Howdy Partners!

So we did it...we were actually cow girls, and we now even have the Stetsons to prove it!

The Dixie Dude Ranch was amazing! We nearly peed our pants with excitement on the way...especially when we drove through the town (it had a "Cowboy Store") and looked just like it does in the films! The ranch was 8 miles from the town and the cabins were 1 mile from the entrance...I don't think either of us have been that far from a town in our lives!

We rocked up in our travelling outfits, only to be greeted by a real life cowboy (Clay) and loads of people wearing stetsons, jeans and checked shirts...talk about stand out...which wasn't helped when Denise fell up the stairs carrying her bag!

We got a cheap room because, oh my god, it had 4 single beds and one double...not bad hey! And the stand of the lamp was in the shape of a cowboy boot...seriously, how cool!

You got two rides a day and our cowboys were Justin and Jo. We met Shirley and John (from Birmingham) who became our riding partners. Denise and Jen swapped between Popeye and Buddy. Buddy was well behaved...Popeye ate and peed alot...our kind of horse! We rode 'western style'...one handed galore and even went into a trot one day...check us out! The views were amazing!

We also met James, Maria and Rhonda...who were great! Rhonda took us into town in her truck...yes, we sat in the back of a truck on plastic chairs for 8 miles....it was soooooo cool! Although with the wind we did think our plaits were going to knock us out! Plus, thousands of butterflies and migrated from Mexico...I mean there were so many you couldn't avoid them...so I think the back of our heads picked up a few of them on the way!

In the evening we sat by the camp fire, where Justin (the Rodeo riding cowboy...you know you can get scholorships for them...madness) took a little shine to Jenna...he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to love her...actual quote "just cos I'm a poor redneck mean I'm not good enough for you...I can be your boyfriend for three days". He made us chocolate milk and tried to take us into town and kept us amused (along with James), we liked...just a shame he was 18!! :0) Love you Justin! (And James thank you for your company, you really did keep us entertained!)

The next night we had a storyteller...so out came the wine! Denise was pulled up to act the part of the "smelly skunk"...fantastic. Then the kiddies went to bed and we had real cowboy music by the fire...so cool! Jenna was serenaded with Brown Eyed Girl and he mentioned Denise's name in a song...god love him! We were then pulled up to be backing singers...yes, we were requested to sing to an audience...thank god for Shirley and Maria who disguised our pathetic attempts! Few too many glasses of wine later Denise fell off her log, twice...thank you Maria for catching, both times!!

Following evening we watched the rope dude..he was really impressive...especially when he got Jenna up and tied up her hands, ankles and whole body in general. Proceeded to blind fold her, get out his whip (yes Sue and Ed, your daughter is a ho!) and whip a piece of hard spaghetti from her mouth!!!! (Don't worry...the dad came and broke it without her knowing!) After we went to a Rodeo with our Devon friends, who are fantastic and made us laugh the whole night...it was great to be around British humour and they were adopted as our family! Went to a great bar in town after with more real life cowboys (just a shame no good looking ones!) but there was sawdust on the dance floor and a band, and people actually doing the two step! Fantastic!

The ranch really was the highlight of the trip (made even better by the 3 free lovely meals each day...including the cowboy breakfast!). We wish we could tell you in person because there is so much more but we know you have jobs to do (yawn!)! So from Jenna Lou and Denisey May...Yee ha!!