Week two is in the books!!
This week featured nearly all returners, which is fantastic for story time and catching up. The weather was beautiful and the margaritas were cold at pack camp, a week with no complaints from anyone involved.
Every year BMR works with Vail Veterans to host veterans and their families, last year we had four vet families and this week we had one family stay with us. What is always so great about them is the gratefulness and strength you see with these families, many of them having experienced various hardships both foreign and domestic. Seriously, we thank any service men or women for their dedication and all the hard work they put forth for our country. TJ is such a good example of what is capable with the right mind set in life, he has lost both his legs thirteen years ago and has spent the week riding with us on all our trails, sleeping at pack camp, and enjoying spending time with his wife and kids fishing, riding and tossing around a football. Thank you for your service and we were so glad to have you and your family here!
Speaking of football, man, these teens and kids this week found every possible way to enjoy themselves! It’s always such a treat when the families we have mesh together and create new friendships. One family brought a football with them and halfway through the week I’m waking down to the saloon and see our corral (now empty of horses of course) lit up by headlights and 4wheeler lights so they could play flag football. Parents sitting back laughing and having a cold drink while the young ones tossed the ball around in the night, it was so much fun to watch.
Christian Martin, who works in our kitchen and is running pack camp this summer with Zach May, has been busy up at Pack Camp taking photos of the night sky and roping photos of the gang down in the arena. Cyndy May was so kind as to let him put a book and hang some of his work in the Trading Post! Thank you, Cyndy! This is a photo from this past Thursday night at Pack Camp and you’ll see plenty more in the Trading Post when y’all come visit us! His website is ctmgallery.com and this is the first year he’s begun selling work so support local or enjoy the views from your computer!
As I’m typing this, the guests and wranglers are hard at work in the arena checking out our herd. Rounding up the herd on Saturdays is always a guest favorite and once we get as many as we can in the arena, we wanna check out how momma and babies are doing, health checks for any animal is necessary and getting the herd together for it is always fun! As they get older, and if you’re here that week, we’ll start branding them.
Last summer the Domanski family came, Andrea and her son Cole, and they loved it so much that she swore to me that she would be back with her husband and daughter next time cause she had so much fun. True to her word, she and her family came back this week! A week seems short, but out here without computers or cell phones or any of our usual distractions, it becomes so much easier to connect through conversations and begin to count people as friends. Many of our returning guests base their return week off of other guests they’ve met and kept in contact with. Which is amazing! It feels so good to know we’ve brought people from all around the country, scratch that, the world together and help facilitate new and lasting friendships.
Around the campfire, our guest Laura asked everyone to share the coolest thing they’ve ever done and people did not disappoint. From building homes in third world countries, to saving their dads life all the way to winning beauty pageants and sleeping under a thousand stars without light pollution in our mountains, it was special to hear the stories and celebrate/elevate each other.
As employees, we’re not just here to work, we’re here to connect with you and your families to make lasting impressions for y’all as well as for ourselves. So thank you to all our guests who make this job memorable and we hope and strive to make your trip as memorable as possible.
We’ll be closed next week as the state of Colorado revises the restrictions and how to handle business going forward as Covid 19 continues to develop. So no blog next week! I’ll see you back here after that, with hopefully some fireworks.
Until next time,
Amber IZ