We no sooner stepped out of our car when we felt a thunderous vibration emitting up from the ground. The trembling earth was accompanied by a loud repetitive thumping sound heading toward us. We looked up to see 4 riderless horses in a full sprint, galloping outside of the secure fenced area. Although we were still 30 yards away from them, it was very intimidating. I wasn't scared at all and stood my ground in a manly fashion. ( Only because I couldn't get my keys out of my pocket fast enough to jump back inside the minivan)
Something seemed out of the ordinary. For a place visited by families with small children, this was not a safe situation. Our questions were answered when we soon saw 4 people walking from the direction from which the horses came. Apparently something had spooked the animals, causing them to take off. Although a bit unnerving, it was an incredible experience to see those large animals moving like that.
Also on the ranch were a few of these things. Sort of an unusual, dopey looking animal. It actually reminded me of our dog which is a Golden Doodle (Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle mix). Being the clever chap that I am, I coined the term "Cow Doodle". Nobody thought it was funny then when I said it either.
A young woman ran the ranch and I couldn't help but say in a loud enough voice that she could hear, "Hey kids, check out these stupid looking horses." She pretended to not hear me. I think after nearly being ran over by a horse, it sort of made me say weirder things than usual.
The Cow Doodle is much more intimidating from this angle. By the look he was giving me, I think he would have thoroughly loved stepping on my face. Or better yet, sticking one of his horns up a place that a Cow Doodle's horn doesn't belong. Yikes.
We loved watching the kids just sort of roaming around the property, appreciating the large creatures that stood on the other side of the electric fence. Thankfully the only way we knew that the fence wire was live was that a rancher informed us and not due to me seizuring on the ground, eyes rolled back into my head, and urine soaked pants mumbling "it's.....turned.....on."
Our vacation was a huge success again this year. We managed to all get along quite well, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The kids played well with each other and behaved wonderfully in the van ride to and from Michigan. The only incident involving any type of argument occurred the night before we left for home.
We heard arguing going on between all three girls in the back of the minivan. Short on patience involving children bickering about something silly, we put the kibosh on that right away.
"There will be no fighting. Understand? That goes for the remainder of tonight and as well as tomorrow when we leave for home," my wife informed them. "Now what's going on?"
"Nobody wants to sit in the back seat," the oldest one told us.
"Why? That used to be the 'cool seat' to have. What's changed?" my wife inquired.
"The back seat smells like hot dogs," was the response.
As I write that last sentence, I still get the same nauseating feeling that I had at that exact moment. Hot dogs? Our van smells like hot dogs? That's so gross I'm a little embarrassed to even share that.
In denial, and still just hoping that they were making that up, I crawled to the back of the van.
Yep, hot dogs.
It's amazing/embarrassing/discouraging what happens in a minivan with 3 young children over the course of a 10 day vacation. My wife elected me to search for the cause of the odorous stench and the children hopped out of the vehicle. I found several cookies, a partly eaten peanut butter sandwich, many m&m's, a sucker, and some gooey substance that I just convinced myself was a melted candy bar. But no processed meat product was found.
And then I noticed the smell was gone. This could only mean one thing.
It had to be one of the children.
That's something that no parent wants for their offspring.
We checked the girls over and I am proud to report that the mystery smell was not them. We never did quite figure out the source, but it failed to return anyway. Thank you, Jesus.
And so with that we close the book on another great vacation. It's hard to believe it had been a year already since our last one. Crazy. Time certainly does fly by. Although there's often a bit of a sadness at the conclusion of a fun getaway, it's always good to be back home. Especially when I get to live with 4 beautiful ladies, none of whom smell like a hot dog.
Have a great weekend.
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