Horsin' Around

Ridin' In The Rockies A Great Way To Spend Some Precious Time With Excited Granddaughter

Wearing a protective helmet and holding tight on the reins, Anne rides Harley.

My granddaughter perched on the corral fence, watching the horses come through the gate.

These were the mounts rounded up for the morning ride at Colorado's Aspen Canyon Ranch. They headed for troughs of sweet hay that lined the fence. Anne was a picture of concentration, reaching through the rails to pet a little gray. He looked her in the eye, put his ears up in friendly acceptance and didn't seem to mind her stroking his neck as he ate his breakfast.

My granddaughter was enchanted.

"Oh Granmary, do you think this could be my horse? Can I ask if I can have this horse?"

They try to match the riders to the horses at Aspen Canyon Ranch and I knew this wasn't our decision. But they called Anne's name when Gap‹short for gray Appaloosa‹was led to the mounting block. Eightyear- old Anne is a star gymnast and disdaining the mounting block, she easily pulled herself into the saddle. She beamed as she took the reins as taught at a training session given by the wrangler, a lady from Texas who understands horses and wants both the riders and their animals to feel comfortable. She is an excellent teacher and I knew she'd keep an eye on my little girl.

Sadly, I couldn't ride. I was recovering from a broken ankle and wrist, but this trip was a promise I couldn't break. Like Anne, I'd been a girl who loved horses. I chose this experience to share with this particular grandchild and we'd both been looking forward to it for months. With my sore ankle, I couldn't even walk farther than a short meander into the woods but I enjoyed the company of other guests who weren't out on the trail‹ including a pair of grandparents from Michigan who'd been returning to Aspen Canyon with their charges for four straight years. And when Anne returned, I was eager to hear about her adventures ‹climbing up the mountainsides, loping through wildflower meadows and splashing across a river. But it was mostly about Annie and Gap.

She remembered the pithy comment made by Steve Roderick, hands-on ranch owner and head wrangler.

"Either you're the boss or the horse is the boss. It's more fun if you're the boss." Anne came quickly to an understanding with Gap who was steady and responsive, perfect for a child who was steady and eager to learn.

Steve and Pam Roderick run a tight ship and make it look easy. Their daughter and three sons, all home schooled except when they're away in pursuit of higher education are a welcoming presence around the place and a huge help to their parents. We got to know the Roderick family, ranch hands and staff as well as their guests when we all chowed down together family style at long trestle tables in the lodge.

Pam proves her outstanding culinary gifts at every meal, from breakfast huevos rancheros, eggs benedict or omelets to order, to dinners featuring a buttery tender loin of beef, grilled trout or pecan-crusted chicken. Even the ice cream is homemade.

Most of the guests are families with children and Pam understands the finicky ways of the young.

Special orders, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, carrot sticks and cookies are always available.

In fact, in our comfortable, well-furnished log cabin, Anne and I found a new batch of freshly-baked cookies in the cookie jar every evening. We could have enjoyed a bedtime fireside treat before the stone hearth in the cabin, but with sweaters, we were warm enough to sit on our own porch swing, munching cookies, chatting and listening to night sounds and the rippling Williams Fork River that flowed just steps away.

On our last night, after we'd roasted S'mores around a campfire and line danced in the lodge to the tunes of a cowboy caller, we found out that a meteor shower was forecast. I resolved to stay awake to see it.

The air is clear in the Colorado high country. The day sky seems a deeper blue and at night the stars seem very close. I knew the show would be spectacular so I tried to stay up with an exciting book. Anne happily climbed the ladder to her bed in the loft under the roof. Usually there was considerable silliness and a lot of conversation about the day's events, but on this night, my granddaughter seemed to drift off easily. After an hour or so, there was a small, sleepy voice from above, "Granmary, do you promise you'll wake me up for the meteors?"

At midnight, I went out to scan the sky. The Milky Way was a shining path and the stars were bright, but nothing was moving. I waited in the chilly night, but I simply got too tired and went back to bed. At breakfast, there were a couple of stalwart guests who did stay up until after 2 a.m. They raved about the unforgettable light show. Pam saw Anne's disappointment and handed her a pan of vegetables to bring out to the baby goats in the petting zoo. Annie was soon and sweetly placated. As for me, I still wish I'd seen the meteors.

We both hated to leave, but for reasons of this story, we were going to spend the next few days at a different sort of ranch. About fifteen miles up the road from Aspen Canyon is the C Lazy U, another apparently isolated spread in this splendid expanse of Rocky Mountains. The property opened as a guest ranch in 1925 and it's been growing ever since. There are 180 horses and an indoor riding arena, heated swimming pool and spa, bar and lounge, game room, children's play room and forty luxurious guest rooms and suites. Scattered around the surrounding hills are home sites whose owners can take advantage of the ranch amenities. The ratio of staff to guests is one to one. An elegant rusticity indeed!

The C Lazy U children's program is based on the premise that parents need a vacation too. The kids make up three groups, three through fives, in-betweens and teens, and different activities are planned every day under the supervision of trained counselors. Trail rides of course. Also scavenger hunts, birthday parties, picnics, shows, arts and crafts, movies, pony rides for the five and under and cookouts and whitewater rafting for the teens are all part of the program.

We arrived in the middle of the week; just in time for Anne to join an afternoon ride. Off she went, on a palomino named Harley. I worried, not for her safety, but that she might be uncomfortable in the company of kids she hadn't even met. But when they returned, my granddaughter's only complaint was that Harley wouldn't follow the requests that Gap had granted so willingly. It didn't matter though, because Anne had found a friend, a dauntless, good-natured little girl whose name was Erica. They were together most of the time after that, even on a cool, drizzly afternoon that they spent squealing and splashing, the only ones in the pool until I fished them out, wrapped them in towels and sent them to the shower.

At C Lazy U, children have breakfast with their parents and then go off on planned excursions. They have lunch and dinner with their peers and counselors and are supervised until the grown-ups finish eating. Of course, family quiet times are optional and one day, Anne and I had a poolside lunch together.

I was the only new arrival at my first dinner but I was welcomed‹ adopted even, by a gracious family and their grown-up children. In the spacious dining room, whose wall of windows displays a view of valley and mountains, the napery was white linen, the menu sophisticated and the wine was California Pinot Noir. And no one in the room, including me, was concerned about the welfare of the children.

I knew Anne and Erica were having a wonderful time, but I have to admit that I missed the companionship of my granddaughter.

Both Aspen Canyon and the C Lazy U cater especially to families, many of them return guests. Both ranches provide opportunity for whitewater rafting and offer fly-fishing and skeet shooting with instruction.

But the horses and horsemanship reign supreme.

It's a three-hour drive to the Denver airport and I decided to break it up with a stop in Winter Park, the popular ski resort that is also a popular summer destination.

The prime attraction is Colorado's longest Alpine Slide‹a thrilling ride even without the snow. We took a chair lift to the top. (I took the chair lift down again.) When Anne's sled came swooping down the last curve, she was yelling, "Go faster! Go faster!"

Then as we polished off a pizza, my flushed, freckled and triumphant granddaughter admitted that she missed her mommy. "I guess it's really time to go home. But I'll never, ever forget Gap."

The season at both ranches is June through September. If you're thinking about a vacation with a school-age child, it's even shorter. According to a survey of 205 Carlson Wagonlit travel agents, 75% of summer reservations at popular destinations are already made by the end of January.