Thanksgiving at the Ranch – 2014 (Mega-Photo Post!)

Even though we were down one member, the family trip to the ranch this Thanksgiving still required two vehicles. Hard to believe we used to take our little family of six and two dogs in one van…. crazy! But our minivan is much smaller indeed, and even with only eight of us and one dog, we would be seriously squished even in a regular van.

This trip we left early in the morning on Friday, which made for a much nicer drive for Nettie (I have extremely poor night vision, so driving through canyons and up and down mountains after dark is not healthy for anyone).

The first little sight-seeing stop on the way was at the bottom of Salt River Canyon. For more than a year, the rest area at the bottom of the canyon has been closed for renovation. Imagine our surprise to discover that it is finally open again! Naturally, we took a little break and Paul hiked the kids and Gwinnie down to the river. I stayed in the car and closed my eyes for 15 minutes while they played around, and Laurent brought these pics back.

Getting settled in the cabin after our arrival.

Friday afternoon, I stayed at the cabin with the little guys while Paul took the bigger kids on a hike to Petroglyph Mountain, by way of the now-famous cowboy shack. Even Gwinnie, who has been in really lousy shape the last year, wanted to go along, and toughed it out all the way to the top of the mountain and back. She’s a trooper! 🙂 On their return trip, they took a circuitous route just for the opportunity to stand beside what has become known as “The Ontologically Superior Telephone Pole”. Just look at it and I’m sure you’ll agree. Oh, and they were spied by Gene’s goats.  Gene’s goats crack me up!! 😀

The late afternoon included some driving practice for Bippity Bop Pop, a clear-sky at sunset, and of course a fire with hot diggity dogs.

Saturday morning we took a short excursion to let the littles explore one of our favorite spots, the old well with stables and another cowboy shack. Climbing the windmill is always a must, as are rocking in the water trough, hiding in holes, climbing through fences, peeking out the window, taking pictures of things I’ve seen before, and finding something interesting in the shack – this time, what looked like an old paint can but turned out to be tar (the stench! 🙁 ).  After years of visiting this location, Jacob has finally grown strong enough that he tried lifting the old piece of machinery that has been sitting there all this time by the stables, half buried in the dirt. I’m duly impressed…. and glad he didn’t hurt himself!

Saturday afternoon was spent preparing for a special Thanksgiving dinner that our ranch neighbors, Ron and Sherry, had planned for us. They were bringing most of the meal over to our cabin, and we just had to provide a couple of side dishes. I was a little unsure about preparing that sort of food at the ranch, and decided that the sweet potatoes would be best baked in coals, with some butter and brown sugar. It was a great idea, that ultimately bombed because dinner was an hour later than originally planned. But I am pretty sure it will be awesome the next time I try it. I also put together a yummy green bean casserole over the cookstove, and then kept it piping hot on top of the wood oven till dinner time. I felt very pioneery. Sherry’s meal was absolutely spectacular, including smoked turkey and all the trimmings, and crowned with home made, hot from the oven tart cherry and pumpkin pies. We were over-full and so very blessed by our special time with these good friends!

 Sunday morning we got up at 3am, driving in to Globe at sunrise,

and were home before 9:30, in time to attend 11:00 mass with my husband for the first Sunday of Advent, which was the perfect way to finish a weekend of Thanksgiving. God is so good.