Good morning! Do you think that you can get to breakfast with these horses blocking the way? Hmm, guess you better tell them to scoot, or you will never get that cup of coffee!
Now that I had my cup of coffee I will tell you about Michael. He had a very interesting life. He was born in Columbia, grew up in Austria (where he got his delightful accent), then moved to Tokyo and Hong Kong. He said that he was an Austrian Count. I’m not sure if he was telling the truth or not, but he played the part well. Five foot ten, with silver hair, he looked like a silver fox. Debonair, courtly and flirtatious, I could understand why he had been married three times. Besides women, he loved to smoke cigars and drink.
He was an accomplished rider and loved to do yoga on horseback. Sitting on the front deck of our cabin it was fun to see him gallop by on the back of a horse! He was leaning back on the horse so that’s his back was parallel to the horse’s back. How he stayed on, I will never know!
He was looking for wife number four, but it was best if she was named Elizabeth. I asked him “Why?”. He lifted the scarf on his neck, and on his nape was the name Elizabeth tattooed across his neck! Good reminder to only have the names of your children tattooed on you, not your wife or girlfriend, as they might change over time!
I mentioned that Michael liked to drink. Remember that fancy bar in the main lodge?
This is where Micheal gave us a demonstration on how to taste red wine. What a production! He had an audience of ten other guests as he did his demonstration. He said it was most important to be standing. So we all stood. Then you had to inhale and sniff the wine. Than you had to take a large slurp and swirl and slip it around in your mouth inhaling a large amount of air over the wine without swallowing any of it. It was all very noisy and amusing, and quite sexy. it looked like quite the party trick.
Michael had the hots for the activity bartender and as it was his last night he ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon that he wanted her to share. She had seen his type before and invited those of us at the bar who were learning how to drink wine ala Micheal to share the champagne. Poor Micheal left to go back to his house in San Francisco alone.
Michael was an investment banker, and I keep an eye on the news to see if he has been arrested for a Ponzi scheme! I was very nervous for the ranch that Michael would be good for his bill as he seemed quite sketchy, but as all guests had paid in full before they arrived, the Ranch had nothing to worry about.
I had previously mentioned that wine and liquor had been included in the daily rate. Bruce, the owner did have a locked cabinet of his special wines and liquors. Bruce told me that one night he had an inebriated jerk of a guest who tried to pry open the locked booze, he was caught and had quite the bill!
Steve fished the morning on the North Platte and caught twelve fish. The day started out at a cool temperature of 55 degrees warming to 85 in the early afternoon. 
In the afternoon Steve took a ride with me. This is his horse saying “I hope this guy continues to fish, he is too heavy for me!”
Do you prefer red or white wine?
Do you add ice to your wine?
Have you ever tried to break into a locked liquor cabinet that wasn’t your own?
Today was a sick day. A real sick day. I woke up feeling nauseous and had a monster headache. I really wanted Steve to stay and baby sit me all morning, but that was not on his agenda. So instead I curled up in bed and slept.
Yes, that’s an actual moose. This is almost a “Where’s Waldo” picture. Slap the table if you see the moose….”I didn’t hear you!”
We saw three immature elk. These guys were about two years old. I think they were a bit confused as they were hanging out by the police station.
At the ranch we were given a much larger vehicle to drive than last year. There was no windshield this time, I think they broke a lot of windshields the previous year due to all the stones in the road. 
As it was our anniversary we were upgraded to Brookie in the Anglers Camp section near the Creekside Dining Camp and the Brush Creek. 
It was quite the upgrade from the previous year. We had a kitchen and lovely dining room table and living room. Not that we were going to prepare any meals, but nice to have.
This was the bed. Nice and big. Plenty of room so we didn’t kick each other at night.
Dinner was once again a private occasion at Falcon Peak. I didn’t have to surprise Steve, he requested that I arrange a private dinner as he had enjoyed himself so much last year when we dined by ourselves. Here we are, I have my new Joseph Ribkoff Cleavage enhancing dress on. Steve has his sunglasses on, I can’t quite tell where his eyeballs are. 
Steve is checking out the view here. I guess he got tired of looking at me! 
Happy Anniversary Steve! I never tire of looking at you! I hope you catch many fish on this vacation!
Happy Anniversary Linda! I hope you meet many interesting characters on this Adventure!
This is a great picture of Brush Creek Ranch. You can see the iconic rock in the middle of the picture. To the right is the main lodge. I haven’t given you the link to their web site yet, so here it is. 
Here is a picture of me out and about in the RAZR. It sure was fun to drive. Much faster than walking, and easier on the hips than horseback. 
Steve was out fishing for the day, and boy did he have fun! Twenty nine fish for the day! This beautiful rainbow was from the North Platte River. 
After lunch, Steve went to Brush Creek and caught this nice brown trout. A beautiful 2 pounds and 17 inches.
Steve had a half day fishing on the North Platte and then came back for lunch with the rest of us at Falcon Peak. In the afternoon he fished on property on Brush Creek. Now having dinner with Steve at Falcon Peak was going to be a surprise. I had to figure out how to get him there. What was I to do?
Look how happy we are! Too bad I have a heat lamp growing out of my head!
Here we are, looks like I got quite the farmer’s tan earlier in the day. The couple the night before had a harpist play, that I thought was a bit much. It was more than enough for the two of us to sit and make goo goo eyes while we cooed our endearing love to each other! 
Who could not fall madly in love with this charmer? Doesn’t that face ooze endearing love with just a sparkle of mischief?
Here is a picture of our waitress and chef.
Steve spent the day fishing on the Encampment River. He caught seven fish, most in the 10-15 inch range.
This is the view that the bride has as she walks down the aisle for an outdoor wedding. I am sure that cushions on the rocks benches, and flowers on the arbor, make the site much more attractive. 
Here is the view looking toward the guests. There was a small pond in the center foreground, There were no fish there! 
Here is a picture that I took of our room. Quite a bit different than the professional picture! 
This is the activities barn. This is where you signed up for all your activities. There was a small gift shop where you could buy shirts, jackets and sunglasses. 
Lunch was held here. It was a buffet lunch, with your choice of salads, mains, and lots of desserts. In the main lodge there were always snacks available. Plus your choice of drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. You could have your choice of wine also, with a walk in wine cellar just off the dining room. There was no charge for any alcohol when we went there.
This is where the saloon was. People would gather there before dinner and have drinks and canapés before dinner. Steve would play pool. Some nights were Karaoke nights. That comes into play when I write up my 2015 Adventures here. I hope you don’t die of suspense waiting for me to write up that trip! 
After dinner we went to the Zip Line. Traditionally you are supposed to do the Ropes Course first and then as a treat do the Zip Line. I am not buff enough to do a Ropes Course, so I begged to just do the Zip Line. I am afraid of heights, so why I agreed to do this I do not know. It was scary but fun. This was the rope walk that you had to go up before you got to the zip off platform. The guide forgot to attach the safety carabiner to me, but I was lucky and didn’t fall off before it was time to zip off. 
Here is Steve at the end of the zip line.
This is the type of picture you get from an iPhone 4 shooting into the sun. Not very good. But it will have to do, as it is all I’ve got. You can see Steve’s waders and fishing rods on the ground along with his boots. You are correct if you wonder if his socks always make it to the laundry basket. They don’t! But this blog is devoted to my excellent adventures with my heaping hunk of handsomeness-aka Steve, so let’s ignore the laundry issue. There are lovely rocking chairs on the deck. I think i might have rocked twenty minutes on them. 
Of course Steve went off fishing again. He caught 14 fish for the day including two 18 inchers. This was done while wading the North Platte River. Those beautiful fish from yesterday were an inch smaller than today’s big fish!
In the late afternoon we did go for a ride. Here I am being instructed on how to hold the reins of the horse. I was taught to hold them like an ice cream cone. Most people on the East Coast where we are located, ride Western. As I don’t ride at home, only on vacations, I didn’t have to unlearn much.
Don’t I look sharp? Shoulders back, and trying to look relaxed. The horse doesn’t look very happy does he, or is he really a she? 
The wrangler we were with looked like Sam Elliott. No, don’t worry he was happily married as was I. Plus, how much successful flirting can you do with the wrangler when your husband is riding behind you? 
I am not sure If you remember but in the past I have suffered from asthma. And altitude sickness. After lunch today I got a bit winded going up the slight hill to our cabin. I mentioned it to staff and look what was delivered to our cabin for me to ride around in! My very own RAZR! This one was new, as the windshield was still there! 
Dinner tonight was at Creekside. I still happen to have that top also! 
We also had a little combo play music for us during dinner. After dinner you could grill your own marshmallows for s’mores.
We stayed in Coop, which was a converted chicken coop. It was a very cozy romantic place to begin our first adventure at Brush Creek. Over the years we have stayed there four times in four different rooms, and also stayed at Magee Homestead, their adults only resort once. I think I should get an award for being a frequent visitor!
Do you want to see the floor plan? Of course you do! Your wish is my command! These pictures are all from the Brush Creek website, as I am sure you can tell. 
This is the main lodge building. There is a wrap around porch with rocking chairs. Inside are lodge rooms, that are similar to a hotel room, meeting rooms, and the main dining room. For the high end wedding you can do a ranch buy out and have all your guests stay here. 
In the background you can see the dining room tables and chairs. There is a lovely bar with bar stools. Yes, those are real fleece seat backs! In fact, when I first looked up the website I fell in love with those chairs. I was so excited to finally sit on one! In the foreground is a gas fireplace with glass surround. On some evenings there was music by local artists.
Here is Steve with a beautiful brown trout. 
This is a picture of a beautiful rainbow that Steve caught. Yes, he was as happy as he looked! 
Our final picture of the day was another brown trout.
Steve ended up catching nine fish for the day.
Of course we stopped in Laramie Wyoming, at a fly fishing store for a look see. I go to grocery stores, Steve goes to fishing stores. It makes for a happy marriage.
We drove through Medicine Bow National Forest. The forest is in southeastern Wyoming, and our highest elevation on the route was over 12,000 feet. 
It was very windy, and a bit cool. You can see all the snow that has remained over the summer. 
There was a lovely lake, but I declined a dip. We had places to go and people to meet! 
Finally after about four hours, we saw a big sign for Brush Creek. I hope I have since burned that unflattering top. 
Now this is a great entrance! Wouldn’t you like to have a sign like this at the end of your driveway back home?
After checking we we drove to the shooting range for our first set of activities. At the Ranch you can do fishing, riding, shooting, mountain biking, archery, paint ball, ropes course, and hiking to name just some of the activities. 
Here I am getting pistol instructions. Shooting glasses and ear protection are required. As they should be. I am looking at that picture and I must have lost that fleece vest, I haven’t seen it in years. The floral shirt is still in my closet up in Lake George. I wear it often. I sure got my money’s worth on that purchase! 
We had many targets. Close up targets for the pistols, and then also there were some targets much further away for the rifle shooting. 
My aim was pretty good for a newbie! The instructor opened up the safe and let me use his Ruger with a laser sight. That sure did make aiming easier! I also used a Browning. One of the targets represented a villain with a hostage. I was able to shoot the bad guy and save the hostage. Just call me Dirty Harriet! 
Here is Steve. Looks like a battle of the bellies! Ha Ha. Our instructor won that battle!
We also did some rifle shooting. Here we were trying to aim at fake prairie dogs. There was also shotguns for skeet shooting. I was tuckered out by then and didn’t partake. Steve had fun and was pretty good.