After four great days in Fort Worth, it was on to the Bar H Dude Ranch in Clarendon. We stopped in Iowa Park, Texas, on the way and found this nice park.
One of the popular crops near Clarendon is the cantaloupe. We think (maybe) that's what these are.
The Bar H is a great place. You get two horse rides as part of the deal, and a couple of meals. There are some fun places to play (or to have an event - there was a wedding coming in the next day), including this cute little stage down the hill from the main buildings. And Frank and DeeDee, the owners, are great.
Eero and Cielo enjoyed the stage down by the event area.
The meals were great - dinner was steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and a truly amazing peach cobbler. The kids wanted to know why the deer heads (in the background) appear to be eating antlers.
They also had a pool out back, complete with a slide. We all went down it, even though the water was pretty cold.
At first, Cielo's favorite thing at the Bar H was this extremely friendly old cat.
But then we went horseback riding. Here is Cielo riding Lightning into the sunset. That big mule to the left kept wanting to snuggle up to the riders and horses.
Eero and Alison went to look at the prairie dogs by the corral while the horses were prepared.
This is at our second ride, the next morning. Eero wasn't quite big enough to ride by himself, so he shared Slim with Vernon. Slim was the biggest horse they had, and that was a good thing.
On the second ride, Cielo rode Casper, who she declared was better (slightly) than Lightning. Cielo was a great rider - even when her horse broke into a trot, she'd just smile bigger and giggle.
Alison noticed this cool ladybug on the mane of one of the horses.
On our morning ride, another family group came along. That's Frank, the co-owner of the ranch, out in front with the big hat on. You can see Cielo on Casper and Vernon and Eero on Slim.
On the first ride, Alison rode Star, but on the second day she got a horse named Pumpkin. Pumpkin had a lot of spirit. In particular, he liked to get his nose right up in the other horses' business, so Alison spent a lot of time keeping him away to avoid fights.
