By Steph
As we near the end of our season, we are all enjoying the last days of guests at the ranch. Come October 18 things will get awfully quiet around here. The last guests will be gone, the staff will be packing up and heading out for adventures, and the horses won’t be running in and out from their pasture each day, but just staying out there on vacation.
Between now and then, we’re enjoying the beauty of the transition of fall. This has been the longest fall foliage season I’ve ever experienced. Since mid-September, the colors have been gorgeous. Instead of all the aspens going at once, they’ve been changing bit by bit. One stand will change while another stays bright green. Over the course of the past month, the forest has let the colorful show linger. We’re still seeing some stands of aspens just starting to change to yellow, orange, and red. So, chances are that this show will last until Halloween!
The weather this October has been a mixed bag, from snow to rain to bright sunny days. We’ve had freezing weather and we’ve had 70 degree days. As one guest from San Diego pointed out to me this morning, welcome to Colorado! No matter what the weather, our guests have gotten out there and made it happen. Add a jacket, some gloves and a rain slicker and off we go into the woods. A good attitude and a sense of adventure can go a long way on a rainy day!
The elk finally decided it was fall, and have started keeping people awake at night up on the hillside. It’s such an eerie sound to hear them bugling back and forth. There is nothing like waking up to a herd of elk outside your bathroom window.
The days keep flying by, and the season continues to transition as we make our way toward winter. For now, we’ll all take a few more days (can we even request a few weeks?) of gorgeous fall days like today. In fact, we all sat out at lunch today just to soak up the wonderful sunshine, not something you can do all the time in October. As our season comes to an end, we’ll reflect back on a huge year, figure out what we want to change for next year, and how to make the guest experience even better. Then it’s time to start planning for winter. December 13 is opening day for the winter season, and then we’re off to the races again!