Girls Just Want to Have Fun

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And now a rambling long-awaited account of our girls weekend:

We had a great time at 1,000 Acres Ranch! It was a beautiful setting with the Hudson River running along one side of the ranch (a great way to great the morning from my balcony) and a mountain on the other side. The year was 1986 (probably the last time it was painted and the carpets were replaced), and we stepped into a time warp that was a cross between Dirty Dancing ("nobody puts baby in a corner") and the Wedding Crashers (we were the crashers). Most of the people were from the New York City area and New Jersey, and they all seemed to know each other. It turns out that most of the 200 visitors to the Ranch that week have come back year after year and have developed lasting friendships that go on long after the pool is closed for the season. The 1,000 Acre Ranch lives up to its name of being family friendly - boy, were there a lot of kids around, including in the bar at 11pm.

Enough about the setting, and onto the girls. Everyone was really happy to be together for a change of scenery and a bit of escape from our day-to-day lives. The ranch had various activities (talent show and bonfire on the beach on Friday night, and country line dancing lessons on Saturday night), including a great horseback ride through the woods. Meals were included, and of course, there was beer involved. Sue and I got into the martinis on Saturday night and the bed hasn't spun that way for me in a long time!

Poor Gina, she didn't feel well all weekend. She was battling a cold and fever, but was a real trouper. Kathy was not able to join us as tragically, her sister passed away on Friday, the day we left for our adventure. She was in our thoughts all weekend, though, and we hope she'll join us next year. That left just the five of us, including Heather and Lorie, and we had a lot of laughs. On Saturday, we took a ride to Lake George, which was about 20 minutes away from the ranch, where we spent the afterenoon and had lunch. We all got temporary tattoos with the Chinese character for "friendship." I tried to rub mine off before work today but it's not budging!

So, until next year, it's back to the real world until we can escape again!

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