Don't take your guns to town

Hello everyone!

Not a whole lot to report this week, but I wanted to give you an update on one of the activities on my list that I finally got to!

Thursday was my day off, and I originally just had plans to meet up with Joy and her family in Grand Lake (they were camping in Rocky Mountain National Park). This was going to be way more than cool enough for me on my day off because I just wanted to do something fairly low key, plus I was super excited to see someone from home. As it turned out, we had a really cool time walking all around Grand Lake (their main street is a lot like Valley Junction, but with mountains in the background).

But, the morning before I left to meet up with Joy, I finally got to go Skeet Shooting!! I have wanted to do this more than anything, but we're not allowed to go up at the same time that guests go, which is a bit limiting. Anyway, Greg, the Activities Director, told me at dinner the night before that he could take me on the morning of my day off, before he took guests up. That meant cutting it a bit short, but I didn't care.

So, we drove up Skeet Hill in the ranch Jerokee, and it was a crazy rutted bouncy ride all the way to the top of the mountain. I got some great pictures of the surrounding mountainside, but it was totally cloudy. However, I think that was good for shooting since the sun wasn't shining too bright to see the clay pigeons.

Now, I've never ever held a real gun before, so I was really surprised at how heavy it was!! I shot a .20 gauge shotgun, which wasn't the biggest one (I think the biggest we have is a .12 gauge). Greg shot one shell so that I would know what it sounded like before I shot it myself. Holy crap. It was SO FUCKING LOUD!!! I'm so glad he did that otherwise I would have shot it right by my ear and probably jumped a mile. As it was, it took a bit of getting used to the noise. But, Greg showed me how to hold the gun so that it didn't hurt my arm when it kicked back, and I didn't end up with any bruises, which was good. However, the weight of the gun took a toll on me and all that day and the next my arms were ridiculously sore!! I could hardly lift up my left arm (which was the one holding the weight of the end of the gun). I couldn't believe how sore it made me.

But, the good news is that I hit 3 of the clay pigeons!! Of course, this is out of a box of like 20 shells, but still! Pretty good start for a beginner. :-) I found myself getting very competitive (this is a real shocker, eh?) and it took almost no time at all for me to be shouting out "PULL!" like a pro. I took to it like a duck to water. I just wish that I had had more time that morning. I am definitely going to go shooting again, and I'd like to be able to use the .12 gauge before the end of the season. I think I'll have to work at it with the 20 for awhile first, though!

Anyway, not much else to report around here. We got a couple new people this week. One of them is a guy from Tennessee who looks and sounds exactly like Monty, which is a little creepy. But he's very nice, and so are the two new girls, so I think it's going to work out. We were so short handed for so long that we hardly know what to do with ourselves now that we're mostly staffed.

Oh, I almost forgot that I wanted to mention something to everyone. We are allowed to have visitors here, like 2 or 3 visits per season. None of you have been able to make it out here yet (and we've been pretty well booked, too), but if anyone would like to visit between the end of August and the end of September, we have plenty of room. The rate for you would be FANTASTIC!! If you stay in a guest room but eat with the staff, you can stay here for $45/night/person, for up to three nights. A regular adult guest would pay $750. If you'd like to eat the fancy guest food, it will cost something like $65/night, but staff food is pretty decent. Plus, I could put you in one of our best rooms at that time of season. So, think it over, and let me know if you're interested in taking a little trip west! :-)

Talk to you soon!