It’s that time of year again. It’s the time of year when Dace pulls out the big map, and we start sticking pins in it.
Twice a year (once in summer, once in winter), during orientation, the first morning is spent getting to know the crew who will be working for the ranch that season. Everyone gets pulled up to that frightful (for some) place in front of the fireplace to tell the crew a bit about themselves before grabbing a push pin and placing it on their hometown. I always get a kick out of looking at the map, and seeing the distribution. With our strong Indiana ties, it’s always the case that there is a cluster of pins in that state. But, for a born and bred California girl, I was tickled this year to see so much West Coast representation. That’s a first that we’ve had so many pins planted West of Colorado.
Today is day two of the 2 week orientation. In the coming days, we will be spending a lot of time with each crew learning the ins and outs of their department, as well as the dude ranch as a whole. There is so much to learn, and when you set a goal to be the best dude ranch out there, the pressure is on the staff to learn the ropes quickly and well! There is also some fun to be had as Dace does a great job of working in some fun evening activities as well as enjoying the mock rides, meals and guided activities. You see, the servers and kitchen staff get to run through several meals with the staff as their guinea pigs. The wranglers take out a few rides with the staff. The guides lead the housekeepers on a bike ride. All of these fun times are great trial runs for the crews to make sure they have the flow and pacing down right so we are ready for all of you to jump in starting June 3!
For those of you in the last minute stages of planning your dude ranch vacation for this summer, we do have a few spots open due to cancellations. Right now, we are working on filling a cabin the week of June 10-17 as well as July 29-August 5. If you can come either of those weeks, give us a call!