Back home

Steve and I are relaxing in the living room and Calabar and Lena were last seen munching grain in a most contented manner. Calabar did have to do a corner-to-corner inspection of his pen ("Is this my poop?") and a good hearty roll, but all indications are that the normal accommodations are acceptable.

This trip was incredible. Not only because it gave me a much-needed mental break from work, but because it really showed me my horse. Cheri said the difference the work we have done together is obvious, which made the weekend complete. The best part was watching him absorbing the action--totally transfixed, very curious, but not really afraid. Okay, the really best part was watching him drop his pretty Thoroughbred head, pin his ears, and give cows the stink eye--just like a real (and really tall) cow horse.

One of the other this-will-hopefully-stick-in-my-memory-forever was watching Lena and Bar move in tandem in the big arena. I caught just a snippet on video, but they are so lovely together. Like four-legged figure skaters, matched in movement, balance and cadence. She does, however, stop better than he does. (The video may not work, but I'll try and if not, try again later.)

Such a great trip, such a needed break for all four of us.
And tomorrow, it's back to the grind. I guess I'm ready, though the temptation to run off and be a cowgirl is awfully strong.

Traveling

The trip has been delightful so far, with no horses up close but several interesting sights and stops along the way nonetheless. (Second Bald Eagle EVER, and the only one so far where I had a quick enough camera!)

We delivered one of Dad's guitars to my cousin in Eugene and at last report it had new strings, had been tuned, and was playing the Blues nicely. Seems rather fitting for Father's Day that a piece of Dad's legacy went exactly where it belongs.

Washington State has been lovely so far--Mt. Rainier was cloudy but lush, green, awe-inspiring, and gorgeous. Unfortunately we couldn't get to Mount St. Helens from the north--we'll have to plan a return trip--so we ended up in Yakima in one more hotel for the night. Luckily, it seems to be dry enough on the East side of the Cascades we think we can actually get to the camping portion of our trip. All the folks here are saying the same thing we were a month ago about the rain--"It should have stopped by now!" Hopefully, in the next week or so it will--just like it did for us.


Tomorrow we will stock up and start the trek back south, meandering through the Three Sisters and seeing what mischief we can find along the way.

Katie reports the horses are doing well in our absence, though she thinks Bar is wondering why I'm not there. She rode Lena hard today, which is just what they both needed. Lena needed the discipline and Katie remembered how fun Lena is to ride.

I am hoping after my check-in on the Monday after we get home, I'll be cleared for at least light riding--with a new cast of course. Bar keeps asking when we can get away from the arena again and I am so ready. So. Ready.

Katie and I on the road again

My daughter and I are on the road--not too far from home--to hang out with the folks from Slide Mountain Ranch (where we bought Lena) and watch them compete at a cutting show near Sacramento.

I haven't been in nearly as many hotels this year as I was last year, but it seems hotel rooms are very much hotel rooms no matter where you go.

Luckily, this one has free wireless--always a bonus.

It is much different to be traveling for fun than it is to be traveling for business. Right now, if I'd been at work all day (usually setting up for or manning a booth at a conference), I'd be exhausted, but still going through work email, trying to make sure things got done in the office. I can't say I really miss that. Sometimes the brain is not in the best place to write coherent email at that juncture, you know what I mean?

And I'm really looking forward to watching some great cutting horses tomorrow!

Time away from horses

Occasionally, Steve and I do spend time away from the horses and we did just that last weekend--taking advantage of a break between storms to enjoy a trip up the Northern California Coast to Mendocino.

We needed time away from work and time with each other, and so we took the Miata, put down the top, and headed up Highway 1.

That car is perfect for that type of trip, even though some of us may have packed a tiny bit too much into the very small trunk.


By Sunday, though, I was glad to be headed home (though not necessarily glad to be headed back to work). Katie had done house and horse-sitting duty for us, and worked both Friday and Saturday at her "real" job at Novato Horse and Pet Supply. She also got to drive my big green truck all weekend, which she loved.

I did get one horse fix (two if you count the tack store) while we were gone. We went by a stable that does beach and forest trail rides and thought briefly about scheduling a ride. We decided against it, but I did get to rub noses with a big spotty horse or two, and was content to leave it at that. We were, after all, only a few hours away from our own two ponies.

Headed home

Steve and I are sitting at JFK Airport, patiently waiting for our flight to board. We drove down from Fishkill, NY--Steve's home when he first started at IBM many years ago--we wanted to be sure we got here in plenty of time. That means we were way early, but, hey, there's wireless here in the Jet Blue hotspot and I can check my email and write up a blog post. Not so terrible all things considered.

It was a good trip and I got a really great view of the East Coast--from NYC to Cape Cod and many points in between. I stuck my feet in the Atlantic Ocean and in Cape Cod Bay. I watched fall colored trees drift past my window as we cruised down through the Hudson Valley.

I didn't get near one horse, though I did see several "horse crossing" signs in Cape Cod. I guess I'll just have to save all my pent-up horse affection for my own two ponies. The last horse I got close to was attached to a carriage in Central Park and the carriage driver didn't seem inclined to allowing me to unhitch his money-earner and go gallivanting through the park. Oh, well.

I'm planning on spoiling Bar and Lena rotten as soon as I can possibly get rolling tomorrow. :)

Horse Entertainment

I admit it. I miss my horses.

I tried to get a horse fix tonight (and mostly succeeded) by doing something totally Las-Vegas-Tourist-y. I went to the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur Hotel. I found out if I'd wanted to get into the stables, I should have gotten there before 1:00 so as not to interfere with the horses getting pretty for the show. Drat.



It was fun, and I would *love* to train Lena and Bar well enough to, oh, joust, deal with fireworks, have sword-fighting riders, etc. I admit we may have a long way to go, though.

At the very end, a couple of the riders and their horses stayed in the arena to talk to the guests, so I had a chance to touch soft horse noses and talk about riding with the actors.

I also helped convince a couple kids it was okay to get close to the horses so their parents could take pictures. Horse are big, and if I were a smaller human, it might take a little bit of coercion to convince me sitting next to a large horse I just saw racing around the arena was a good idea. Especially Diablo, a 14-year old Fresian who had the role of the bad guy's horse.

He's a big baby, though, and very affectionate with his rider--a nice guy (despite the dragon face paint) who has been riding Diablo for 5 years and told me he's the only one who rides that particular horse. They had quite a relationship which was cool to see. (No, didn't get the rider's name, just the horse's.) The nameless rider says Diablo makes everyone miss their horses.

The only downside about these horses is that they are so well-groomed that my hand didn't smell like horse after petting them. Oh, well. It was still a pleasure to watch such wonderfully trained (though still feisty and energetic) horses.

The rest of the show was a lot of fun, too. :)

Trip pictures

I finally got around to uploading more of our trip pictures to Flickr.com.

Hello from the mountains

Steve and I are currently in Bishop, where we stayed the night in hotel. Aaahhh, hot showers. It just so happens that the rodeo is in town, but I haven't run off with any of the broncs, yet. I guess all things considered, Bar is enough of a handful. :) Besides, he's coming along nicely.

We camped two nights in Devil's Postpile and are headed back up towards the Yosemite area to do some more camping before we head over to Slide Mountain for some time with Ike, Cheri, Tiffany, Amber, and probably some pretty interesting horses.

Katie reported from the home front that things are going fine. She rode Bar yesterday and planned on going back up today to maybe ride both of them. Brave girl. She and Adrienne are driving up on their own Sunday to meet us at Slide so Steve and I can maximize our time away.

More to come later in the journey, when next I have internet access.