Washington Post, Travel 

Having explored the Wind River Country by car for several days, we settled down at the Flying A Ranch to see it on foot and horseback for a week. The ranch accepts only 12 guests at a time, and they are housed in six cozy individual cabins. The cabins are scattered beneath a shelter of pines alongside a pond, where I counted 11 duckling swimming with their parents. Twice we awoke to see a moose browsing outside our cabin window, and every day we took in a wonderful view of the Wind River Mountains. 

You can't be a cowboy and not ride, so I looked forward to each day's outing even if it meant getting up early on vacation. Usually, the rides were scheduled for two to three hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. Often we took a wooded trail to the foothills of the mountains, but sometimes we rode bunched in a group across open rangeland. Working overtime, my imagination dubbed us a posse in search of desperadoes. We did scare off moose, elk, deer, antelope and several squawking sandhill cranes. My horse for the week was Glen, a large and energetic appaloosa, and we got along just fine. 

Actually, my wife and I settled into the ranch's routine very easily. Breakfast was served between 8 and 9 in the main lodge building, and the morning ride got underway from the barn at 9:30. Lunch was at noon, and the afternoon's ride began at 1:30 p.m. We always reserved late afternoon for a long soak in the large outdoor hot tub. At 6:30, everyone gathered for drinks and appetizers in the little Gilded Moose Saloon beside the pond, and a fire was usually going in the stone fireplace. Dinner was at 7, and afterward guests got up a poker game or joined in other card or board games. Since there were so few of us, the week took on the ambiance of a weekend house party with friends - except of course, we had to pay at the end. 

Maybe this isn't how real cowboys lived in the Old West, but it was close enough to suit me just fine.
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