Online - July 24, 2008

Wild West

Kids Guide to Ranches

Looking for a sweet summer escape? Consider a dude ranch vacation for the perfect mix of horses, hayrides, and gourmet grub. Here’s the best of the West.

We Are Family
The beautiful 140,000-acre A Bar A Ranch is set in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Mountains. Riders get the same horse each day, and families can trek with or without the ranch’s wranglers. Inner tubing, cork boat racing, and sack races at the rodeo will also entertain.

Giddyup
Kids will love trail rides and float trips on the nearby Snake River, but at Lost Creek Ranch & Spa, the real fun is the lunch cookout on Shadow Mountain. Located on the border of Grand Teton National Park, the ranch offers tours of exploding geysers. Don’t miss bull riding, roping, and barrel racing at the Jackson Hole Rodeo on Wednesday nights.

Rocky Road
At Colorado’s Latigo Ranch, 3- to 5-year olds learn about mountain wildlife and tepees and feed the llamas; six- to seven-year-olds ride, fish, and swim; and eight- to thirteen-year-olds try Western roping and square dancing. Babysitting services cost $7 per hour for those under 2.

Now that’s home on the range.