Cowgirl dreams
Dream of ditching your BlackBerry and heels for chaps and spurs? Elkin Creek Guest Ranch is holding a special Cowgirl Bootcamp weekend in mid-September.
Nestled in B.C.’s Chilcotin region, the 28,000-acre spread offers a backdrop to lessons on everything from roping and handling livestock to a cowgirl cook-off, where ladies try their hand at an outdoor western-style black-box cooking competition (challenging because the food content of the boxes is not revealed prior to the event). Bunk in for three nights.
Meanwhile, with our loonie still giving the greenback a run for its money, you could also consider heading to Cowgirl University in Texas Hill Country to learn the ropes. In conjunction with the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and some of its 181 inductees, participants are offered a chuckwagon’s worth of experiences, ranging from Ranching 101 and trail riding in Colorado, to the annual Kindle the Cowgirl Spirit retreat (cowgirlu.org).
This area of the lone-star state is also chockablock with 22 wineries that play host to countless music and food festivals. There’s even an Old World element to the yee-haw spirit in towns such as Fredericksburg, with its German-style biergartens and schnitzelhäuser—just the tonic a girl needs after a long day in the saddle.
This article originally appeared in the September 2008 issue of More
