Wickenburg

Lia and I went horseback riding!

Ok, I'll do this chronologically; first we went to the Toby Keith Bar and Grill with her work friends Wednesday night.
It was fun, they had three different live bands throughout the night who were all good, and good food too. The complaint of the night was that even though there was a dance floor, it was full of people who just stood still listening to the music rather than dancing.
But we had a good time with all of Lia's coworkers.

Thursday, we woke up and met Grandma for breakfast before going to Wickenburg to go horseback riding. Aunt Sandy found coupons for a trail ride; two for the price of one.
We got there, signed our lives away, and set off for a three hour ride.
Our guide (or wrangler), Dave, was very nice, had a great sense of humor, and helpful.
We set out, and after a few minutes he came around and checked all of our saddles and made sure everyone was comfortable, and helped out when there was trouble.

The best part of the ride was that after a half hour or so on the trail, since we were all doing great and keeping up, we decided to go off of the trail. For most of the 3 hours we were out riding we got to roam around the desert, going up and down hills and making our own way rather than just following a trail nose to tail on the horses like most rides of this nature would go. He encouraged us to make our own paths as we went along instead of just following in a line, as long as we were all together.
I even got to lead the pack for a little bit. We stopped to pick up a cow skull that we found as we were wandering, and after a bit of joking around Dave told me to take the lead, so everyone followed me for about ten minutes and I got to figure out where to go and what was the best path to get up and down a couple of hills before I handed the lead back over to him.

 Friday was less eventful but still fun; I went on a bike ride, Aunt Sandy and Uncle David went looking for and picked out granite countertops, and then Michele (Lia's friend) came over, I made fajitas for supper and we watched Notting Hill.

Today, we went back to Wickenburg.
Aunt Sandy, Uncle David and I met Gram for breakfast and then the four of us made our way to Wickenburg for their Gold Rush Days.

Wickenburg was a big gold town, (but is now known for their dude ranches) so every year they celebrate and have a carnival and whatnot. We got there in time to see the parade (which involve a lot of horses and started with a cattle drive at the front), and then walked through the art and craft fair, but couldn't find anything we needed.

The start of the parade.

Yes, that is a real cow inside of a car...

Part of the Art and Craft Fair

A little of downtown Wickenburg.