smell of the vinyl finish on the wood floors that I knew would end in a headache for me. We couldn’t use the toilets for about 5 hours because we had no running water. When we did get running water it was brown and slushy  the rest of the day. Price and Mae’s family cabin was super super hot even with the windows open. They also had a mouse in their room that kept running back and forth behind Price and Mae’s headboard all night long, well, until the last night when they found it dead next to their bed. The girl cousin’s room was also super hot because the screens in the windows were torn so the mosquitoes would come in. Speaking of mosquitoes, there were millions of them day and night. Nico and Esher had so many bites on their neck and legs that it could have been a secret braille message from them.  The first night they had a generator running that was super super loud. We figured out that it was probably a good thing because it kept the many bears and mountain lions in the area away from our cabin-scary!! Behind our cabin the kids found all kinds of rotting  animal body parts since this is where they skin all the animals they kill.  There was no flat area for us to play any sports because the main dirt road was in front of the main cabin. We had to walk about 20 minutes for a semi flat area. I absolutely hated the bathroom because the lighting in there was horrible! Only one fluorescent light bulb worked, so I was constantly straining to see anything. Putting on my makeup was extremely frustrating. My favorite part was on Sunday when it was my turn to make our family dinner. I had a planned a crockpot and rice cooker meal thinking it would just be so easy-not at this place! The power kept going out every 20 minutes or so and would take just as long to come back. All day I had to restart my crockpot and it took an extra hour to finish my rice-it was so so infuriating!!!!

The only good thing about our stay at the cabin was being together. At night we hung out by the fire talking and listening to Garrett play his guitar amazingly.

During the day we would sit outside to read and chat for as long as we had shade. Luckily, the kids and dogs loved all of it. The boys collected rocks that they sold to all passerby's…us. Grandma Jo bought a $.25 rock from each of the kids.

Sebastian kept trying to steal my spot on the bed so he could sleep next to daddy. We had twin bunk beds but I couldn’t bring myself to sleep away from my wonderful Love, so we slept together on the twin bed. We did that for 2 years in Korea so it really wasn’t as uncomfortable as one would think-for us anyway. I love it because My Love keeps me warm- he has some serious body heat coming off him at night!! Sebastian slept on the floor next to our bed and Kintah slept on the bed with Daph. We shared a room with Troy and Daph. During the day when we were out in town Sebastian would sleep on the bed waiting for us to come back, so cute!