A Wyoming dude ranch adventure...

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Odds and ends from the past week (longest post yet... sorry!)

Today the first summer guests finally arrived! My dept. spent four hours in our assigned guest cabins this morning tweeking and finishing everything up.... perfection! This evening, there was a welcome cocktail party where we met the guests, followed by a surf and turf dinner around the big outdoor grill... steak, salmon, baked potatoes, zucchini, and an ice cream sundae bar.

Here are some shots of various guest cabin bedrooms, a bath, exteriors and sitting areas:

Baths are well appointed and CLEAN!

Beds have beautiful wool Pendleton blankets, made in the USA (Oregon) since 1863. Every year, they come out with new collectible patterns and designs, and they're not cheap! Pillows and bed skirts have been lovingly chosen to match by the ranch owner. Artwork, curtains, lamps, rugs and everything are coordinated and perfect.

All cabins have hanging baskets or flower boxes, and many have hummingbird feeders.

Some cabins have wood burning fireplaces, and others have wood stoves. They all have books, pens, pads, coffee makers, coolers, etc.

Many cabins have meadow or Teton views...

All cabins have firewood, kindling, starter chips, bug spray and more... placed and refilled by yours truly ;) Nice view below, eh?

An antler door handle at the office...

Before I arrived, I couldn't imagine what we would be doing for 3 weeks before the guests arrived. Now I know. All our hard work has paid off in every department and we are ready for this long awaited opening day. The ranch owners encourage us to dress Western tonight to meet the guests, and to enjoy the same cocktails and wonderful meal that guests do. I love this place! ;)

A few more shots from around the ranch... including flowers, the ranch boat ready for lake day, the tubing area/creek and Pete's Pond where cookouts and the Wednesday breakfast ride take place..

Yet another type of wildflower! They're everywhere...

A rare dark day beyond the Tetons... usually blue sky and wonderful.

Wednesday, we had our department and crew photos taken, in full Western attire. Since I was IN the full group and Cabin Keeper shots, I'll add them when they come back from the photographer. Below, gathering at the corral....

Some of the wranglers, above and below...

Above, the culinary team... and below, the maintenance gurus. They rock!

And little old me......

Then... on Friday night, we had the 2016 Crew Cabin Crawl... with a different beverage served at each of the 10 cabins... quite a soiree!

Nice of him to contribute a charcuterie platter instead of booze.. no really!
After 5 cabins/drinks, we needed to eat! Then to the next 5 cabins.

The whole gang above...

Margaritas with fresh mint...

On my porch... I served Jello shots (black cherry Jello and Absolute vodka)

These were some darn good whiskey sours (above, left) and dead turtle shots (right). The cabin above (right) served Svedka vodka with Monster energy drink. Long night.... glad it's over.

Finally on Saturday night, I had dinner (mystery shop) at the Four Seasons Resort in nearby Teton Village... I enjoyed Zinfandel, West coast oysters, Miso Black Cod, Beef Rib and a chocolate souffle with Cappuccino... great meal!

NOW I'm ready to buckle down and get back to work next week! I have Mondays and Tuesdays off going forward. I'll finally get to start riding horses ;)

Saturday, June 11, 2016

National Museum of Wildlife Art... wow!

The other night, I attended the monthly social at the local Wildlife Museum. I wasn't expecting much in the way of art but this place was amazing, with over 5,000 items and 550 artists represented. Many of the artists are also represented in the Smithsonian and other collections around the world. The museum, modeled after a Scottish castle and built in 1994, is a rustic stone structure tucked into a hillside overlooking the Elk Refuge with a panoramic view that extends for miles.

There is a sculpture trail surrounding the museum, featuring 20+ huge life-like bronzes like the ones below. It was designed by landscape architect Walter Hood. A lot of these photos are back-lit due to the time of day, but you can still get a sense of their size, etc.

I used my camera phone's panorama feature for the first time to capture this shot of the valley below the museum.

The event offered catered food and beverages for sale, museum tours, and a featured artist Lindsey Ross, photographer and owner of La Chambre Photographique, who was demonstrating wet plate collodion photographs, reminiscent of Ansel Adams' work. The museum currently has an temporary exhibit of original Ansel Adams photos from a Yosemite trip he took with artist Georgia O'Keefe and Godfrey Rockefeller in 1938. Here are some portraits he took on the trip. Ansel Adam's son is speaking at an event next week in the park, and I've already got my ticket! ;)

"Wildlife art" has existed since prehistoric cave paintings, but I never really thought of it as a type of art until I visited this museum. Artists from around the world specifically focused on this subject matter. One of the museum's oldest paintings, Garden of Eden (left), dates to 1650 and was painted in Holland.
Artists from France, Germany and beyond came to the US in the late 1700 and 1800s specifically to visit the wilderness and later, national parks to paint these images. Prior to this, places like the Berlin Zoo provided their subject matter. Some of the paintings and sculptures are huge and most are very life-like.

French artist Rosa Bonheur was one of the first female wildlife artists, and she painted "King of the Forest" (left) in 1897.

One of my favorites!

This painting shows the bloody aftermath of a battle between two male elk.

Thomas Moran painted Tetons, below, in 1903. He spent over 20 years painting images from Yellowstone and the Tetons, and this one struck me because it looks almost exactly like the scenery I saw during my Phelps lake hike the other day!

I also loved this one of a pair of moose in the mist.... beautiful! If you ever get to Jackson, WY, make sure to visit this special museum. It was made possible by a long list of wealthy, conservation minded local donors. Joffa and Bill Kerr donated much of the original collection. I just read that Christy Walton, daughter in law of Walmart founder Sam Walton makes her home here. Apparently, she is the richest woman in the world, with a net worth of 34 billion (12.5 x Oprah's net worth... fyi. The event ended at 9PM, and I stayed to the end, wandering the collections with an audio device that allowed me to press a button while standing in front of a piece of artwork to get commentary on what I was viewing. Time well spent! :)

Christy Walton who is also the richest woman in the world with a net worth of 34 billion dollars! Christy inherited her fortune from her late husband who was the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She currently resides in Jackson, Wyoming. To get a gauge of just how wealthy she is, she’s worth more than 12 1/2 Oprah Winfreys!!!

Read More: Who Are The Wealthiest People In Wyoming & How Much Are They Worth? | http://kisscasper.com/who-are-the-wealthiest-people-in-wyoming-how-much-are-they-worth/?trackback=tsmclip

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Today we learned about dangerous animals...

After lunch, a "large carnivore biologist" named Sam came to the ranch and spent an hour talking to us about bears, mountain lions/cougars, coyotes and wolves. Apparently, all of them are found near Jackson, WY these days, some having been reintroduced to the area (wolves) or moved down from the Yellowstone area (grizzlies). The yellow line represents grizzly habitat in 2004. By 2010, they migrated out to the blue line and are much more common to encounter... a 38% expansion in habitat! Sam doesn't see this as a problem, as Wyoming has the food and wild undeveloped terrain to sustain them.

Sam, the bear expert/biologist... I've included a few of his slides from the presentation.

He showed us how to differentiate between grizzly and black bear tracks, scat and "kills".... Note long claw marks and a few differences in the foot pads.

He explained how to gauge bear behavior and determine when it's a bluff charge (aggressive-defensive behavior) vs. a pending attack (predatory behavior). Pacing, panting, head swinging, vocalizations, salivation and jaw popping are not good signs.

Most important, he explained what to do when attacked: Lie flat, face down, covering your neck, and don't move! If you're able, use your bear spray... it works!

And then he touched on coyotes, local wolf packs and mountain lions, all of which live in the area but are more likely to attack livestock and pets than humans. He closed with a Q&A session. I honestly learned a lot, and feel like my bear spray could be a life saver. He said people that shoot bears in self-defense usually end up much worse off than those that use spray.

A recent and rare "surplus" elk kill by wolves from a nearby pack. It was all over the news.

Some Wyoming wolves, above and a coyote below. I've seen coyotes slinking around in the pasture with the horses here, just like dogs.

One of the perks of working on a ranch! I may keep my cat inside after all! ;)

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Sunday surprise!

I wasn't going to post today, but hey, it's Wyoming and I'm still in awe of the little things. Be sure to read to the end...
I took a 5 mile walk along the Snake River dike, saw a Marmot and a "middle of nowhere" swing, as well as a cool cabin in the woods. It has been really warm here this week, which I love as a beach girl, but no one else seems to be enjoying it.

I got back to my cabin and read a book in my big resin arm chair, and Scout came outside too. She saw a Prairie Dog disappear into a hole, and then parked herself at the opening on high alert for the next half hour. Poor thing has no idea they have an elaborate network of underground tunnels and that the same prairie dog probably emerged from a different hole nearby, laughing at her.

The girl who lives in the left side of our cabin is a wrangler and has been collecting antlers and skulls while on her horse back rides along the Snake River and the islands in the middle of it. We adorned our cabin, Gatehouse, with a few. It's so "Western".

And now for the "surprise"... after I finished reading, I walked about 30 yards from my cabin to the crew laundry room to wash a load, and when I emerged, this guy was standing there eating the leaves off trees. That's right, after having a dead camera battery yesterday and missing the moose photo op in the park, I found a big moose just feet from my cabin, and he walked right across the road while I watched. Good things come to those who wait! ;)

To cap it off, look at tonight's beautiful pink sky sunset over the Tetons!