I mentioned before that the Coach and I visited Three Forks Ranch back in 2015 for his 50th birthday. I knew we had to recreate my favorite photo, wearing my favorite outfit: WADERS. They’re the newest 6thing in fashion. Who doesn’t want roomy pants that make you look like an Oompa Loompa?

We’re almost 7 years older, a bit ‘fluffier’ and still as happy as two silly people can be.

Catching Flies

Fly Fishing for the rest of you. I’m not really into fishing, but I am into spending time with my people and this is actually more fun that it looks.

I have to give a huge shoutout to our Lindsay. A lot of this trip was outside of her comfort zone; I mean, she loves nature, but not so much fishing. Or archery. Or tossing axes in any direction Or mountain biking, but she NAILED it on every adventure and we were so happy she enjoyed it all. She actually caught the first trout and I think that qualifies for some some sort of award.

Did I just tell you all of the other activities? That’s me, giving it all away too soon!

No worries you Fish Huggers, this is ALL catch and release. I mean, I think the fish would rather skip the catching part, but you know, when in Rome.

We all caught a few, but Nathan had to catch the BIGGEST one because that is how he rolls.

• My hat says: Sassy Since Birth
• Lolo wasn’t afraid to hold her fish, but her guide apparently wanted to hold it more.

ROBIN HOOD WANNA-BEE’S

Archery is so much fun. Our two female guides (one was the same as our last visit) took us on a woody trail that had fake animal targets along the way; such a great time and we were all pretty proficient at this. I’m trying to think of a way to incorporate this into my daily life. Archery in Target? Archery to get the attention of the Deli Dude at Publix? Archery to kill aphids on my milkweed? Maybe not…but if an apocalypse breaks out, we are READY.

CAN I AXE YOU A QUESTION?

This was my first foray into throwing axes. I know. I was surprised too, but it’s just never come up before. That possible apocalypse? Please don’t count on me to save myself or anyone else with an axe. Lauren, Nathan and the Coach? They were really good at this. Linds and Halie got it after a few tries. Me? I threw six axes. Five went over/under the target and one hit the very tippy top, surely by accident.

I did get a little video of Lolo; I think she got six out of six.

I think I failed to mention that a few weeks before our trip, she was doing Police Bike Training, (which she loved) but she fell off her bike, landed on her right elbow and sustained a slight fracture. We were concerned she might not be able to participate, but it turned out that tossing the bean bags for corn hole was more uncomfortable than axes. She is healing just fine and I’m thinking she needs to add an Axe to her utility work belt. I can see the headlines now: Florida Police Officer Takes Down Catalytic Converter Thief With An Axe!

Have you done any of these activities? Did you enjoy them? I’m so happy that we had a Vacation Outside Of The Box because how often does that happen?

XOXO

The activity portion for this lovely trip was varied. We’d all enjoyed the Mediterranean cooking class together. Later that afternoon Linds, Halie and myself had scheduled massages while Coach, Lolo and Nathan enjoyed a few hours of Trap shooting. Or Shooting Clays? Something like that. Although, I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone would want to shoot clay. What did the clay do exactly to deserve this? I’ll have to further investigate with my PoPo offspring.

My delicate Butterfly Lolo. Remind me again why I practically had her wrapped in Bubble Wrap for her first 10 years? Wait. Doesn’t that Vest remind you of the employees of Superstore? Lawd, why can’t she work at a Superstore?

Moving on…

The Lodge is kind of fancy, but also kind of laid back. It’s an anomaly.

Two of their employees (who live on property) bring their dogs to work. I KNOW! The Lodge manager has her black lab/mix follow her all around the inside as she’s going from one area to another.

The activity director (Imagine Julie from The Love Boat, but as a tall and handsome Man) brings his two Bernese Mountain Dogs to work and they casually romp around the outside of the property, mostly around the front door and driveway area to greet everyone. Storm and Sage; very sweet and docile girls.

I COULD HAVE TAKEN THEM HOME but they probably would hate the Florida heat. Same girls, same.

HIKING AND NOT FALLING OFF THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN

The next day we had booked ourselves for several activities. Everyone in the group aside from me had a Nature Tour at six am. Why did Suzanne not go on the Nature Tour since she practically lives for Nature? Because it was SIX AM. I like my nature later in the day after I’ve had some coffee, some food and some time for my body to wake up before I hop in an ATV for two hours IN NATURE. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

They had a great time and we enjoyed breakfast together at 8:30 when they all arrived back. Turns out, they had fun, but I didn’t miss that much so I’m still happy with my decision.

Next up we had a three hour hiking tour. Sadly, the Coach had to skip this because while he was on the Nature Tour he got news that some asshats broke onto our business property and stole the catalytic converters out of nine of our work trucks. Can we just send all the bad people to another planet? And by another planet, I mean hell.

Let it go, let it go…

By the way, when you sign up for any activity, the set you up with a very qualified guide (or guides) for that activity and they were all so awesome. Fun fact: If you spend any amount of time with our group, there will be a lot of laughter and razzing; don’t come to us with thin skin. We had one young man who ended up with Linds and Halie at least 4 times and they just about wore him out with silliness.

At one point during this hike we were going DOWN DOWN DOWN a deep slope with only a small area of walking space that was dirt and rocks, and then it was NOTHING below. Um, I was sliding down on my butt and thinking to myself: I’m the OLDEST PERSON HERE. IS THIS THE CORRECT HIKE FOR A MIDDLE AGED HUMAN? One of the young men saw I was in distress, came and shielded me like a human guard rail. Great, now I can slide down and take HIM WITH ME.

We stopped at a river area for a few moments after I almost died for a rest and to enjoy the views. In hindsight, the guides might have been contemplating leaving us there for the bears and mountain lions after Halie who is VERY intelligent and accomplished, but like me, she experiences a few blond moments asked: Do you guys plant all of these Christmas Trees here?

We all giggled and let her know that the Pine and Fir Trees grow naturally here. I wish I’d taken a photo, but if you’ve been in the wild and it wasn’t Florida, you would know what I mean.

Whoops. This is getting long.

Up next: They gave us ALL of the sharp objects and we came home with all of our phalanges.

In hindsight, have you been able to say you had a great time even if or a moment you thought it might be the end of your existence while doing something fun-ish?

XOXO