She’s Back and Now With Added (Re)Freshness, Celebrating 31 Years and Learning New Tricks In The Kitchen.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz

We had a lovely family vacation. Where do I begin to share? It was a fulfilled trip, sort of like Summer Vacation for adults. The Coach and I loved this destination when we visited for his Fiftieth birthday and always wanted to return and share with the kids; thanks for business being so good the past few years we were able to accomplish that. Lauren’s new husband Nathan (as apposed to her non-existent old husband) came along as well as Lindsay’s best friend, our adopted daughter, Halie.

The last time we were here the activities were a’la carte, but all meals were included. Now they offer ALL activities AND SPA treatments with your nightly rate. I had two massages and the best body scrub of my life last week. I know, decadent.

They Say Getting There Is Half The Fun

We woke up at the ass crack of dawn (3:15am) last Tuesday for a six am flight. I’m not a morning person, but for vacation, I’ll break out of my comfort zone.

Toto, we’re not in Florida anymore.

We flew to ATL, then Denver, Then a short flight to a small airport near Steamboat Springs. We were then picked up in a sprinter van by our Lodge and drove an hour and fifteen minutes to our destination. Three Forks Ranch

Most of us wore pants and closed toe shoes knowing we were going to a destination that was cold. Some of us (not me) were wearing shorts and one person was wearing shorts AND sandals. Which was funny since we had snow and sleet on our way to the ranch.

There were a lot of views like this that weren’t dreary from weather.

The ranch is in both Wyoming and Colorado. Suz all week: Am I in Colorado right now or Wyoming as I walk from the bedroom to bathroom in our suite. (we were the blue dot)

Take A Deep Breath Of Dry Air

As soon as we arrived to the ranch they fed us and then we hopped into some UTV’s and were given a ranch tour. The property encompasses 200,000 acres and it does contain a working cattle ranch.

A small herd of Elk fleeing the Floridians.

Before our arrival we chose what we wanted to do each day. This is just Tues-Thursday. We also had things on Friday and Saturday on the backside.

Coach’s itinerary

31 Years Of Fun

While we were on our trip The Coach and I celebrated our 31st Anniversary; how apropos to be there with our daughters. They’re still a little miffed that they weren’t at our wedding. 😜

While we were all enjoying lunch together on our anniversary Lolo asked me: Are you and Daddy going to do something romantic today? Me: I think we’re doing it right now.

I’d Eat That

Our first scheduled fun was a Mediterranean Cooking Class for the six of us. I know, how awesome is that?

We each made a version of hummus, a flat bread, pesto over pasta and some sort of egg filled phyllo; it was a delicious amount of fun. I decided then and there that I should adopt the Mediterranean diet in my life; it’s so good for you and Hello, my bad cholesterol.

Later at lunch I had to rethink all of that since they served the best French fries. Hey, I tried.

I’ll share more in another post so I don’t bore the heck out of you with all my good stuff.

I’m slowly catching up with da’ blogs; I hope you didn’t miss me too much.

XOXO

54 thoughts on “She’s Back and Now With Added (Re)Freshness, Celebrating 31 Years and Learning New Tricks In The Kitchen.”

    1. Thank you, Barbara.
      Our guide considered that Elk Herd (maybe 60?) to be small compared to what they generally see. We were in awe of their beauty. Yes, a vast difference from our flat, humid, tropical home.

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  3. That sounds like a great vacation. I’m looking forward to hearing about the other adventures (any of them involving elk??). Is that the first cooking class you’ve taken? -Jenn

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    1. No more adventures involving Elk. We are not hunters; they do allow for hunting during certain times of the year, and even then they are limited to one animal.
      I think it might have been my first cooking class and it was so much fun!

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    1. Thank you, Ally.
      You need to visit Colorado and Wyoming; both are beautiful states. It’s such a vast difference from flat, humid Florida; we never took the views for granted.

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  7. Happy Anniversary #31 and may there be many, many more ahead.

    I loved both of those states when I visited them. I know you appreciated that cool, dry air and those comfy temperatures. You didn’t bring back another pet, did you?

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  8. First, belated Happy Anniversary! That looks like a fabulous trip and I can’t wait to read more about it! I would have done the same Wyoming/Colorado thing that you were doing! Yes, the Mediterranean diet is a good one until something better comes along like French fries!

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  10. You had me at the photo from the plane. So beautiful. It all sounds amazing. Glad they included activities in the price of the night stay now. Bonus! I’m getting ready to do Yellowstone at the end of July. I anticipate herds of Elk running from us, but our stay will sadly NOT include massages. I’m with you – eating lunch together IS romantic. How wonderful that you were all able to enjoy this together. Nathan and Halie are super lucky to be part of your crew. Happy, happy anniversary!

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  12. You had me at “Are you and Daddy going to do something romantic today? Me: I think we’re doing it right now.” Awww 🥰 Happy anniversary! What a fantastic way to celebrate 31 years! And while the elk herd was wow-worthy, the trees in all shades of green and brown stole the scene for me 🙂

    Are you moving there, to the border of Colorado and Wyoming? 🙃

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    1. Thank you
      Yes, the various shades of green were swoon worthy. I love the trees there; the aspens, birch, pines….and as one of the kids said: They grow Christmas trees here! 😉

      My hair would love it if I moved there. My throat, sinus’s and skin? Not so much!

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  14. Bijoux

    How awesome is that? The only thing I’ve come close to, where the activities were part of the resort, was the Greenbrier. And that was company paid for! It did overlap my 33rd birthday, which was cool. So, you took a sprinter van? What are you? A Real Housewife??? Lol!

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    1. That sounds like it was a nice trip and celebration for turning 33. Oh, to be 33 again?!

      Bijoux, I’ve had some pretty awesome moments in my life where I say: I think I saw one of the housewives do this very same thing! Of course, minus the drama and bitchiness.

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  16. nicoleboyhouse

    Welcome back! That looks like a really incredible vacation. How wonderful you could share it with your daughters as well. Happy anniversary to you and Coach!!

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  17. Pat Birnie

    What a wonderful experience – & happy anniversary! It’s amazing to be able to take our families on trips like this. We have had the good fortune to do the same, although having a much bigger blended family and lots of grandkids the locations are a little less luxurious! We did Mexico a few years ago and have 15 going to Portugal next month. We tell them we are spending their inheritance….

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    1. I love that so much. When I questioned the Coach about the cost of this trip his reply was something along the lines of “we can spend the money with them, on them or leave it to them later”. 😳

      We had a trip planned to Spain and Portugal in 2020. The husband still wants to make it happen at some point. Please, please let me know how you feel about your visit there when it’s all said and done.

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      1. Pat

        I can already tell you that both Spain and Portugal are wonderful destinations. We spent 5 weeks in Spain in 2013 and 6 in Portugal in 2016. Our type of travel may not be for you – we walked across both countries with backpacks (have you heard of the Camino de Santiago?); 700-800 km over about 3-4 weeks each time (then a couple of very relaxing weeks. ) I’m guessing that’s not your dream vacation lol. You see amazing little towns that you wouldn’t typically visit on a trip. BUT the next few weeks were beach, castles, pubs and restaurants. Wine is delicious and inexpensive. I highly recommend both countries!

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        1. A few of my dear friends hikes the Camino de Santiago about five years ago, so yes, I’ve heard of it!
          I’m not as advt as you Pat; I’d prefer an air conditioned and comfy mode of travel. 😅
          Hopefully we will see some sort of version of those two countries in the next year or two.
          BTW, it sounds like YOU should be writing a blog with all of your travel adventures!!

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  18. I feel silly complaining about time zone confusion when you didn’t even know which state you were in when wandering from the kitchen to the bathroom! Looks like a great trip, though. I’d have enjoyed the cooking class myself.

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  19. M

    Hello! First time to comment — found your blod through either Swistle or A Girl in a Boy House (which I also found through Swistle).

    I have been reading your archives for fun!! I love to read but I seem to have such a small attention span nowadays so I haven’t been reading books — blogs have been my choice of reading material these days.

    I love the pictures! It sounds like a wonderful vacation. We are in the San Diego area and although we still love vacationing in other beach towns/areas, we are also more and more attracted to the mountains to vacation gave me another thought of “wow, I’d like to go there”!

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    2. When you live/grow up near the beach you (me) can often take it for granted. Right? The mountains? They are a magical place to me and this trip was filled with lovely moments made even more so since my people were with me. Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a note-it means more than you can know! 😀

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      1. M

        Oh, yes, definitely about taking iit for granted. We lived in the LA area (about 10miles from the beach) then moved away to a landlocked city — then back to CA 12yrs later … and we are now about 4miles from the beach. We took advantage of the proximity for the first few years but then life gets busy and you take things for granted again — but we are trying more and more to enjoy our surroundings so we usually go to watch the sunsets. It was cold yesterday but we went anyway — no sunset, gloomy all day, but it was still so great to sit there for an hour and breathe the cool air and listen to the waves.

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        1. Life definitely gets busy, so having those relaxing rituals (like watching the sunset) should be our top priority….always easier said than done.

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      2. M

        I’m really enjoying reading your blog — thanks making me laugh and smile; I admire your writing. And your energy with all the projects you have had!! I can barely keep up with one dog, one son (and a husband who is very helpful and has a lot more free time than I do). I’m inspired to do some projects around our house/yard; we haven’t really done anything to it since we bought 12yrs ago. And it’s time!

        Sorry about all the comments….I don’t mean to be too chatty…but I sometimes can’t help it. 🙂

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        1. Thanks for the compliments and for making me giggle!!
          We were on our way home today from a big event on the other coast that has taken up a lot of our time in planning, and I mentioned casually about redoing/updating the girls’ old bathroom. I have renovation issues and perhaps more time than most people.

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  20. M

    That’s awesome! It’s so nice to see a room/area transformed — so refreshing! We will be doing a bit of renovation ourselves (I’m hoping not too big because of the expense — yikes!) on our house in the LA area and see if we can sell. We’re a bit late, not doing it at the height of the market, but we have tenants and COVID protections were in effect a bit longer in the LA area — so we just do what we can do. I’m excited about it it, although it’ll mostly be overseen by my husband since I still have to work.

    I’m nearing retirement (ha! I’m old!! But I’ll be a young enough retiree, going as soon as I’m eligible, next year I hope) so I’ve been looking into renovating our current house more seriously. It’d just be mostly kitchen and backyard — and a house in our neighborhood/development went on the market a few weeks ago and I absolutely love a part of the backyard…so I have a bit of an idea what I may like to do. A big aspect that makes my head spin about these renovations (besides the expense!) is that we don’t have contacts — it’d be so much better if we knew a contractor who has worked with us before or someone we know….that’d make it a lot easier, I think.

    But anyway, have fun on your next project! Can’t wait to hear/see on your blog.

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    1. That must have been crazy having a tenant and not being able to have income during Covid. Hopefully,
      You can still get some work done and sell before the market switches again.
      It’s always great having connections to contractors.
      If I don’t know anyone or know someone WHO knows someone, I use Thumbtack.com. I’ve found it’s an amazing resource for many different types of needs.
      Best of luck!

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      1. M

        Thank you! And thank you for the site rec — I just told my husband. Yes, it’d be nice to have connections with contractors! I hope we can find one at Thumbtack that we can form a good relationship with!

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