Posted February 10th, 2010

Surviving Modernity: Dude Ranches

There is a great race that is constantly being run. People are hurrying always to collect the latest gadgets, own the fastest car, the sleekest cell phone, and the latest in home appliances. It is no one person’s fault that we are so materialistic these days, but of course the growing media never helps. We know we can change tomorrow by tinkering today, and so we are always fascinated by the new because we test our minds in a new way. In this day and age, the more exotic the location you travel to, and the more recently your cell phone came out into the market, and the more technological your job is, the more fascinating you are. The new and shiny is just the big obsession of today. But what about the original form of excitement in America? When cowboys rode across the west and wrangling wild stallions was the lay of the land. It seems as though some people are obsessed with luxury and modernity to a high degree, places like Montana dude ranches seem to be falling into a less noticeable shadow.

The strangest thing about the slowly dying interest in these ranches are the reasons. People simply don’t have time to take a weekend away from town and spend it on a ranch with eggs and bacon in the morning and stars and campfires at night. But no matter what, some people are stubbornly convinced that a trip to the beach would do them more good than a refreshing weekend on Dude ranches.

The beauty about undefined, though, is the abundance of activities. There is always more to do on a ranch than on a beach, where you can only tan or sip pina coladas, as opposed to wrangling a bull or learning to ride horseback. And physically, a ranch is much more beneficial to your health. The physical activity you do on a ranch can benefit your heart and your mind alike. Also, an expensive trip to a beach, hotels and restaurants included, could rack up to be much more expensive than a weekend at a ranch, where the meals and beds and activities are all at the same place. Anyone looking for a path less walked and a little intuition will find themselves at the ranch.

But still people do not always like the idea of getting their hands dirty. But think about it this way, when was the last time you preferred having a conference call instead of feeding a horse a carrot?