It rained on my parade

The weekend wasn't as awesome as I had hoped, but at least my Saturday was still totally awesome. My friend Erin and I went out to Pinto Valley Ranch that morning for an hour of horseback riding. She's a more than experienced rider, but me... I've been on a horse once, and it was something like a decade ago. Sadly there are no photos of the actual horse-riding but here's the lovely creature I got to ride!



Her name is Suzy, and she's a Clydesdale. Yes, one of those large work horses, with the giant fluffy feet. I was absolutely thrilled to get to ride her, I've always loved draft horses, they're so mellow and wonderful. Here she is being led along by the person who was going to ride her after me.



It was interesting riding her, being able to feel her gingerly placing her large hooves on the path so as not to trip on a root or stones. My behind, back and legs are horribly sore from the trotting though... Work horses were really not bred for a smooth ride, to say the least haha...

The ranch was also home to a number of other animals, from chickens and sheep to llamas and pot belly pigs. I was particularly taken with the rooster and his two hens. Roosters are such handsome birds, in my opinion. The pot belly pig was a sweetie too, love those things (okay, so I love 99% of animals).

From there, we decided to go to go for a swim. Well, first we decided to go to a waterpark, but the lines were about a thousand miles long. So then we decided to go for a swim. We went to Meech Lake in Gatineau Park. We actually got rained on while we swam, but the approaching clouds and accompanying winds scared off half the people on the beach, which was kinda nice. Due to rain, not many photos, but there was this cute little raccoon who wandered out looking for food afterward. Clearly he's used to people and is accustomed to gleaning food from humans (which is too bad, something that shouldn't happen) but he was so cute.



Then on the way back to the city, I suggested we stop and ride the ski lift to enjoy the view. By then the sun had come out, and it was a lovely ride. I'd been wanting to go ride it again ever since I went with my parents last fall. I think I'll have to come back again once the leaves change this year too.







As I mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday we were supposed to go see some horse show jumping. But it looked like rain, so Erin understandably decided not to go. And then I accidentally fell asleep again until 1pm. And it started to rain. And I was finally feeling the pain from the horseback riding. So I just stayed inside all day playing Zoo Tycoon 2 and reading. But my Saturday was still awesome, so that's alright.

Did you all have a good weekend? Do anything exciting or new? Cheers!