New Year's Eve

After having to call in sick on Thursday because I had no voice, I was a little worried that our weekend plans wouldn't happen!! But between the hot tea and the vicks, I felt MUCH better on Friday, even though my voice was pretty cracky!!


Glenn and I packed up on Friday morning and picked up friends Martin and Joleen by 12:15 and headed over to Buena Vista - the roads weren't great in places but we still made good time and checked in at the Deer Valley Ranch!

I had booked a 3 bedroom, 3 bath cabin and one NEVER knows what to expect when you're booking a cabin - they're usually very cute but sometimes quite rustic and that doesn't bother us since we're easy to please!! But this place was NICE - VERY NICE!! An extremely well-stocked kitchen with an eating area that led to the living room where you walked down about 4 steps into a huge room with a nice fireplace!! 2 of the bedrooms were huge - I picked the one with the tall, tall ceiling that had skylights set into it and that was neat!! Each bedroom had their own bath off of it and ours had 5 towel sets - FIVE!!! Needless to say we were very impressed with the cabin!!

We unpacked and played some Mexican Train and soon our other couple, Lonnie and Dawn arrived! It was time to start eating and drinking!!! Martin cooked up a "seafood boil" which consisted of crawfish, shrimp and crab and we ate and ate and ate - so much in fact that this "appetizer" actually became our dinner because we were so full, the thought of eating a full meal was just too much!!!

Here's a shot of all of us playing "Mexican Train" - and then it was on to The Newlywed Game and Left, Center, Right!! We had a ball playing games and laughing!!

We did end up later on eating the next day's "lunch" item which was French Dip Roast Beef but it worked out perfectly!! Yes, we even made it to midnight!!!

Because of the horrible cold and wind outside, we had opted to NOT go to the hot springs on Friday afternoon and were really hoping to go on Saturday - but we woke up to below zero weather with the wind whipping around once again and there was just no way that we could imagine sitting in those hot springs, especially since 2 of us were still sort of sick!!

It was fun to wake up the next morning and have Glenn cook us a huge breakfast and then sit around in our pj's and drink coffee and visit..........how relaxing!!!

We did bundle up Saturday morning and take a short, EXTREMELY cold walk to some of the different buildings at the ranch - we saw their outdoor swimming pool which is kept about 85 degrees (brrrrrrrr) and their outdoor hot tub (which needed cleaning but it was too cold to even think about that too) - they had a sauna inside one of the buildings but even that didn't peak our appetite!!

They have a huge lodge filled with couches and chairs and a large fireplace - just like you would imagine a dude ranch lodge would look like!!! On one side of the building was their large dining room (closed in the winter) and it was just a nice building that would be fun to sit and relax in!! Here's the outside of the lodge - the chairs are all facing the mountains and the view you see is the next picture!!

The last building we checked out was the game building - ping pong tables, pool table and upstairs a huge room with lots of chairs and a large TV - we figured the guys would want to be there watching football in the afternoon but they actually chose to stay with us in the cabin!! Outside on the deck, was this neat arrangement of antlers!! We were all impressed!!

Saturday afternoon we all piled into our car (we have a 3rd seat in the back) and took a drive over to Salida, a nearby town where we stopped at a cute coffee place for coffee and sandwiches - nice and cozy!! But we were all happy to head back to the cabin for a great spagetti dinner that evening and another round of games!! What fun!!! It's been years since I've played so many games in one weekend...............To be cont'd...........