Reminisce

We took a trip to the mountain last week. After dropping off my sisters and their friends at the Virgin River Rim Trailhead, we went to my family's ranch. Jared wanted to do some plein air painting and Kendi and I got to do some exploring.
As Jared was dropping Kendi and I off at the lake we saw these beautiful ducks.
The lake is really full right now because of the spring run-off. In some places it was dangerously close to the road. I had to keep Kendi from bending over to look in the water. It was also very pretty. I feel very blessed to have grown up so close to this area. There were some summers when we practically lived here.
We call this "Ty's Gate." There were a lot of mud holes in the road and Kendi would try to shimmy around them. It didn't take her long to figure out that, in the mountains, mud is unavoidable.
I used to take this walk from the lake to the "upper cabin" when I was little. To me it was a long ways to walk and it seemed to take a lot of time. To Kendi it was no big deal. Even at her exploring pace it didn't take us long.

She had to stop and pick up almost every stick in the road.
She took off through this open field like she just couldn't help but run through it. When she got into the tall grass she stopped dead in her tracks. All she said was, "wet," and then turned around and came back.
This is the old gate that was up, before you got to the Upper Cabin, all through my childhood. They finally replaced it this year. If you look close you can see remnants of what must have been a very fine gate many, many, many years ago. The old stop sign used to make us laugh. And the way it was padlocked. . . all you had to do was lift the chain over the fence post to get through.
When we came to the saddle sheds we found Jared and Aunt Mary painting the big pine tree.
This is next to where Jared was painting. It is also where the bikers came down from the Virgin River Rim Trail to meet up with us. You can see the upper cabin on the hill if you know where to look. The trees are also just starting to bud. It will be even more beautiful here in the next few weeks.

This is where I remember coming often as a very young child to ride our horse, Buddy. Things have changed so much since then. Buddy went to live on a farm and died a few years back. We can't go to the ranch whenever we feel like it because of gas prices. I won't get into that but I will say that things are getting interesting.

My uncle who ranches up here told us that he has bought a wagon. At first I thought he meant a station wagon, but then he said it was a buckboard wagon. He has ordered some harnesses for his horses. He has a couple of pastures up here that are several miles apart and it is cheaper to drive a team of horses between them than to drive a car. I wouldn't be surprised to see cattle being herded off the mountain this year instead of being trucked.

Things have changed and I know they will continue to do so. I hope that we are able to spend more time up here in the future and have as much fun just plain enjoying the place.