The Best Day Ever (according to Violet)

Fitting, as today she is 8 years old… I can’t believe I have an 8 year old. I can tell this is going to be a great age – the beginnings of her asserting her independence and yet she still holds us in her highest respect. That is why I loved teaching the 3-5th grades. These kids are the best.

The day started out with each of us, in turn, giving Violet 8 spanks. Riley was especially excited about this and we had to remind him these were “love pats” and not actual spankings… then, after breakfast (mine was a peanut butter & honey English muffin and a cup of delicious coffee), Violet asked Ron if she could go for a ride on the ATVs. He said sure and the guys went down to fire them up!

Violet and her Papa were on one, Riley and Ron on another, and Rick and I on the third. We drove all over the 300 acre ranch, through deep woods, across streams, over logs and boulders, in the meadows, up hills, down into valleys, and even right next to a couple of buck deer that were clearly annoyed that we woke them up with our engines. Have I mentioned how amazing it is here? That this place is indescribably beautiful? That every single corner of Ron’s property just gets more and more lovely the more we explore it? Well, it does.

Violet was especially thrilled by the ride because Papa let her handle the controls a few times – so she was driving! And of course, we know how Papa enjoys speed – the two of them were barreling down the dirt roads, Violet cheering and screaming in delight the whole way.

Back at the ranch, we put the ATVs away and relaxed for awhile, eating lunch and playing some cards. Riley challenged Noah to some Nintendo football and Violet learned how to play Solitaire with actual cards and not on her dad’s phone. Rick read his book on the porch and I sat next to him, watching the different birds fly by. I don’t know anything about birds or bird types. If I lived here I totally would. There just aren’t a variety of birds in Vegas. But here… I saw this yellow one – it was little, like the size of a sparrow. And then a black one that had a red spot under its wings. And a blue one that I almost didn’t see cutting across the sky because it was the same dark color. And one that was all red. And another that was black and white, but when it spread its wings there was blue on the wings, too. And hawks… and buzzards… and ravens. Wow.

We headed out for the afternoon – I went to the rafting place to get my image CD (which was there *and* worked on my computer! Yay!), and then we headed out to an ice cream parlor our rafting guide had told us about. It was right behind the Mexican restaurant where we had dinner last night. Called “50-something”, it was like a walk into the past. Checkerboard floors welcomed you and red and white vinyl booths lined the outside. Framed posters of 50s music and advertisements hung on the walls, and popular 50s music played from the jukebox. You could sit right at the soda fountain if you wanted, too! Everything was brand new – not like you were walking into an old restaurant that was built in the 50s, but rather you were transported to that era by going through the door. Even the old couple who worked behind the counter seemed like they were from a bygone era.

Violet ordered two scoops – magic cookie with M&Ms and chocolate chip cookie dough – on a waffle cone. Riley ordered a scoop of Superman ice cream on a waffle cone. Rick ordered moose tracks on a waffle cone and I ordered chocolate moose tracks on a waffle cone. We ate them in one of the booths while listening to Rock Around the Clock, Great Balls of Fire, and more. Of course Violet’s eyes were bigger than her stomach, so Rick had to finish her cone.

From there, at Violet’s request, it was on to the Wildlife Park just outside of town. We got there about an hour before feeding time and walked around the grounds, checking out the coyotes, grizzly bear, black bears, porcupine, wolves, bobcats, elk, emu, goats, mountain lions, sheep, and even a baby black bear cub. For 25 cents you could get a bag of feed and go feed the goats and sheep, which both of the kids thought was awesome. After walking through the grounds I was kind of done with the place, but the kids wanted to watch the animals getting fed. Um, ok. So we met the guide (an animal behavior specialist who is going to school to become a veterinarian… she totally reminded me of Heather), and she took us around as she fed each of the animals. While she was feeding them, she talked about each of them – their life spans, how they were acquired at the ranch, what they eat, how to identify them in the wild, and common misconceptions about the different animals (it is a total MYTH that porcupines shoot their quills! The only way you can get a quill stuck to you is if you touch a porcupine! OH and their quills have little barbs on them that make it impossible for a quill to simply work its way out of you – instead, if you don’t pull it out, the quill will continue traveling through you till it comes out the other side!).

I was definitely glad I stayed for the tour. It was well worth the extra time and we learned all sorts of things about the animals… like how elk antlers grow, how to tell the difference between a bobcat and a lynx, and how to defend yourself if a mountain lion tries to attack you. And at the very end, we got to see how the guide bottle feeds the baby bear cub (very carefully!). She actually sits behind a large stuffed bear so that the baby identifies eating not with humans, but with another bear. I thought that was very interesting. The cub also gets a lot of playtime with the guide (at least 3 hours a day), because normally black bear cubs stay with their moms until about 3 years old and he is only 6 months. So they wrestle and play in the water and climb and swing and have all sorts of fun together so that they bear will grow up well adjusted.

We headed back home after that, and Violet and Riley played outside for a bit while Rick and I cleaned out the car and organized our stuff, cause you know how a car can quickly transform from a vehicle to a homeless person’s living quarters in a matter of a single road trip. So our car is back to looking pretty good – at least for a couple more days till we drive home.

The golfers came back at about 7:30 pm and we started on dinner (spaghetti and meat sauce) for the birthday girl. We ate dinner and then Violet opened presents. It was so sweet for Ron and Lynne to get Violet a Pagosa t-shirt, and Papa and Mama Lali had a gift bag of cute clothes for her, too. Rick and I had gotten Violet a stuffed animal that she had fallen in love with yesterday, and she was so very excited about that. Even Riley got a little something (for his half-birthday)… a pair of boxers that said “beware of natural gas” on the back. HAHAHA! Finally, we had a delicious cookies and cream ice cream cake for dessert. Violet declared it was her best birthday ever. I have to agree.