Guest Ranching for the Guest Ranchers

     Well, I told you about our skiing adventures, but I thought you might be curious about the rest of our trip. Every year we close the ranch down for about a week and intentionally get our staff away to invest in them and give them a little bit of perspective in the guest ranching world. We go to Vista Verde Ranch and treat them to a true guest ranching retreat as they get to see another staff and ranch at work.  We had an incredible time this year. 
      This particular ranch has a "kiddie hut" so my kids got to play everyday with one of our favorite previous staff girls, Aly, and it was truly a vacation for all of us.  You will see from the pictures that the ranch itself was gorgeous!! You will also see that this ranch has more snow than I've ever seen or really want to see. But, this conference is a highlight of our year and this year was one of the best. It's a time of unifying, building up, and preparing our staff for the hard work they're about to do this coming year. Our philosophy is if our staff is taken care of, our guests are taken care of.  Here are some pictures for all of you to get a taste of some other guest ranches.

We're here!

Our wonderful staff in their wonderful lodge.

Snow mobiling with my brave pregnant friend, Molly.

Will in between the snow walls.

This is rare, so I thought I would show it off.

Good bye, Vista Verde Ranch...until next year!
(Our children and adopted children)

Guest ranching is an industry that revolves around family. This trip every year is also a highlight because Tony and I get to see some of our "family". When we make the trip out to Steamboat, we always have two stops to make. The first stop, as you see, is Vista Verde Ranch, where two of Tony's closest friends live and work. Dace and Ben are general managers there. They both had worked at one time at Lost Valley with my husband. The second stop we make is at a ranch called King Creek(pictures below). It is a type of guest ranch owned by several families that desired a "private" guest ranch experience and it is managed by some of our best friends, Brian and Kira. They also worked at Lost Valley years ago and now raise their three boys at King Creek.  Tony and I would not be where we are today without each of them. They are doing life as we are and there is a comfort in our relationships through our similar experiences. There is an entire "guest ranching" family out there and through this blogging experience I hope to only cross paths with more of you.

Those Ripley cowboys are going to be heart breakers!