a quick visit to the wild wild west

"Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope playyyyyyy"....

You know how the old ditty goes, that twangy embodiment of the American west. Well, we lived it for reals at the Lazy Barf F Ranch beneath the red-rocked mountains near Cody, Wyoming. My dad's cousin Mike has been running the ranch for 30 years, and he invited his extended family out for a visit. We came from all over - California, Michigan, Illinois, Montana and Washington. Many of us had not seen each other in decades, and many of us met each other for the first time.

We fished. We hiked. We rode horses. We shot guns. We drank whiskey. We were cowboys and cowgals for a week.

OK, maybe we didn't become full cowfolk, but we embraced the place we were in, the people we were with, and soaked up an experience that was once in a lifetime for all of us. I can safely say everyone had a ball.

 Welcome to the Lazy Bar F Ranch!

Where the horses live.

Family photo, round 1.

Mary saddling up on Dillon.

Our favorite protector, Oliver.

Uncle Mark feeling right at home on our cabin porch.

Mark, Dad, and Sean out on the Shoshone River.

Dad's beautiful 18" Brown trout.

Brothers fishin'.

My gorgeous Brown trout.

 Todd's prized catch!

Dad on the balance beam.

Larry and Oliver crossin creeks (or "criks").

Dad, Mike, and Bob loungin' on the lodge's porch.

J, Mom, and Maralee on the trail.

Dad, Mark, and Mike on the trail.

The porch - where everyone gathered in the afternoons.

The root cellar.

The main house on the ranch.

Dad and me after some morning fishing.

Deer hooves and horseshoes.

Dillon the horse.

Yellowstone.

Yellowstone.

Bison.

Details around the ranch.

In the barn.

The Lazy Bar F Ranch.

The wagon.

Maralee and Mom out on the Shoshone.

Mark fishing the Shoshone.

Dad fishin the Shoshone.

Larry's gorgeous Brown trout.

A moose!

The south fork of the Shoshone.

Ranch details.

Dad on his horse.

Mom and Maralee on their horses.

Mom, dad and Maralee on their horses.

The cousins!

And the rest of us!

Around the ranch.

The Shoshone in the morning.

Dad on the river.

The Grand Tetons.

the leelanau peninsula - who knew?!

Michigan. The Midwest. Flat-as-a-pancake. Corn. American autos galore. Flanked by giant oceans with nary a whiff of salt. Tiny rural towns. Factories. More corn. 

Why go here?

As usual, my grossly uninformed notion of what this state would be like was immediately dashed upon arrival. Why go here, I had asked? Why NOT go here, I soon learned!  

My mother-in-law retired this year and wanted to spend a week relaxing on the shores of Lake Michigan. She and the family had never been, but had read about it and their curiosity was piqued. So AJ and I flew to MI and piled in the car with Dee and Ron en route to the west side of the Leelanau Peninsula. A house waited for us just north of the town of Leland, nestled in the trees just behind the dunes and grasses of an expansive sandy beach. 

The view--spectacular. The town--charming as all heck. The region--wide open and beautiful. Directly across the water is Wisconsin's Door County, a place my cousins hail from and a place they have waxed poetic about. I should have known, this region was going to be awesome.

Abby flew in shortly after we arrived, and the five of us spent several days listening to the waves (yes, waves), looking for beach stones, poking around town, lounging on couches, driving country roads, cooking, sleeping in, eating, and reading. Basically, taking it easy. What a place to do it, and boy am I glad I've now spent a little time in this part of the world.

The night we arrived, all happy to be out of the car and on the beach in front of the house.

Sunset.

 Path from the house to the beach.

Is this the Caribbean?

AJ spending hours on the beach looking through stones. We found TONS of old fossils, including corals.

Treasures.

Abby's zen rock garden.

The little town of Lelend.

The old fishing shanties on the lake.

 Ron at the shanties.

On the waterfront.

Lunch in Leland!

Wine tasting in Leland - Michigan grown!

A trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes.