Vacation Review, CM Ranch
I loved everything from the feel to the smells of the saddle room. Isn't it beautiful?
The Badlands of Wyoming.
I rode Liberty all week and Nate rode Chief.
Jules and I, early morning, before heading to breakfast. We loved our cozy cabin and had a lot of fun lighting the wood stove and playing cards and other boardgames inside, or sitting outside and drinking wine and looking up at the stars at night.
Luke learned to fly fish, even catching some fish on his own. This part of the river that he was fishing on was called "Jakey's fork", we traversed it many times on our horses.
A sunrise ride to an amazing breakfast right at the foot of the badlands. This morning was a little rough as it was COLD. I wished I had brought gloves for the kids hands…it was that cold holding the reigns. Getting to breakfast after a 2 hour ride it was nice to warm up by the fire and chow down on monkey bread, eggs, bacon (bacon was a staple of every breakfast. It was the worlds best bacon) hot coffee and chocolate and basically every delicious breakfast thing you can think of. We then rode back to the ranch, so it was about a 5 hour excursion all in. The kids got to be real horseback riders over the course of the 7 days.
Naps. Naps were taken. Beautiful, long naps in the afternoon sun.
As weeks at the Ranch run from Sunday to Sunday, and the Philly airport being notoriously sucky, we chose to fly out Friday morning and spend the weekend in Jackson Hole. Endless opportunities exist for hiking, great eating, shopping, or spending time in Yellowstone National Park or the Elk Preserve. Jackson is a cool town, we stayed in a great hotel, and it gave us time to arrive at the ranch already used to the time change, relaxed, and well into vacation mode.
Luke rode a horse called Luke, something that all of the kids found endlessly funny. He was a good horse.
Setting off on our sunrise ride to breakfast. The other days of the week our rides went out at 9-11 and 2-4.
The kids at the breakfast ride. This old wagon was set up near the fire. It was the perfect place to sit and eat.
Have you ever taken a dude ranch vacation? We hadn't really thought about it until about 5 months before we ended up booking this one at the CM Ranch, outside of Dubois, WY. We chose it because it was one of the few Ranches that we could find that would allow a 5 year old to ride, and it was important to us that Jake be able to have the same experience as his older siblings. We had also had a friend go their the year before with her entire family (the ranch holds 50, I think that her extended family rented out the entire place) and from seeing her photos I knew that it was somewhere special. After talking to her about their trip I brought it up to Nate. One of his fondest memories from growing up was his trip to Philmont as a Scout (yes, my husband was an Eagle Scout), and he was immediately interested). It had to be August as swim team and golf took up the entirety of our June and July, and we lucked out in that they had a cabin that could accommodate us available. With the ranch maxing out at 50, it can fill up fast and we were thrilled to have booked a spot. From the moment you arrive everything you need is taken care of for you. Every meal is included and you can BYOB. If you run out (of anything) the staff is happy to run into Dubois and pick up anything you need. Laundry can be done for you, which comes in handy as riding isn't a neat and clean business. The food was delicious ~ waiting to hear the meal time bell be rung became one of my three time a day pleasures. Meals are HEARTY, so you may definitely leave with your pants fitting a differently than they did when you arrived. I had grand plans of going on runs amidst the backcountry….I did that exactly twice ~ once in Jackson Hole, and the first day we arrived at the ranch. Riding 4 hours a day left me uninterested in running and more interested in napping, reading books on my porch, and 5:00 cocktail hour!
We made great friends ~ two other couples were there who were from NYC and also had kids our age. The kids hit it off and it meant we became instant friends, spending late nights around the campfire at their house or sitting inside one of the Ranch's many library rooms while the kids played late into the night. The staff itself is tremendous, so friendly and all so interesting. A lot of them are young, college kids studying equine science or simply kids who grew up on ranches and get to spend their summers outside in God's country. What a great life. The head Wrangler, Johnny was warm, funny, sarcastic and almost straight out of a movie. The perfect cowboy. He was also incredibly knowledgeable and we felt safe, and as though our kids were safe 100% of the time. The kids simply were happy 100% of the time. You know what that means, right? That WE were happy 100% of the time. I've never felt closer as a family. The 100% lack of any screens for 10 days was so wonderful. We aren't a big screen family anyway, but to have it completely gone from our lives? To lounge in the sun with nothing to do? To lay on a blanket on a chilly late summer night and look at the stars for over an hour? Amazing.
All in all I can't rave enough about the CM Ranch in particular, or this type of vacation in general. You have to like the outdoors. You have to have kids who aren't afraid to take risks, as they pretty much just got them up on the horses first thing Monday morning, went over some basic rules and really stresses safety stuff, and had them out on the trail (separate from their parents) with two wranglers, one in front and one in back. You have to be willing to eat family style meals (we ate with just our family at the table, but it wasn't like we were ordering off of a menu for lunch and dinner ~ we ate what they were making. The food was rich and delicious and exactly what you would picture eating on a ranch. If you are a picky or restrictive eater you would want to take this into consideration). You can opt into or out of any activities (such as going to the square dance in Dubois, or the real live Rodeo. All rides and hiking and fishing are optional. When looking at the price, remember that that does not include the automatic gratuity, or that you will probably want to hand tip some staff members who really go out of their way for you. This really adds on to the price of the week.
All in all? I could imagine us going every year. Many families do just that. There were several on our trip who have been going 20 years or more, every single summer. That said, there are SO many places that I want to take the kids, that I don't know that I'm someone who can do the same place every year. Could I see us maybe going back in three years? Maybe with another couple or two? Definitely. It was hands down the best vacation we have had so far, beating out the Disney cruise, which was pretty amazing.
If you have ANY interest in a dude ranch type vacation I can't say enough about the experience we had at the CM. If you are at all interested in going I would be happy to answer any questions. It is a fabulous way to reconnect, recharge, relax with family and really get deep into nature, all in the most beautiful of settings. Make sure to bring your boots!
We made great friends ~ two other couples were there who were from NYC and also had kids our age. The kids hit it off and it meant we became instant friends, spending late nights around the campfire at their house or sitting inside one of the Ranch's many library rooms while the kids played late into the night. The staff itself is tremendous, so friendly and all so interesting. A lot of them are young, college kids studying equine science or simply kids who grew up on ranches and get to spend their summers outside in God's country. What a great life. The head Wrangler, Johnny was warm, funny, sarcastic and almost straight out of a movie. The perfect cowboy. He was also incredibly knowledgeable and we felt safe, and as though our kids were safe 100% of the time. The kids simply were happy 100% of the time. You know what that means, right? That WE were happy 100% of the time. I've never felt closer as a family. The 100% lack of any screens for 10 days was so wonderful. We aren't a big screen family anyway, but to have it completely gone from our lives? To lounge in the sun with nothing to do? To lay on a blanket on a chilly late summer night and look at the stars for over an hour? Amazing.
All in all I can't rave enough about the CM Ranch in particular, or this type of vacation in general. You have to like the outdoors. You have to have kids who aren't afraid to take risks, as they pretty much just got them up on the horses first thing Monday morning, went over some basic rules and really stresses safety stuff, and had them out on the trail (separate from their parents) with two wranglers, one in front and one in back. You have to be willing to eat family style meals (we ate with just our family at the table, but it wasn't like we were ordering off of a menu for lunch and dinner ~ we ate what they were making. The food was rich and delicious and exactly what you would picture eating on a ranch. If you are a picky or restrictive eater you would want to take this into consideration). You can opt into or out of any activities (such as going to the square dance in Dubois, or the real live Rodeo. All rides and hiking and fishing are optional. When looking at the price, remember that that does not include the automatic gratuity, or that you will probably want to hand tip some staff members who really go out of their way for you. This really adds on to the price of the week.
All in all? I could imagine us going every year. Many families do just that. There were several on our trip who have been going 20 years or more, every single summer. That said, there are SO many places that I want to take the kids, that I don't know that I'm someone who can do the same place every year. Could I see us maybe going back in three years? Maybe with another couple or two? Definitely. It was hands down the best vacation we have had so far, beating out the Disney cruise, which was pretty amazing.
If you have ANY interest in a dude ranch type vacation I can't say enough about the experience we had at the CM. If you are at all interested in going I would be happy to answer any questions. It is a fabulous way to reconnect, recharge, relax with family and really get deep into nature, all in the most beautiful of settings. Make sure to bring your boots!
Looks beyond amazing!
ReplyDeleteLaura it's totally your kind of place- you would just love it there!
ReplyDelete