Weatherholtz Family: Monday - Downtown Golden, Buffalo Ranch and River Hike

Monday, July 24, 2017

Monday - Downtown Golden, Buffalo Ranch and River Hike

Brrrrr. It gets cold in Canada. With our luggage still in the cars up the road, we had slept in our clothes. We woke up to a crisp cool morning. Before I was out of bed, Leo had cut down the trees and cleared the way for our cars. James was up early and spent some time hanging out with Leo and “helping” him clear the trees. Tractors and chain saws, oh my!

The first thing on my agenda this morning was coffee!! We headed into Golden and found a great breakfast spot right by the river. We sat outside in the warm sun and ate while watching the river rush by.

After breakfast we strolled through the town and grocery shopped at the booming IGA. Angie put the girls in charge of planning and cooking one meal. Their mission was to cook a meal with less than 6 ingredients and under $45.00.

We came back to the ranch house to discover we still had no power. Leo told us it could possibly be three days! He told us we were welcome to take a bath in the pond in his yard. He does it all the time and it is fairly warm. I am pretty sure Leo’s version of fairly warm and this Charleston girl’s version of fairly warm are very different. He also offered that we could use his out house - eek. We decided to take a hike down to the river. While there was a trail, it was not a well used one. With Lily W. leading the way, we trekked through weeds, over and under trees, and through the mud to arrive to the most beautiful rushing river surrounded by towering mountains. Truly magnificent.

Leo had mentioned that the mud down by the river was glacier mud and felt wonderful to rub on your skin. The girls immediately began scrubbing their legs. I was eyeing the frigid river wondering just how that mud was going to come off. We bravely crossed the river in one spot up to our knees. Frigid doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was painful on our legs.