Road Trip Scavenger Hunt - Your Help Needed

The other day I was arranging things in my car when I noticed a group of young runners taking a jog down the street.  I thought to myself, "ah, look at them enjoying the day...what a bunch of nice kids."  I turned back to my car and noticed in the corner of my eye that they didn't continue down the street but turned and started jogging my way.  I immediately thought to myself, "uh oh, they better not ask for directions because I have no idea where I am."

One of the young men approached me as the others stayed back.  He looked at me and said, "would you mind arm wrestling me for a scavenger hunt we are completing."  "Yes, of course!" I said.  As I was arm wrestling him (I didn't know it was just the "posing" of arm wrestling he wanted) he said, "oh boy, you are actually doing it."

Once that was over, I took their group photograph and they went on their way, jogging with not an ounce of fat on their bodies and their entire life ahead of them.  Sigh.... oh yeah, what was I saying?

So, what a fun idea a scavenger hunt would be!  I decided at that moment that I wanted to do one too!  I enlisted the help of some facebook friends and would love to know what YOUR challenges are!  I am going to choose the top 10 ideas and complete each one on this trip and post photographs along the way of completing these challenges.  If I choose your challenge, I will also mention your name (if you would like).

To get your creative juices started, here are some ideas thus far...

Photograph with a small town Mayor
A cartwheel next to a state line sign
A photograph of a drag queen smoking a cigarette
A picture of a 4 corners crossroads from all directions
A picture with a high school team mascot
A Photo of a fortune teller
A photo of me in a roller derby outfit
Photographs of a dragon tattoo, on top of a ferris wheel, a family of triplets
A photo of someone doing something really challenging right before they do it
Wearing a hard hat, pumping gas for a stranger, playing leap frog, driving a truck
A pic of my tent next to a round haybale, pic of a bride and groom with max

What is YOUR challenge?

The Gentle Barn

I love to take field trips to new and interesting places.  I've always wanted to visit The Gentle Barn and today I decided it was time to go and see all of the lucky animals living on their farm for life.

As they describe on their website, "The Gentle Barn Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1999 as a safe haven and place of recovery for abused farm animals and children. We are home to over 120 rescued animals and we are host to at-risk, inner-city and special needs kids.

Our unique treatment philosophy rehabilitates animals and connects their stories of survival and healing to the personal experiences of at-risk and special needs children who have suffered physical, mental or emotional trauma.

Through the interaction with our animals, the children learn forgiveness, courage, strength, leadership skills, trust, empathy and kindness. The healing that takes place is truly miraculous!"

It was a sight to see.  It felt nice to witness all of the animals living in a safe environment for life.  They are only open to the public each Sunday from 10-2pm,  so I wanted to take the opportunity to hug a cow, pet a pig and watch them interact with each other.  I would recommend a visit if you are in the area.  It's a great place to take the kids.  For more photographs of my visit, click HERE.

A Day In The Life On A Northern Arizona Ranch

This past weekend I joined the Sisters on The Fly to camp, relax and take a day trip to visit a working ranch.  This was my first time joining these ladies who's motto is, "we have more fun than anyone."  Oh yeah?  We'll just see about that!

I will write more about these wonderful ladies in an upcoming blog.  For now, I will talk about the day trip we took to a working ranch in Northern Arizona.  I knew that the plan was to visit a ranch, however I didn't know what was in store for us.  We were greeted by some amazing and welcoming people at the ranch house who were gracious and more than willing to take time out to pose for a photograph or two for me.  The kids were wonderful.  The scenery was unreal and everything was what you might imagine a ranch to be.

Being from California, I haven't had the opportunity to witness a working ranch and see how these folks live.  It's a life of hard work and love for what they do, since you won't get rich being a farmer.  It's a way of life that they love and for them, they wouldn't have it any other way.  We took a tour of the ranch, were able to pet some horses and at the end of the tour, it was time for all of us to watch as they branded several cows.  I am not a meat eater, but I do respect what they do for the people who do eat meat.  It was hard for me to watch at first, especially seeing how stressed the animals were to be put in the situation they were in. As far as treatment of the animals go, I know that there are much worse situations so I would consider these cows lucky to live on this particular ranch.

I am thankful to the family that allowed us to come to the ranch and witness what they do on a daily basis.  They are pretty proud of what they do, as they should be.  If it weren't for ranchers like these, you wouldn't get to enjoy many of the foods that you are able to purchase at the store.  I have great respect and admiration for the amount of work it takes to run a farm.  It was an education to see it first hand. I would recommend a visit to a local farm in your area if you get the chance.

I look forward to more experiences such as this one.  For more photographs of life on this ranch, click HERE.