Country Extravaganza
I spent Saturday in Paradise.
Nathan's uncle invited us up to his farmhouse for a fun-filled day this past Saturday. Intrigued, we of course went. First we rendezvoused at his grandma's house in Pleasant Grove for a little carpool action. Then we began the long drive up to Paradise, UT (near Logan). I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's a pretty nice place. Upon our arrival there, I immediately noticed the plethora of insects... and then commented to Nathan how quaint the house was. I believe I said, "It's like a real farmhouse!" This comment was followed by merciless teasing... seriously, though, I've never seen a farmhouse before; I grew up in a city. A big city.
Anyway, then I was introduced to Pokey, the horse I was to ride later that day. I rode her around the round corral, so there was no chance she could make a getaway. As horses go, she wasn't quite as forbidding as some of the other ones, so it wasn't too bad. By then I was starving, so we roasted hot dogs over a campfire for lunch. It was delicious. (Except I'm not patient enough to let them get hot in the middle... I'm better at marshmallows. They're faster.) Fortified, we saddled up the horses and headed out. (First, though, Nathan and I borrowed cowboy boots and hats. We were tricked out.)
About this point I learned we were herding cattle. I wasn't so sure this was a smart idea, since half of us had hardly ridden horses before, let alone herded anything, but I figured it was worth a shot...
20 minutes into the ride I decided (in my vast experience of now two times riding) that bareback is more comfortable than riding on a saddle.
After 45 minutes, we reached the cows in a field. This part was actually pretty fun. We boxed them in and made noise to keep them moving, and chased them when they escaped. (Okay, they never got very far. But it was still fun.) There were about 15, probably half calves and half mothers, and we herded them down the road for about 45 more minutes. Eventually, we reached our destination (another field) and our work was done.
At this point, Nathan's uncle expected all the novices to ride back in a truck. However, his cousins neglected to tell us that.
So we began the journey home. Pointing at a mountain in front of us, one cousin said, "That's the fastest way home. Let's go!" Up. Down. Up. Down. Through some trees. Through some fields. Up some more. Down some more. Etc. I swear it was like, 4 mountains. More than once we questioned if this really was faster... going downhill on a horse is not my idea of a good time. (The horse's rear sways to help it keep balance, meaning the rider's lower back gets wrenched all sorts of interesting ways.) The scenery was pretty, I'll grant you that, but after an hour, I was very ready to be done. We didn't bring any water with us, so I was sunburned and dehydrated and sore.
We finally arrived back at the quaint farmhouse, at least 3 hours after we left. It took the better part of the evening for me to recover enough to not look like I was dying, judging from everyone's concerned comments about my appearance...
After a delicious dinner of goulash or something goulash-ish, we finished up our country day by going to a country dance in a barn. Nathan and I showed off our mad skills to the music of a live local band (half of which he was related to), ate delicious, delicious, delicious homemade and deep-fried scones, and then headed home, exhausted. We got back at about 12:30am. Luckily we have 1pm church, so we got to sleep in. :)
And I'm still sore all over. But it's slowly getting better. Slowly. (Yesterday was definitely tortuous sitting through church.)
It was fun though. Despite my whining. :)
Nathan's uncle invited us up to his farmhouse for a fun-filled day this past Saturday. Intrigued, we of course went. First we rendezvoused at his grandma's house in Pleasant Grove for a little carpool action. Then we began the long drive up to Paradise, UT (near Logan). I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's a pretty nice place. Upon our arrival there, I immediately noticed the plethora of insects... and then commented to Nathan how quaint the house was. I believe I said, "It's like a real farmhouse!" This comment was followed by merciless teasing... seriously, though, I've never seen a farmhouse before; I grew up in a city. A big city.
Anyway, then I was introduced to Pokey, the horse I was to ride later that day. I rode her around the round corral, so there was no chance she could make a getaway. As horses go, she wasn't quite as forbidding as some of the other ones, so it wasn't too bad. By then I was starving, so we roasted hot dogs over a campfire for lunch. It was delicious. (Except I'm not patient enough to let them get hot in the middle... I'm better at marshmallows. They're faster.) Fortified, we saddled up the horses and headed out. (First, though, Nathan and I borrowed cowboy boots and hats. We were tricked out.)
About this point I learned we were herding cattle. I wasn't so sure this was a smart idea, since half of us had hardly ridden horses before, let alone herded anything, but I figured it was worth a shot...
20 minutes into the ride I decided (in my vast experience of now two times riding) that bareback is more comfortable than riding on a saddle.
After 45 minutes, we reached the cows in a field. This part was actually pretty fun. We boxed them in and made noise to keep them moving, and chased them when they escaped. (Okay, they never got very far. But it was still fun.) There were about 15, probably half calves and half mothers, and we herded them down the road for about 45 more minutes. Eventually, we reached our destination (another field) and our work was done.
At this point, Nathan's uncle expected all the novices to ride back in a truck. However, his cousins neglected to tell us that.
So we began the journey home. Pointing at a mountain in front of us, one cousin said, "That's the fastest way home. Let's go!" Up. Down. Up. Down. Through some trees. Through some fields. Up some more. Down some more. Etc. I swear it was like, 4 mountains. More than once we questioned if this really was faster... going downhill on a horse is not my idea of a good time. (The horse's rear sways to help it keep balance, meaning the rider's lower back gets wrenched all sorts of interesting ways.) The scenery was pretty, I'll grant you that, but after an hour, I was very ready to be done. We didn't bring any water with us, so I was sunburned and dehydrated and sore.
We finally arrived back at the quaint farmhouse, at least 3 hours after we left. It took the better part of the evening for me to recover enough to not look like I was dying, judging from everyone's concerned comments about my appearance...
After a delicious dinner of goulash or something goulash-ish, we finished up our country day by going to a country dance in a barn. Nathan and I showed off our mad skills to the music of a live local band (half of which he was related to), ate delicious, delicious, delicious homemade and deep-fried scones, and then headed home, exhausted. We got back at about 12:30am. Luckily we have 1pm church, so we got to sleep in. :)
And I'm still sore all over. But it's slowly getting better. Slowly. (Yesterday was definitely tortuous sitting through church.)
It was fun though. Despite my whining. :)