July 24 - Let's ride!

 I've been wanting to go horseback riding for forever!!  It's been a million years since me and my Sundance  haunted the hills and hung out together, and I've been missing that sweaty horsey smell and back-in-the-saddle feeling (although I almost never used to ride with a saddle!).  So, after researching the various outfitters in the area, I finally settled on one...

 The Beard Outfitters.  Their family was one of the very first homesteaders in the Teton Valley!  Joe, and equally bashful dog, Dody (couldn't get either one to look directly at the camera!), help represent the current generation of Beards and work their tails off to keep the ranch running.  I was very happy to have my little bit of tourism mula go to such a long-lived family presence, they are the real deal.  These folks have stuck it out over the decades, successfully adapting and overcoming.  And if anyone can truly appreciate the land here, its beauty and durability, it's people like the Beards.  It was an honor to ride with someone who has a mountain named after his family!  For more of their history, or to sign up for a ride (better yet!), go here:  http://www.beardmountainranch.com/index.htm  Otherwise, saddle up, and let's ride!

 Joe and "Blue" lead the way...

 What views, eh?!

 Blue waits patiently, while Joe takes a break and I try to get my legs to work again!  So many things were easier when I was a kid - and riding was one of them!  And after so many years of not riding, my knees had no idea what I was trying to do to them, but they weren't too keen on it!  (happily, they were right back to normal the next day)

And here's my buddy for the day, "Kelly." 

 Blue and Kelly wait, busy using fir branches to brush away the ever-present, ever-ready-to-bite flies that plague every red-blooded creature in the outdoors here.

 Dody Dog.

 OK, c'mon, this is the quintessential cowboy in the mountains scene, ain't it?!  But honestly, Joe was such a good guy and so good about putting up with me and my camera!  I even dropped a rein at one point while messing with photo ops - oops!  But Kelly was pretty gracious about it all too, and I had a great time clicking and clip-clopping!

 Kelly tries to get into one of the pictures...

 What a place, huh?  Lucky me.

After the ride, I had to ask Joe to stop so I could get a shot of Beard Mountain.  It's the green mountain in the front, kind of to the right a bit.