Holy Cow! It is the end of October - I have some catching up to do…

 

Hannah and I went to Washington DC. She was in a People to People program, and I flew out and spent a few days with her there, before and after the program. It was a fantastic trip. While we were there we had a very nice visit with three generations of the Mason family, who have come to the ranch the past several years. Arthur and Jane drove us out to Bethesda for dinner with their son’s family (Tom, Jane and the kids.) We both had a lovely time, and it was nice for Hannah to reconnect with their daughter (granddaughter) who has not been able to come with them to the ranch for a few years because of a conflict with camp.

 

I flew up to Boston to see my close friend Cindy who lives up there. (Her husband Bob worked here at the ranch back in the late 80s, early 90s.) We drove out to Jamestown, Rhode Island and found some graves of my ancestors.  I had hoped to catch fall colors there, but their heat wave kept everything green. We had more color here in Bend, where at least 80% of the trees are coniferous.

 

As Heather mentioned, we are in the process of putting together a week after our regular season called “It’s All About Horses.”  We are very excited about this program; I think it will be very popular. We will be limiting it to 24 riders, so the experience will be very intimate, and the guests should get a lot from the program. More on that as it comes together.

 

Sad day- the 15th was Hud’s last day. Ona (his wife) took a teaching job in La Pine, and the commute was just too far, especially in the winter. They bought a house between La Pine and Sunriver, and are very excited to be homeowners. We’ll have a goodbye party for him this weekend, a Rock Springs Guest Ranch tradition to send off our employees as they leave the nest. We will miss him a ton. He’s pretty much worked here his entire adult life; (if you can call it that…) he is more family than employee. He promises to visit often, and will work over the winter through early summer getting Alex and Paul squared away for the summer without him.

 

We had a film crew out, getting footage for a travel channel show in the UK about Oregon. Heather and Tricia will be in it, and Marlie came out to ride for them, and was the token kid, as it was well beyond our summer program when we do have children here. Nice fall colors, though.