Myown River Ranch, just southwest of Sundre, was our private oasis, our bit of heaven, from October 2 - 9, 2010.
This place was fabulous! A three-bedroom home on 40 acres of private land right on the Red Deer River. The house itself was lovely and came with a wonderfully functional kitchen which I appreciated. The deck faced directly on the river -- I'm sure you could have fished from the deck. There was also a wonderful outdoor fireplace and a hot tub (my favourite part). A word of caution though -- if you cannot last five minutes without glancing at your Blackberry, this is NOT the place for you. There is no cell phone service, no internet, and no TV. There is a landline, but you need a calling card for long-distance. In other words, when you go there, you disconnect from the world ... but reconnect with what's important.
There is also a herd of approximately one hundred wild horses that roam the adjoining forestry reserve. Unfortunately, they didn't pay us a visit.
This was the view from the living room window. Not bad, eh? I would get up super-early every morning just to come and look out the window. Then I'd go back to bed.
The gate into the property -- very private. You need a security code to enter for the first time and you don't get that until the day before you arrive. We came to appreciate the privacy.
Living room ........
Great kitchen ..... came with everything and had top-of-line appliances. Great kitchens are important to me.
Some wonderful views of the river. We spent hours ... days ... sitting on the deck, watching the river go by ... maybe the occasional kayaker, or looking across the river to the neighbouring ranch, watching the cows, the horses.
Are you thinking that it's too bad that the cables across the river ruined the shot? Not so. The cables are
very important, and you'll soon see why.
Such a very beautiful and peaceful place to go for little walks throughout the day.
Poor Bob. Life is rough.
There you go! Now Bob's getting into the relaxation thing. It was a very good week for both of us.
CATS!! Yay, I had cats! They are the barn cats who reside there and they are supposed to be mousers-extraordinaire. Actually, we saw proof of that in that we were the lucky recipients of "gifts" from them -- a bird one day, a small rodent the next. However, Bob offended them by returning the gifts to their home, and so there were none after that. The black cat is Canada (very shy) and the orange cat is Oogie who has the biggest personality, dominates poor Canada, and insinuated himself with us whenever possible.
Now, about those cables across the river ... one runs electricity from this property to the ranch across the river. The other cable is a means of transportation! A chair-like gadget (no floor) carries the cowboy from across the river to this side where his truck is parked (across the road from My Own River Ranch). He has to put a bit of effort into going the last few meters of the trip. But efficient! We were sitting having coffee one morning when we saw him come across. Very cool.
So, that's one way to come across the river. The other way would be to come on horseback. I couldn't believe when we saw this. We spoke to him after he arrived on this side. He was coming across with his horses, and was going to begin a 40 mile ranching circuit (I guess working at a number of ranches in the area). He was the real deal -- not just a guy with a hat and a big buckle.
Evenings there were incredible. That magic moment between twilight and darkness was wonderful.
Maybe you'd experience the pleasure of watching the deer come for an early evening visit to the salt lick while you do the dishes ...
And then, when
darkness fell ...
I think the most wonderful experience was one evening, when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We turned off all the lights in the house, got in the hot tub, turned off the hot tub lights and the jets, and just sat back looking up at the millions ... billions ... of stars in the sky and listening to the river.
Hi Oogie! Did you know that you're apparently a lower life form? Yep -- that's what they say. Yeah, I know. Pfffftttt ... whatever.
Along the Red Deer River, about 10
kms from the Ranch, is a patch of white water. As we stopped to take some pictures, we had an unexpected treat -- a couple of kayakers were coming down river and we were able to get a couple of shots of them as they came through the white water. Definitely the right place at the right time.
We'll be back as often as possible. It truly is a remarkable place.
As I thought of my wrap-up for 2010 on The Adventures of Carol & Bob, I realized that two of our favourite trips occurred pre-blog. I began this blog with a practice run on a Jasper trip in April, but we had previously had our traditional Christmas/New Years and Family Day Weekend trips to Beaver Mines, Pincher Creek, Waterton, Crowsnest Pass, Burmis, Livingston Pass, Lundbreck Falls, etc. in December/January and February.
