Day 2 Deer Springs Ranch

Day 2 saw us waking up bright and early (and by bright and early, I mean 4:30am because that's when the farm roosters began crowing). We awoke to dark gray skies, pouring rain, and the occasional microburst of wind. Sitting perched on the edge of a hill, the cabin had wonderful views of the storm and all its fury.

Below: looking southeast

Below: looking southwest

We spent most of the day in the cabin. And though it had hot water and flushing toilets, it had no electricity. So we ended up playing lots of games with the kids. We taught them how to play Quiddler, and they loved it!

Below: a view of the farm, from our cabin's porch

There was a short window of time where the sun peeked out and the rain subsided, so we went for a drive to see the fabled "pinks" (the pink cliffs are part of the escalante staircase, aka Bryce Canyon). On our way we saw many wild turkeys, about the size of our children. And though we got some great views of the Pinks, the roads were too squishy to travel very far (thank goodness for a great zoom on the camera, eh?) and as you can see, the Pinks got snow. We returned to the cabin when the storm picked up again.

Below: wild turkeys

Below: view of the Pinks from the porch of cabin #1 (or 2?) we stayed in cabin # 8. That's as close as we got. But my camera's zoom got us a lot closer...;)

Around sunset, the clouds parted once again and we went for a short hike on "the ridge" next to the ranch. There we discovered all sorts of colorful stones, saw the largest ant hills ever, and got caught in a hailstorm. What fun! The sunset on the white cliffs was beautiful! We spent a little time walking around the farm and seeing the animals, then back to the cabin for dinner and entertainment, or rather, me practicing the guitar. Definately a good day.

Below: the farm, looking northwest. Our cabin is the one with the green roof, almost in the middle of the photo.

Below: hiking along in the sunny hailstorm...

Below: looking southeast at the white cliffs. The green ridge in front is the one we hiked around on.

Below: the kids meeting some of the animals. They had 2 pigs, 4 horses, 1 pregnant cow, 1 donkey, 11 goats, 19 turkeys, lots of chickens, 4 peacocks, 2 guinea hens, a plethora of cats, and 4 dogs. Yeah.

Below: this red mare simply loved the kids. She would snuggle them every time they walked up to the fence.

Below: Wildkid loved the yellow hen...

Below: the view from our cabin porch....aaahh....