Sunday, November 4, 2007

First Post: Royal Redwood Ranch friends and alums!

Welcome! I'm a former camper at Joe and Claudia Ayres' Royal Redwood Ranch riding camp in Comptche, California, which ran for three decades and finally closed in 2000. I don't ride much anymore, and last attended camp there in the late 70s, but now that my 45 year old self has a 12 year old horse-crazy daughter, I'm really sorry that the Ranch has closed, and am recalling many fond memories of the Ranch, the skittish yearlings visiting us in the wee hours, scrambling through the slippery, dark woods in the rain to ride the pickup down to the barn, the smell of the oats we fed our horses as we groomed them before breakfast, flaking out hay for the horses waiting outside the Salt Corral, and many other great things.

I googled the ranch today, and found a website that thought it was still active and had a phone number. I called, and Joe answered! We talked for half an hour, and caught up on a lot. I'd be happy to share more if anyone ever does what I did (googling their names etc.) and finds this blog.

So, I'm starting this blog and launching it into the blogosphere, sort of like the Voyager spacecraft, figuring that in some future year someone else will stumble across it, and initiate contact...

Scott Bellows
Portland, OR
formerly of Piedmont, CA