Excursions on High Acres

 With our guests on High Acres for holidays or long weekends, we would quickly size them up. The ones who did not care to get outside were culled from the beginning and left at the house. (Obviously, they came with someone fun, because we could not imagine any other reason they wanted to be there.) That left the rest who were up for an adventure.

So after a round of Bloody Marys at breakfast, a plan for the morning needed to be made. There were several options. We had a jeep and a truck. Depending on the number of folks we had, we would load up one or two vehicles and go roaming about the farm. There were barns, 'the lake', a water fall, a creek (Big Hungry), several pastures, and apple orchards - enough places to ride around for hours if you had enough gas, ice, and libations. Usually, we were prepared.

The other option was horse back riding. This was the preferred option. And, we had equines of all types to suit every rider, even those who had never sat on a horse before. (And, cameras to record it all for posterity.) I always rode English, Daddy rode Western,  as did most of our guests. As, I said we were prepared. And, if you really did not want to ride, that was OK too, because the jeep was always close by since it carried the roaming bar. Riders get very thirsty.

So after the mass confusion of who was riding which horse, quick riding lessons to those who had never ridden before, and minor adjustments to tack, we would be off. There was a long winding road that went down to Big Hungry and the waterfalls. It was shady so that was a pleasant trek if it happened to be warm. If I were riding by myself it may take me 30 minutes to make the round trip, counting a good 5-10 minutes resting at the creek. With the crew, we could do it in a good 2 hours. (Bar stops take a while.)

By now it would be time for lunch back at the house. Riding wears anyone out, so after lunch, next on the agenda would be naps or reading for a while. (Or, enjoying a beer or two on the back deck.) Then it would be time for another tour. This may be to see the cows or  visit the neighbor's apple orchard, where there were apples on the trees as opposed to on our farm where the cows ate most of the apples before we could get any.