Off Roading, Horseback Riding and Mountain Gawking

Taking up where I left off last Travel Tuesday!  Day Two of the #SierraDrive! (Day One)

Sleeping.  Sleeping is one thing I am not very good at.  I usually spend my evenings running around until the last possible moment, before crashing on my barely comfortable bed with my cell phone plugged in beside me and a “to do” list a mile long running through my head.  Sigh.  Not so fabulous…and so not what happened on this star lit night at the Sierra West Ranch outside of Calgary Alberta!  The days activities, the fresh air, the quiet, the lack of cell service?  All combined to create the most restful nights I’ve had in years.  

The breeze, the horses and the coyotes were all that could be heard, and not ever Dear Hubby’s (party induced) snoring could interrupt the perfection. 

Thanks to that glorious nights sleep, Day Two on the Sierra West Ranch was off to a beautiful start.  After making ourselves somewhat presentable,  Dear Hubby and I jumped in our pick up, back through the creek, and met up with the crew in time for coffee and breakfast.  On our agenda for the morning, horseback riding and exploring the ranch in the Sierra.   Woot!

Turn up the volume if you want to have a good laugh at me!

First up, it was time to get my Cowgirl on!  Dear Husband is an experienced horseback rider, I am not.  This was not going to stop me!  This was a dude ranch, there were real Cowboys there who wanted to take little old me on a horse!  Who was I to say no? I was going for the full Cowboy experience.  Yee Haw! I was properly introduced to Keystone, my gorgeous ride for the trail ride, and we were on our way!

I wasn’t scared at all.  I mean if “the Bachelor” could bring his date out here to Sierra West Ranch and  pull off this horseback riding thing,  so could I right?  

As you can see, I had it down by the end.  My girls would be so proud! (Should I mention that the awesome Cowboy stuck with me the entire time?  I am such a city girl!)

The second part of our morning adventure took us through some countryside I thought only existed in the movies.  Breathtaking.

We took the Sierra up a steep incline and were off on our excursion.  The mountains in front of us, and the ranch behind us, I felt a long way from the Suburbs of home.

The GM continued to amaze me with the quietness of its cab, and performance on the rough roads.  Not once did I feel like we, or the truck were out of our depth.  I’ve driven pick ups on gravel before and had the uncomfortable experience of fish tailing.  The back felt too light to me?  Not so with the 2014 Sierra.  We kicked up dust, made tight turns, experimented with sharp inclines and always felt safe, secure and in control.  We even got a little lost and “might” have had to speed things up a tad in order to make it back to the ranch by departure time. 

It was almost like the Sierra liked it! (or perhaps that was just my Hubby) 

After our little off road adventure we headed back to our camper and hastily packed up.  It was time to head back into the city and the Calgary Stampede!  Woo Hoo!  Truck loaded and another new discovery.  Those magical truck fairies had been at it again.  In our vehicle was some bottled water, and a map to our next destination.  Lunch!  (you would not believe how much food was on this trip! Awesome.)

Bye Sierra Ranch!

A short hour ( and only one wrong turn) later , we reached our next destination in our own version of the Amazing Race.  This is where we hit our own self imposed road block.  Before lunch could even be considered we HAD to stop and shop.  Why?  Apparently we were a stone’s throw away from the World’s Best Beef Jerky Store.  For reals.  Truthfully, not so much my thing, but the Hubby was all over it.  Admittedly, it was a very cool store. 

Purchases made, lunch consumed, err at the Little New York Bistro, in the middle of nowhere?  (it was great!) We headed out on the last driving leg of out tour.  At this point, after two days of driving, Dear Hubby’s back should have been developing a pretty good lower back ache.  You know what?  It wasn’t!  The seats in the 2014 Sierra were as comfortable as any luxury SUV I have ever driven or ridden in.  I was impressed.

We headed into the heart of Calgary and I will admit I was glad Hubby at the wheel.  Country driving, suburb driving, totally my speed.  City driving, not really a fan.  Before long we pulled into the Arts Hotel, and it was time to say goodbye to our fabulous ride. 

It was only mid-afternoon, we had done so much and still had so much to look forward to! 

Thanks again to GMC Canada.

Next Travel Tuesday; The Calgary Stampede!

Disclosure: I was provided a trip to Alberta to test the 2014 Sierra.  All opinions expressed in this post are my own.  Please follow GMCCanada on Twitter.