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Thank you to White Stallion Ranch for hosting our stay at your beautiful luxury family-friendly dude ranch in Tucson Arizona. All opinions and photographs of the property are ours.

Day three at White Stallion Dude Ranch started with riding horses of course! 

On Sundays, the horses rest, so we were all excited to get back on the saddle, literally! Pete, Ashley, and Emmy went for a 7 am ride and then took a lesson mid morning to make sure they were ready for the afternoon fast ride up the mountain.

Emmy is too young for the fast ride, so she just enjoyed the lesson while Pete and Ash fine tuned their riding and passed the skill test for the fast ride. The lessons are one of the only things not included in the all-inclusive price, along with some drinks (like alcohol and soda) and spa treatments. However, they are a bargain at only $20 a person, paid directly to the Wrangler.

They had worked up an appetite, and were happy to see a vegetable stir fry waiting for us at lunch!

In the early afternoon, Pete and Ashley went to CrossFit, so I took Emmy to the pool, and then I let her do something I used to love doing on family vacations to Yosemite. I let her play in the dirt for over an hour. I’m one of those people that (tries) to keep their kids clean and dust free. But at a dude ranch, there is dirt everywhere, and I finally let it go. She wanted to get all dirty and play with the pebbles and just be a kid. I honestly forgot how much of my childhood I enjoyed doing the same thing. She never once asked for an electronic device, except for me to take a picture of her so she could remember this forever. I can’t imagine a better way to spend the afternoon. 

The evening crept up on us quickly, and it was time for our 5 pm ride. This was a ride we all had been waiting for. We rode out through the desert and up the mountain a bit. It was pretty steep at times and definitely an adventure. Emmy, Maddie, and I took the slow ride, while Pete and Ash took the fast ride. The only difference is that they went faster going to and from the mountain while our horses walked the whole time. They LOVED the fast ride and thought it was really fun. 

We got back just in time for dinner.

We went back to our suite and freshened up (Emmy tried to get some more dirt play time in) and enjoyed dinner!

I can’t get over how gorgeous the views are. While Emmy was playing earlier, I just stared off into the distance. Arizona really is beautiful!

After another great sunset, we followed flashing red lights over to the star party.

The star party is lead by a local astronomer, who brings a large telescope and his knowledge to the ranch of the planets and stars. We gazed through the telescope and saw craters on the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The ranch has enrichment and entertainment activities each night, and they rotate so that there are no repeats during the week. This was a great way to spend the evening.

Emmy was asleep within minutes of getting into bed. I’d say that is a good indication of the great day we had!

Here is our day three video:

See our full White Stallion Dude Ranch adventure here.

Are you taking a vacation this summer?