Thursday, May 17, 2012

Out on the Ranch

The ranch

Monday morning the last group headed out to the ranch so here is a taste of what we all got to experience out there. Upon arrival we met Frank, an awesome guy that is the definition of a mountain man. He briefly introduced us to the area and then put us to work. The last group at the ranch worked on cleaning up the yard from the winter by picking up pieces of wood and metal posts. It was easy work and a nice day to do it. After cleaning up and grabbing a bite to eat, Frank took us to the mountains to the old lucky strike mine area. There was still so much snow out there-enough to be taller than our vans at some points! We did a little sledding and then had a snowball fight, mainly us against Frank. He's awesome though, took it well, and gave it right back to us. We had some beautiful views of the mountains while up there.
Back at the ranch, we had some downtime during which some of us went 4 wheeling, created the massive bonfire, or helped with making our moose spaghetti dinner. The rest of the night was spent around the bonfire and enjoying the midnight sun-I don't think it ever got completely dark while we were there!
The second day at the ranch was spent cleaning some more and having ample time for target practice at the shooting range. The rest of the night was very relaxed around the campfire again and smoking salmon in the smokehouse. While we were there we saw and heard a moose, were alerted to a possible bear out in the woods (the dogs chased it out though) as well as all the animals on the farm including horses, goats, yaks, geese, and turkeys. Everyone had a great time while at the ranch and would probably have spent the entire trip out there if possible!
The groups not at the ranch were able to continue working at the discovery center and consumer apartments doing some spring cleaning and helping to prepare activities. Today was our last official day with Hope so we had a short goodbye gathering and will be getting ready to head south to the Kenai Peninsula tomorrow.

Pictures: midnight at the ranch

Monica, Sydney, Emily, Michael, JuTone, Keita, and Cameron in the mountains

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