After I published last night’s post Steve remarked that I did not embellish much about the road to Cow Creek. I told him that I blocked a lot of it out of my memory as it was such a bad, bad road. Steve said that the road was bed rock in many parts and that at times we couldn’t even tell where the road actually was. Yep. That is why I didn’t remember the road. It was bad!
Here I am at breakfast, reading the literature about the history of Cow Creek.
Please don’t quiz me! This is the view of the dining area from the opposite direction.
I can tell you that Cow Creek was founded in the 1800’s as a boarding ranch for wealthy English boys to learn Western ranching. Generally these would be second sons as only the first born son would inherit the estate. In the 1930’s Cow Creek was transformed into a guest ranch. It’s for sale now, if you want to buy it!
Breakfast!
I love my whipped cream on coffee!
Here is a view of Cow Creek and the valley.
After breakfast I wandered down to the horse barn for my scheduled ride.
Can you see the fish in the stream?
Here I am with one of the staff and Lanier one of the owners. This ranch had the first riding waiver that I had to sign that mentioned the possibility of death, I looked at Lanier and asked her how often that happened. I did not relish the thought of being their first casualty!
The creek at Cow Creek was very pretty.
Unfortunately there had been forest fires a few years ago and the hill sides were severely damaged.
This is some damage from a bear that was clawing on the tree!
Look how big the scars are from the bear claws!
My posture looked good, I was happy to be almost done with the ride! At one point in the ride my horse stumbled and I semi fell off it. No worries! I lived to tell the story!
Thank you for the ride Horse!
After my ride I walked back to the room where I rested for the rest of the day. The elevation really got to me and I was exhausted.
This is the living room where guests could hang out. I don’t even remember sitting here reading. I blocked out a lot about the stay at this ranch as I was so uncomfortable with everything about this place. The living room does look cozy though!
This is what one of the rooms looked like. I didn’t find any guest logs to find out if any famous people had stayed here before. Nor were there any other guests staying here to tell you any fun stories about them!
The bathroom.
This is where our meals were cooked.
This is one of the fish that Steve caught in the morning from one of the lower beats on Cow Creek.
Steve didn’t really like these lower beats as they were enhanced.
The fish was a real beauty, but Steve prefers less constructed streams. This fish was 21 inches.
So Steve and his guide moved upstream. This was one of the spots where Steve fished later in the day.
Isn’t this a beauty? He preferred the wild trout as opposed to the larger fish in the stocked ponds. This was his first Rio Grande cut throat.
Here is another area where he caught many wild trout.
I tried sitting here to read for a little bit while Steve was fishing. It got a bit too sunny for me so I went back inside.
I could see the horses gather near the gate while I read. You can see all the fire damage here.
This view is of one of the ponds that were created on Cow Creek.
The rooms were in a motel shape arrangement. They had a very bad fire that destroyed much of the landscape here. You can see how close the fire was to the lodge.
Steve came back from fishing to report that he caught 25 fish for the day, rainbow trout, brook trout, brown trout, cutbow and a rio cutt.
Then it was time for dinner. We didn’t have the cook come for lunch as she had to drive about an hour each way to get to the ranch.
We had a somewhat green salad.
Dinner was pot roast. Followed by the cake from the previous night.
There were many hummingbird feeders under the eaves.
Here is a close up of one of the Hummingbirds. Aren’t they cute?
Off to bed!
What is your favorite type of bird?
Are you a second son?
Would you rather catch a large stocked fish or a small native fish?
Is this place too dull for you? No famous people, no interesting guests with interesting background stories! No pictures of good food! I might as well just hang up my blogging skills. Instead I will persevere, you never know when something exciting will happen!
Here is Steve’s guide checking out the water. You can tell that he is the guide as he has the net. Also if the guide were taking the picture he would either have the sport centered in the picture or on the left of the frame looking toward the river. I should stop complaining, and just be thankful that I have a picture of the beautiful stream!
While Steve fished I rode. I bought two shirts and one pair of jeans to wear while I rode. This shirt is a white buffalo plaid. Buffalo plaids are usually red and black. A new fun fact for you!
Below us you see the Artist Colony and some of the creek side cabins. We stayed in one of the Creekside cabins on one of our stays. Brush Creek invites artists (musicians, composers, photographers, painters) to stay for the season and create.
I pondered this all afternoon on my next ride. I did lots of pondering as you can imagine!
Here is a beautiful fish from Steve’s fishing.
On my afternoon ride I found this beautiful deer shed. I am happy that we were going to drive back home as I don’t think that I would have been able to fit it in my suitcase!
Steve and I met back for dinner. This was my entree. It looks like it was polenta with elk tenderloin. It could be something else entirely also!
Dessert was a berry crumble.
So we met my new friends from my ride at the saloon before dinner. I asked them to join us for dinner. I have scrambled their faces to preserve their privacy. We met a new couple also. The couple at the far end of the table run a travel agency that specializes in hunting trips. Brush Creek has much to offer for those that like to shoot and hunt. The ranch used to have bison that were available to hunt , but the bison kept escaping and got in the neighbor’s fields. The neighbors were not very happy at that as the fences were ruined and the cattle were bothered. Bothered cattle do not bring happy cattle prices. So that very pricey hunting option had to be scrapped. The couple on the right, S are the couple that we met last night and I went on the ride with today. S is the owner of the six carat diamond.
This is one of the reasons we keep coming back. A 20 inch brown on the Encampment.
This is Cheyenne the horse that I rode today. There is so much to remember! Shoulders back, chest open, seat firm, hold reins like an ice cream cone, let the horse know who is boss, don’t let him eat grass, lean forward going up hills, lean back going down hills, when you post go up and down faster. If you are hitting the saddle hard it is because you are too slow for the beat, look ahead, not down, sit up like a girl, not slumping like a guy-they are protecting their equipment! Too much too remember but having fun anyway.
This was where I hung out before lunch. Can you believe I got a little sun burn? It’s the high elevation and poorly applied sunscreen!
Dessert from lunch today. I forgot to take pictures of the buffet. Oh well.
Good morning to you! As I have been cranky about people not liking my posts I am suggesting that you go up to the beginning of the post and click on the blue heading of the post. That way you will be able to go directly to the blog website where you will see the like button on the bottom of the post. Then you take your little index finger put it over the like button and press “like”. If you are reading on a desk top, then you need to use your mouse. It is really quite simple. I could be really mean and make this post in two parts. Those that clicked the like button would be kept on the mailing list. Those that don’t would get scrubbed. But I am nice, and I am not going to do that. As you could just go directly to the website and read the posts that way.
Did you click the blue post heading yet?
I had a plate of fruit on the side.
This morning I headed to the lower veranda to hang out. All the howler monkeys were asleep and I didn’t see many birds although I could hear them. On Trip Advisor many people had posted about the great number of birds that they saw on the bird watching expeditions here. One person mentioned that they saw over 175 different species over 4 days! That is a lot of birds! I can’t say that this is something I will try as the thought of wandering around in the jungle trying to locate birds is not my cup of tea. Especially with it being so humid out and there are lots of bugs in the jungle.
My lunch time view.
I ordered the beef quesadillas. They came with all the usual fixings.
Instead of having something highly caloric for dessert I asked for a fruit plate. Talk about a generous serving!
Fooled you! I decided that I would walk down, but wanted to push the button to call the tram to test it out.
I think there were over 300 steps to reach the gym and I did not want to end up walking down and not getting a ride back up and needing to walk 300 steps back up. Momma didn’t raise me to be a fool!
The tram sounded like it was moving, so off I went, as I was reasonably assured that I could ride back up the hill.
Last year when we were here we met some French people that worked in Manhattan. They were in tremendous shape and walked down and up the stairs. I am not French, so I am therefore not in tremendous shape.
I was happy to see that the tram was indeed on its way back up.
I didn’t need to rest on the bench on my way down, I would have needed a long rest if I tried to walk up the stairs.
Halfway point!
The gym. They did a lot of renovations since last year, extending the gym.
There was an exercise bike, a weight system and some other equipment. The gym was air conditioned, but I don’t think that it was ever turned on. So even if you wanted to work out, the gym would take forever to be at a comfortable temperature.
There was also a bathroom with kayak paddles and life preservers. There is something about those sinks that are mounted above the counter. I don’t really like them. I prefer my sink mounted into the counter.
The dock was completely renovated since last year. There had been a flood and it destroyed the dock.
Looks like the couple decided to go kayaking. Did I tell you yet today how much I hate kayaking?
I was going to sit in the chairs and read instead.
Of course it started to sprinkle as soon as I sat down. This is the view downstream. Eventually the stream hits the ocean.
So I headed back to the gym and to the tram.
I pushed the button and the tram started heading down the hill.
The tram! The tram! See these people on the left? They carried big sticks with them. We had such sticks in our room, but did not know what they were for. They were walking sticks!
I pushed the up button and off we went!
The view looking down to the river was not very good at all with the plexiglass being all dirty.
With a little elevation it wasn’t so bad after all.
Someplace in the jungle is our room!
There were even birds of paradise growing near the tram tracks.
Then it was time to relax and wait for Steve to come back from fishing.
This is a picture of a tarpon. Much, much bigger than Steve’s fish. Steve unfortunately did not have Victor take a picture of any of today’s fish.
Tonight’s amuse bouche was devilled eggs again. They were just as yummy as the first time we had them.
My drink of the evening was a Spicy Mayan. Copalli Rum, all spice leaf, lime juice, simple syrup and orange bitters.
Steve had the chicken wings for his starter.
I can’t remember what kind of soup I had. I neglected to take a picture of the menu so your guess is as good as mine. It was green though!
Steve ordered the chicken. It was too dry. He did enjoy the puréed carrots.
I ordered the fish. It was very good. Since Steve didn’t really enjoy his chicken I shared my fish with him. I am such a kind and generous spouse, aren’t I?
For dessert I ordered the pineapple coconut pie. Actually it was pineapple pie with coconut ice cream on the side. I guess that explained why the pie didn’t taste like coconut at all. Slow learner that I am, I didn’t realize that the ice cream was coconut until 2 nights later. More of that story in another blog post!
Steve had the vanilla cake for his dessert.
Breakfast!
There are many beautiful parks in the Western United States. How many have you seen? I have been to all of the listed ones except for Grand Canyon.
The entrance to the park. Come along with me to see the park.
Map so you can see where I traveled.
You can see clearly here the levels of rock. Would you believe that 90 million years ago this area was covered by water? Now instead of a parking lot it is a lunch lot! Doesn’t that sound like a song?
Independence Monument and how it was made.
Yes, there were people climbing this today!
Not for me!
Some of the wildlife in the park.
Redlands Fault view.
Rockslide.
The view of the valley below.
It was cool to drive through a tunnel.
I was so excited to see a group of Bighorn Sheep!
Look at the guy on the rock wall in the second picture!
Another handsome guy!
Look at the wind erosion!
The views were amazing.
This area was shaped by earthquakes and erosion.
The summer wild flowers were in bloom.
You need to be tough to try to grow here.
The famous balanced rock.
I did another good deed today. These two tired hikers were walking along the road looking for a ride to the next parking area. They were hiking since 8 a.m. and it was 2 p.m. when I stopped to give them a ride. I am glad that they were not axe murderers. They were from Switzerland and were visiting our National Parks. I think I saved them another two hour hike. It was 82 degrees and very hot out!
On the way back I stopped at the Marijuana dispensary in De Beque to check it out. I didn’t buy anything, nor did I ask any questions. That’s for someone else to do!
Then it was back to High Lonsome to get ready for dinner.
These are all different fish too!
Another picture of my new male friends, just because!
We had assorted smoked meats as an hors d’oeuvres.
Fresh biscuits.
Salad.
Dinner was fried chicken.
With lots of golden mashed potatoes.
Big bowls of broccoli.
Dessert was chocolate lava cake that was not dry! I can’t stand it when the cake is over cooked and the inside is not oozing out like lava! Tomorrow is our next adventure. Grand Mesa and then a wedding in Beaver Creek.
Steve was out fishing for the day (surprise, surprise!)and I decided to drive to Fruita to see where all the fruit is grown that this area is know for. Fruita has an average of 300 days of sunshine a year. The weather is mild and there is plenty of water from the nearby Colorado River to irrigate the fruit trees.
While I was out and about Steve caught this monster fish. He caught it on the K Bar T on the White River. It was four pounds and 22 inches. As Steve does catch and release fishing he released it unharmed for someone else to catch on another day. He had a slow day as he only caught 4 fish. However if you catch a fish like this monster, you don’t really care how many fish you caught!
Here are some bowls of the local fruit from breakfast.
I could see this mesa along I-70.
Here is a closeup.
Fruita was very small. Population of around 13,000.
The Colorado River runs through town.
There was grape growing.
When the chicken did not die, the owner decided to feed Mike with an eye dropper. Mike’s owner took the chicken on the side show circuit. Unfortunately Mike the Headless Chicken choked on a kernel of corn and died 18 months later.
My lunch.
In the afternoon I went for a ride.
Before dinner we had an assortment of cheeses.
The menu for dinner.
Green salad.
As always at dinner there were plenty of fresh rolls.
Pot Roast as advertised!
Mashed potatoes.
Here is my plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes.
Dessert was Creme brûlée.
This is the last post from the January Delphi trip that I didn’t fully post.
Today was our last day. As such, Steve was not going to go fishing. We decided that we would go on an adventure and try to find a Blue Hole. Blue holes are deep holes in the limestone bedrock filled with fresh water. The slightly acidic fresh water has dissolved the limestone to create drainage holes. V decided to tag along with us. Would it be a good or bad decision? Well, stay with me and you will find out.
First picture is one of the guide boats. The guide sits in the back and drives the boat. When he gets to the fishing spot, he can climb up on the back platform and look for fish while using a long pole to push the boat. There is no electric motor on these boats. If the guide starts getting old he will sit on the platform and not stand on it. I don’t blame him, I don’t like heights and being up there would make me nervous. However, the guide has a better view if he is at the higher spot. The sport sits on the seats until the boat arrives at the fishing spot. Then he will stand up on the front platform. He can lean against the metal bar for support. That long pole on the left of the picture is the pole to push the boat along. If I were to tag along with Steve all day, I would be sitting in that chair the whole long day. No where to get out of the sun, no place to get out and stretch your legs. Basically trapped the whole day. Now if I remain at the lodge, like I usually do, I can go a nice bathroom anytime, soak my feet in the pool, jump from couch to porch swing, or to bed in the room. 
We are in the Bahamas so we Steve got to drive on the left side of the road. The steering wheel was on the left. 
Steve came this way nearly every morning on the way to the boat launch. This is the parking spot for the guides. They have already launched their boats. 
This is the launch spot. Not particularly scenic is it? 
I should have known that we were on a fool’s errand as the sign was directing us to caves and not holes. We decided to look for Nancy’s Cave first. No, I did not find out who Dan, Nancy, or Ralph were. Nor, if have they been found. 
Well, we never did find Nancy’s cave. The road looked like it was beginning to end, so we turned around. There were small trees growing in the dirt road, it looked like not many people had been this way recently. 
This looked more like a place where a cave might be found. We either have a sign post waiting to happen, or a sign post ready to be removed.
This is where you might have your picnic before or after you visited the cave. We did not bring any food with us. Since you are reading this, you know that we safely returned from the adventure. Look how slim and trim Steve is in this picture, it looks like he didn’t gain any weight on this vacation at all! When Steve reviewed my post for editing he scoffed at my comment that he is slim and trim. I will say that he is trim then. 
Well, this looks promising. Come along, won’t you? 
Here is V, she was such a good sport to come along with us. 
This is the interior of the cave. It was not very tall, We all took a peek and then retreated. We could hear all sorts of gurgling and sloshing noises from the area. On the way back I thought “Oh, let me return and take a little video of the exciting sounds!” Of course, when I got back to the mouth of the cave, SILENCE!
On our way to our last cave. You might think that Steve was our fearless leader, but my now I am sure you all know, that Linda is always in the lead. I was already on my way back, as I thought this trail was a bust. 
Last cave. You can see the water has a bit of an blue tint to it. 
Well, that was the end of our adventure. I wanted you to see some of the bark of the trees in the forest. There are fires and a lot of the vegetation is destroyed.
Back at the lodge, safe and sound we all had lunch on the veranda overlooking the ocean. I should probably let Steve get the ocean view, but I am greedy, and like to look at the ocean. When he is out fishing all day, he can look at the water all he wants. You can tell it is a travel day, as he is wearing one of his plaid shirts. One of these days I will count how many plaid shirts he owns! 
I had the mahi mahi on romaine. 
Steve had the chicken with Chinese noodles and vegetables on a green salad. 
We all had ice cream bars for dessert. E from DC didn’t care for hers, so J, her husband ate two. He reminded her that when you are off the coast of Africa for nine months on a naval boat, you vowed never to decline ice cream in the future. 
Steve had remarked at dinner one night about this poem in one of the bathrooms off the great room. 
I think most females never even notice it. After all, why would we? It is on the wrong wall! 
Then it was off to the airport where we waited for our flight to Fort Lauderdale. 
This is a picture of Marsh Harbour International Airport. Currently it is closed at night as the runway lights are out. They had better get that fixed soon! The building on the right is the old airport. I can’t even remember what that looked like, it was very small though! 
Back at Fort Lauderdale airport we had a long layover. Better a long layover than missing your flight due to bad weather. We ate at the Jack Nicklaus restaurant. Steve had the chicken with fettuccini.
I ordered the grilled cheese with tomato soup. I also ordered ice tea with lemonade to drink. “You mean an Arnold Palmer?”, the waitress asked? “I thought you weren’t allowed to ask for that in this restaurant.”, I said. She looked at me as if I were nuts. Now don’t tell me I was the first person to say that. Now that could be the case, as I often am the only person to say something awkward!
This is not an April Fool Joke as I discovered this all last night. it turns out that I never finished my blog posts of the trip to Delphi that Steve and I took in January! There was much more that happened than what I had posted. Try to follow along, I am sure it will be terribly confusing!
Today was the last lunch for A, J and S. They were flying to Nassau, spending the night at the new Baha Mar, and then off to Miami to drive to Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys. I have always wanted to stay at Cheeca. Maybe if A starts a blog, I will be able to read about it. Start a blog A!
Here is our big bowl of blue corn chips and dips. I am dipping my chips in guacamole, more often now. I’m still not sure if I like it. I draw the line at ordering Avacado Toast, that’s just too trendy for even me!
I ordered the Mahi Mahi on field greens. I neglected to ask for no olives. 
Every one but J ordered an ice cream bar for lunch. J is trying to keep his figure.
Our first canapé was smoked mackerel mayonaise on a …well it wasn’t mentioned on the menu card, so you can decide if it was a pitette, croute, or cracker! 
Next up was pork fritters, with a soy sauce dip.
Our starter was a conch salad. Something that I do not care for at all. 
I ordered the rack of lamb. I asked it to be cooked medium, as the other night it was a little too rare for me. 
Steve ordered the hog fish. A terrible name for a tasty fish.
Dessert was a delicious coconut creme brûlée. Steve didn’t eat it as he doesn’t like coconut. I bet his weight gain this week will be less than mine!
Good morning!
More fruit and then oatmeal for me. I have been very good and not had any eggs this week. S, our new friend from England has been having Eggs Benedict every morning. They looked really good, and I was seriously tempted to try them, but I was good and stuck with oatmeal. Hopefully my cholesterol will go down and I may try a bite in the future.
In case your forgot, this is the Great room. S sat on the white couch and crocheted. I sat on the orange couch and read. M sat on the other white couch and read and texted. She gets a lot of texts! Every few minutes we would hear a “zing!’. 
More dips and chips for lunch. I felt so much better that I could even lean over to grab a chip. The previous days, I had to have someone hand me a handful!
M was able to convince the kitchen staff to make her some iced tea! She got a whole pitcher of it and almost drank the whole thing. I did have a glass, along with my glass of rose.
I had the Mahi Mahi again. 
M had the Chinese chicken salad with avocado instead of the chicken. She partially destructed the artful arrangement of noodles before I could take my picture. Shameful action indeed M!
We were offered raisin cookies. There were originally 8 on the plate. I ate seven of them. I do seriously have a sweet tooth!
We decided to go pool side after lunch. This is truly my happy place!
G and Steve went to Cherokee Sound to fish today. Cherokee is gorgeous but the fish there are very difficult to catch. Steve did end up gettin one fish on his last day, about ten minutes before they were to return home. G got skunked, but I think he had a sufficiently good time to decide to come again. This picture is from a tree that had blown over. Those are conch shells in the roots of the tree. Just in case you are guessing that conch are good climbers, NO they aren’t. They crawled into the roots before the tree was blown over.
Speaking of conch, the first canapé was conch fritters.
Here is a picture of two of the lovely ladies who were serving us dinner tonight. The other canapé was humus with olives on a cracker. I don’t like olives, so I passed on them.
Here is Steve meeting one of the new guests before dinner. Steve is always pontificating about something, I am not quite sure what was said. Perspective is everything, another guest also named Steve was standing behind my Steve. The new Steve was a larger man than MySteve, but NewSteve is practically hidden!
Here is another picture of M’s iced tea. It was dark and sweet!
The first course was crab bisque.
It was Jason, the chef’s night off, so dinner was not as fancy. I had the chicken with mushroom pie. 
Dessert was very interesting. The top bits were chocolate nibs, then, underneath was a fruit crackly shell and under that was a layer of semi melted vanilla ice cream. I didn’t like it, but I still ate almost the whole thing!
Here are M and G, not sitting on the couch K-I-S-S-I-N-G, but G is explaining the intricacies of fly fishing. M is a very sweet wife, and is pretending to be interested. A few weeks back Steve and I watched a Dave Chappelle show. He did a skit about a box that people could push that would say “Wrap it up!”. It could be used when you heard a politician, bloviating about some nonsense, or when clergy took too long in getting to the point of a sermon, or the part of the skit that put Steve in hysterics the most-when someone was hammering away in bed having sex, and taking way too long. Anyway, I think that Mary is wishing she had the wrap it up button around so that she could push it!
Sunday morning and we have a surprise picture from Steve of the fruit bowl untouched by everyone else. Steve is up early to go fishing and took this picture for the blog. He is such a good husband to me!
This cinnamon danish was supposed to be in a circle, but it went on strike on the way to the oven. It was still tasty! Steve gets up early to be sure he gets one!
I was able to go to lunch. Here is Mahi Mahi one a bed of greens and fresh vegetables.
First canapé was shrimp popcorn with red pepper dip.
Next up was smoked mackerel mayonnaise.
Our starter was stone crab claws. Usually they have a horseradish dressing. As Steve and I both dislike horseradish, we had ours plain. G picked his clean! Um um um.
Steve and I each had the Mahi Mahi on herbed quinoa.
G was sitting next to me. He had the Osso Bucco. I really like Osso Bucco, but have yet to have it in a restaurant cooked as well as I do it at home. So it was fish for me. The other night we had dinner with friends. One of the guests loves duck, and prepares a phenomenal duck himself. He ordered it and was disappointed that it was not as tasty as his version. So I went to school on that lesson, and had the fish instead!
For dessert we had banana beignets. A very sweet dessert.