Tuesday, I took a day off the bike. Ryan and I decided to indulge in some of the local tourist fare. Amazingly enough, he’d suggested going horseback riding. If you’re just now joining us here at The Blog, you should know that I used to be pretty damn good at riding horses. However, I’d never suggested the vacation trail ride since Ryan (according to his own account) “might have ridden once as a kid.” So, when he said something about going for a ride, I jumped on the opportunity.

On a related note, I’d like to officially thank Mitt Romney for being so obnoxiously, controversially rich, that NBC see it fit to show the Olympic Dressage competition in a stretch for ratings. I was getting sick of swimming, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. I digress.

Amanda suggested Linn Canyon Ranch. I signed us up for the 3 hour lunchtime tail ride. When we arrived, we met Melissa, our guide, and Ashley and Roscoe, the horses. The ride was a gorgeous trip on BLM land through Aspen groves (some of them had to be hundreds of years old), pine trees, and open meadows. Other than Ryan’s horse (Ashley) taking him off-road through some bushes on several occasions, everything went swimmingly. After lunch, we swapped horses for the ride back, though Ashley was wise to my experience within the first few minutes and never went bush-surfing.

Afterward, we ventured over Teton Pass to Jackson and checked the Aerial Tram to the top of Mt. Rendezvous. Tourist trap? Sure. Scenic? Incredibly so…