This was basically a re-visit of the October trip that we took to the amazing property southwest of Sundre on the Red Deer River -- Myown River Ranch. We had decided back in October that, despite the fact that we had a Family Day Weekend reservation at another lovely place in the same general area, THIS was the place where we wanted -- needed -- to be. It was a good call.
We arrived at Myown River Ranch late afternoon on Friday, February 18 (car full of groceries, wine, musical stuff) and to our surprise found the gate opened – uh oh … should have been locked. Not only that, there was a car there! Turned out to be a lovely surprise – the owners (from Calgary) had come out to clean, to make sure that the place was perfect (always is) and to meet us! They also thoughtfully left a nice card and a much appreciated bottle of wine for my birthday. They were very nice people and we were so glad to finally meet them. Bob and I are so fortunate – we get to meet the nicest people on our travels.
The ranch is spectacular in winter – clean, fresh, white snow … the river mostly frozen except for the occasional open areas. We lucked out on this particular weekend as far as weather went. Temperatures were a “little cool” (February – what would you expect?), but the sky was brilliantly blue all weekend.
That first night, Bob made dinner – lobster!! Bob is the best lobster-cooker ever. 
One of the many reasons I love him. We had picked up three 1.5 pounders. Perfect for a good dinner. Instead of a birthday cake, I had Layer Cake (wine) … a Malbec. Doesn’t really pair with lobster, but who cares! Fire in the fireplace … wonderful evening. Happy Day After Birthday to Me!!!
Saturday! We woke up to a brisk -31 (w/o wind chill) but full of optimism that it would warm up.
After a great breakfast of Eggs Benny and fresh fruit (I love to cook at this place) we sat in the warm sun by the window and watched a Pileated Woodpecker do his thing on a tree just at the edge of the back lawn.
Pileated Woodpeckers are the type that Woody Woodpecker was modeled after – sleek black body and bright red head. And man! Those things are huge! Seriously -- he was the size of a chicken. He tried several spots on the tree before settling on what appeared to be a particularly yummy spot on the roots of the tree. I have no clue what tasty morsels he’d find in mid-February in Alberta, but he’d found something. He was there quite some time. That is, until our good friends, Ogie and Canada (the barn cats) came calling on us.
By this time it had warmed up enough to go for a walk. We bundled up for our walk, but the sun was deliciously warm and we actually felt over-dressed. We walked down to the river and took some pictures.
It is so very beautiful there --even covered with ice and snow.
We saw a trail of paw prints that came from
up on the hill, down to the river, and down along the 
ice. I think it was a fox. Too big to be a cat, and the wrong shape to be a coyote or wolf.
Of course, during our walk, we were escorted by our gracious hosts, Ogie and Canada.
We walked up as far as the barn and just stood there. Absolutely still. And heard … not a sound. Not one. Incredible.
By the time we came back to the house, it had warmed up considerably: -7!! Good enough for the hot tub!
An hour in the hot tub on a beautiful afternoon with that crazy blue, blue Alberta sky as a backdrop against the river and the trees was heaven. The steam was rising in the cold air. It was wonderful. Now, the sprint from the hot tub to the house was … ummm … fast and efficient.
Much later on, a delicious dinner of Maple Bison Stew with Cheese Biscuits, dessert of thinly sliced gala apple, old cheddar, and dulce de leche for dipping … and oh ya … some wine … an evening of relaxing, crib, and early bedtime. I won a game of crib. One out of three. Yes, that actually is blog-worthy.
I just have to say how very much I’ve come to appreciate being “disconnected” when we go the Myown River Ranch or Beaver Mines. You CAN enjoy life without internet, cell phones and TV. All that’s really important is who you bring with you.
Sunday: Another spectacularly beautiful day. -21 at 9:00 a.m. On a positive note, that left lots of room for improvement.
Wow! Since our last visit, Canada has gotten quite brave and was the first one down from the barn this
morning and had head rubs all to himself. Ogie must have sensed that because all of a sudden, there he was, striding purposefully from the barn toward the house. They both still had bits of barn straw on them. Those cats really do have a good life.
Breakfast? How about Chocolate Stuffed French Toast, Roasted Sugary Rum Bacon, and watermelon chunks, and lots of hot coffee?
After breakfast, I took a coffee and just hung out on the deck for a while with the cats, enjoying the scenery, the smell, the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the air. Just being there.
And Bob began to play his music. This is one of his favourite things to do here – to learn to play a few new songs. He loves this, and so do I. It turns out, though, that our Ogie is also a bit of a music fan. Every time Bob would start to play, Ogie would run over to the patio door and rub against it, and roll around on the deck. What a character!
As a note: I checked back to my journal entries from our visit here in October. At one point during that week, we had a daytime high of +23. Yesterday, it was -31. A 54 degree difference. Yikes. Gotta love Alberta!
However … at 1:45 – ZERO DEGREES!! Oh ya – hot tub!!!
Another wonderfully relaxing evening – Bob bbq’d a couple of steaks which we had with a whiskey cream sauce, some super-yummy onion strings (thinnest imaginable onion rings, soaked all day long in buttermilk, then dredged in flour, S&P, cayenne, and then quickly fried in hot – 375—oil for a minute), and a Caesar salad with real bacon bits, and real parm cheese. And … wine (surprise!!). Then back to the living room for a roaring fire, a glass of wine, and some great conversation.
Nights were a little too cool for stargazing from the hot tub on this visit, but standing on the deck in the dark, you could hear the ice crack. And then, there was the moon.
I’ve mentioned many times how much I love cooking and in particular I love cooking at this place – it’s an awesome kitchen and so well equipped. The entire experience got better because, as a great birthday gift, Bob got me a Sony eReader. As well as having favourite regular books on there, I’ve put two of my favourite cookbooks there too. It’s wonderfully convenient to have these cookbooks with me wherever I go. The dinner recipes were thanks to “Pioneer Woman Cooks” and breakfast was though “Chatelaine Modern Classics”. Thank you, Bob!
Monday morning … time to go. We had a quick breakfast – cinnamon buns, fruit and coffee and then got busy packing up and tidying up the house. We appreciate coming back, so it’s important to us to leave the house in the same condition we found it in. I’d like to say “same condition or better” but there seriously isn’t a “better”. It’s always perfect when we arrive.
It’s sad to go. We’ve been discussing already when we’ll be back. Hopefully fall – same as last year.
So, time to say so long to the cats, take one last look at the river, and off we go. Until the next time …
As a post-script: From here we were heading to Calgary for a concert. Bob and I try to avoid traffic and Calgary as much as possible and always take Highway 22. This piece of road has become very dear to us as we travel it frequently, enjoying the foothills, the ranchlands, the cattle, the small towns. On this particular day, as soon as we turned south on Highway 22, this is the sight that sums up almost everything I love about Alberta, in one shot … the mountains, the foothills, the ranchlands … and a big, beautiful Chinook arch!
We arrived at Myown River Ranch late afternoon on Friday, February 18 (car full of groceries, wine, musical stuff) and to our surprise found the gate opened – uh oh … should have been locked. Not only that, there was a car there! Turned out to be a lovely surprise – the owners (from Calgary) had come out to clean, to make sure that the place was perfect (always is) and to meet us! They also thoughtfully left a nice card and a much appreciated bottle of wine for my birthday. They were very nice people and we were so glad to finally meet them. Bob and I are so fortunate – we get to meet the nicest people on our travels.
The ranch is spectacular in winter – clean, fresh, white snow … the river mostly frozen except for the occasional open areas. We lucked out on this particular weekend as far as weather went. Temperatures were a “little cool” (February – what would you expect?), but the sky was brilliantly blue all weekend.
That first night, Bob made dinner – lobster!! Bob is the best lobster-cooker ever. 
One of the many reasons I love him. We had picked up three 1.5 pounders. Perfect for a good dinner. Instead of a birthday cake, I had Layer Cake (wine) … a Malbec. Doesn’t really pair with lobster, but who cares! Fire in the fireplace … wonderful evening. Happy Day After Birthday to Me!!!
Saturday! We woke up to a brisk -31 (w/o wind chill) but full of optimism that it would warm up.After a great breakfast of Eggs Benny and fresh fruit (I love to cook at this place) we sat in the warm sun by the window and watched a Pileated Woodpecker do his thing on a tree just at the edge of the back lawn.
Pileated Woodpeckers are the type that Woody Woodpecker was modeled after – sleek black body and bright red head. And man! Those things are huge! Seriously -- he was the size of a chicken. He tried several spots on the tree before settling on what appeared to be a particularly yummy spot on the roots of the tree. I have no clue what tasty morsels he’d find in mid-February in Alberta, but he’d found something. He was there quite some time. That is, until our good friends, Ogie and Canada (the barn cats) came calling on us.
By this time it had warmed up enough to go for a walk. We bundled up for our walk, but the sun was deliciously warm and we actually felt over-dressed. We walked down to the river and took some pictures.It is so very beautiful there --even covered with ice and snow.
We saw a trail of paw prints that came from
up on the hill, down to the river, and down along the 
ice. I think it was a fox. Too big to be a cat, and the wrong shape to be a coyote or wolf.
Of course, during our walk, we were escorted by our gracious hosts, Ogie and Canada.
We walked up as far as the barn and just stood there. Absolutely still. And heard … not a sound. Not one. Incredible.By the time we came back to the house, it had warmed up considerably: -7!! Good enough for the hot tub!
An hour in the hot tub on a beautiful afternoon with that crazy blue, blue Alberta sky as a backdrop against the river and the trees was heaven. The steam was rising in the cold air. It was wonderful. Now, the sprint from the hot tub to the house was … ummm … fast and efficient.
Much later on, a delicious dinner of Maple Bison Stew with Cheese Biscuits, dessert of thinly sliced gala apple, old cheddar, and dulce de leche for dipping … and oh ya … some wine … an evening of relaxing, crib, and early bedtime. I won a game of crib. One out of three. Yes, that actually is blog-worthy.
I just have to say how very much I’ve come to appreciate being “disconnected” when we go the Myown River Ranch or Beaver Mines. You CAN enjoy life without internet, cell phones and TV. All that’s really important is who you bring with you.
Sunday: Another spectacularly beautiful day. -21 at 9:00 a.m. On a positive note, that left lots of room for improvement.Wow! Since our last visit, Canada has gotten quite brave and was the first one down from the barn this
morning and had head rubs all to himself. Ogie must have sensed that because all of a sudden, there he was, striding purposefully from the barn toward the house. They both still had bits of barn straw on them. Those cats really do have a good life.Breakfast? How about Chocolate Stuffed French Toast, Roasted Sugary Rum Bacon, and watermelon chunks, and lots of hot coffee?
After breakfast, I took a coffee and just hung out on the deck for a while with the cats, enjoying the scenery, the smell, the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the air. Just being there.And Bob began to play his music. This is one of his favourite things to do here – to learn to play a few new songs. He loves this, and so do I. It turns out, though, that our Ogie is also a bit of a music fan. Every time Bob would start to play, Ogie would run over to the patio door and rub against it, and roll around on the deck. What a character!
As a note: I checked back to my journal entries from our visit here in October. At one point during that week, we had a daytime high of +23. Yesterday, it was -31. A 54 degree difference. Yikes. Gotta love Alberta!
However … at 1:45 – ZERO DEGREES!! Oh ya – hot tub!!!
Another wonderfully relaxing evening – Bob bbq’d a couple of steaks which we had with a whiskey cream sauce, some super-yummy onion strings (thinnest imaginable onion rings, soaked all day long in buttermilk, then dredged in flour, S&P, cayenne, and then quickly fried in hot – 375—oil for a minute), and a Caesar salad with real bacon bits, and real parm cheese. And … wine (surprise!!). Then back to the living room for a roaring fire, a glass of wine, and some great conversation.
Nights were a little too cool for stargazing from the hot tub on this visit, but standing on the deck in the dark, you could hear the ice crack. And then, there was the moon.I’ve mentioned many times how much I love cooking and in particular I love cooking at this place – it’s an awesome kitchen and so well equipped. The entire experience got better because, as a great birthday gift, Bob got me a Sony eReader. As well as having favourite regular books on there, I’ve put two of my favourite cookbooks there too. It’s wonderfully convenient to have these cookbooks with me wherever I go. The dinner recipes were thanks to “Pioneer Woman Cooks” and breakfast was though “Chatelaine Modern Classics”. Thank you, Bob!
Monday morning … time to go. We had a quick breakfast – cinnamon buns, fruit and coffee and then got busy packing up and tidying up the house. We appreciate coming back, so it’s important to us to leave the house in the same condition we found it in. I’d like to say “same condition or better” but there seriously isn’t a “better”. It’s always perfect when we arrive.
It’s sad to go. We’ve been discussing already when we’ll be back. Hopefully fall – same as last year.
So, time to say so long to the cats, take one last look at the river, and off we go. Until the next time …
As a post-script: From here we were heading to Calgary for a concert. Bob and I try to avoid traffic and Calgary as much as possible and always take Highway 22. This piece of road has become very dear to us as we travel it frequently, enjoying the foothills, the ranchlands, the cattle, the small towns. On this particular day, as soon as we turned south on Highway 22, this is the sight that sums up almost everything I love about Alberta, in one shot … the mountains, the foothills, the ranchlands … and a big, beautiful Chinook arch!
