Wish I could say I had a fantastic time...but it has been the week from hell.
We arrived at the ranch Sunday evening, had dinner and went to bed exhausted from traveling. Had brkfst Monday morning and went for our first ride. Best ride of the whole trip. It was absolutely gorgeous. Went back to the ranch and had lunch and headed out on another ride. And, I gotta tell you - it was a rigorous ride. We went through a river with water up to the horses bellies, we went up the side of a mountain, through a valley, and back down the mountain. It leveled out when we got close to the ranch. At that point I heard the rider behind me start yelling my name. He couldn't say much else because he was from Germany. A surgeon from Germany.... The only thing I could understand was "strap" and "failed"..... HUH? I stopped my horse and started checking and my frikkin girth was hanging down ... just dangling... The little piece of leather that holds the off billet together had popped. Luckily I'm a well- balanced rider and don't depend on the stirrups to hold me on the horse....but had it happened going up or down one of the steep inclines it could have been a really bad wreck.
Tuesday morning we rode again and Tuesday afternoon went on a hike. Wednesday morning it was raining so we went into town and while there got a call from DH's aunt. She gave us the news that DH's mom had suffered a stroke. We went straight back to the ranch and started packing. We couldn't get a flight until 6am Thursday morning, but that's ok, because we were 4-5 hours from the airport anyway. We drove back to Spokane Wednesday evening and flew out the next day. After landing we went straight to the hospital to visit his mom. Thankfully, her stroke wasn't terribly severe. She's got speech slurring and some weakness in her right arm and leg, but she'll definitely get better. They're discharging her Monday to an inpatient rehab facility. We were considering bringing her home with us if they didn't find an in house place for her.
But wait - it gets worse.
DH was on his way to visit her today when another driver ran a red light. OMG...my worst nightmare come true. He was only about 7 miles from home, so I got there before they transported him. The lady must have looked up right before she ran in front of him, and tried to evade the accident, but...no such luck. The front passenger side of his car hit the front driver side of hers, spun her car around so that her car hit him again on the passenger side. At that point her car rolled onto it's roof and his car slid into a light pole. So, he had a total of three impacts, and three sides of his car cratered. Glad he had airbags, but guess what.....they only worked for the first impact. His nose literally GUSHED blood all over him and the inside of his car. Looked horrible. But that wasn't the worst of it. They did a scan and he has SEVEN broken and displaced ribs. I just got home from the hospital. What a day....
Wish I had a better vacation story.