Dude, time for a break. Visiting a local dude ranch

For this year, we knew we needed to getaway. Teresa had made a bid on a trip to Hawaii in a silent auction, though she was outbid. Not to be deterred, I searched and costs for travel have risen and I was not able to find something within our budget. So, I looked at all the exclusive resorts in the Caribbean.

Teresa had other plans. She is always looking for unusual and fun things (she usually has a couple dozen “unique” places bookmarked) and for this year’s anniversary trip, she booked up a “Lux-Glamping” trip at a Westgate Resort and Dude Ranch.

What is “Lux-Glamping”? Well, “Lux” is short for “luxury”. “Glamping” is a portmanteau of “glamorous” and “camping”, and describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with “traditional” camping. And this place had it!

Teepee Lux-Glamping

Let’s start with our accommodations. We got into a Teepee, 600 square feet. It sleeps four, two on the king-size bed, and two can sleep on the pull-out sofa. This place also has “wagons” that sleep more. What made it better (“lux”) was that it had a full-sized clawfoot tub in a pretty large bathroom. Remember, we are in a TeePee, with a toilet! And, it had a Toto bidet. Seriously, who puts that in a teepee? Westgate, that’s who. One of our neighbors said, “They really need to promote that!”

We also had breakfast/coffee delivered every morning. We also had a golf cart for our use around the campus, and a concierge who saw to our needs. The teepee’s also had a common area with a pavilion and two fire pits that the concierge made sure were lit every night.

Enjoying the firepit

The place is a “dude ranch”. They have all kinds of activities throughout the week, from swamp buggy rides to airboat rides, from horse riding and petting zoos, to trap and skeet shooting, and from an escape room to an adventure park. There are two restaurants, a saloon, and a good general store. On Saturday nights, they have a rodeo too.

Rodeo rider

So we needed a break and this was just a few hours from us. Teresa booked this and it was pretty all-inclusive country style.

Teresa booked us rides on the swamp buggy.

It is an oversized, vehicle that will get through the water and swamps. Of course, the month of May is the end of the dry season and the beginning of the wet season. It has been so dry in the region that the swamps were dry. There were a lot of grasslands and we saw evidence of a lot of wild hogs.

We saw other wildlife, like near here. We spotted a young (yearling) doe. We spooked her and she darted off. One of our buggie mates yelled to look over there. The driver stopped and we all looked at where she was pointing. It took a minute, but hiding in the bush was a fawn. The driver explained that mothers will often dart off and try to lead a predator away. It was awesome. See if you can find the fawn in the picture above.

She booked us an escape room event too. We were jailed and “Willie”, the town drunk was there to give us clues.

Escape room

We solved it, with seconds to spare. Now, some of you know I am into role-playing. So while readin dem dar clues out, I did some ‘accents’ and voices. The girl overseeing us thought it was a hoot.

Yes, we had activities, but we also had some good downtime. It was quite hot there while we were visiting, just over 90 degrees. The TeePees were airconditioned, but the tree canopy helped too and there were plenty of hammocks in the shade.

Relaxing

That evening, we chose the Smokehouse for dinner. Teresa got a ranch salad and it was large enough for two people. I had a burger and chose coleslaw as a side. I wish I could say the coleslaw was good, but it had a different and distinct flavor that I did not care for. I later found out that they add pineapple to it. Why? I don’t know, but I hear some love it and some do not. I was definitely in the latter group.

At night, the concierges came by, stacked the wood into a nice chimney formation, and lit the campfires. Whether they were in your concierge package or you bought them at the general store, the S’mores package has everything you need, including sticks, to make some campfire deliciousness. Of course, you can find vegan marshmallows if you like and they work pretty well too.

Community fire ring

The next morning had us on an airboat ride. We got up and opened the barrel on our porch. In that barrel was a basket filled with breakfast sandwiches, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls, juices, waters, and fresh fruit. You definitely will not go hungry.

After breakfast, we went to the docks for our airboat ride. Besides the speed of the boat, there was wildlife and wilderness to explore. Unfortunately, it was mating season for gators and because of that, they were nesting away from the water. We did see one though.

Let’s “fly”

Our last activity for the day was split. I am unfortunately too heavy for horseback riding, but Teresa is not. So she went riding and I went trap/skeet shooting.

Horseback Riding

Teresa’s ride took her through the saddle forest. As we said, there is a rodeo here and has been for years. There is a lot of history here. In the forest, there were saddles hanging in the trees. We were told that they were in memory of a horse or a cowboy who had passed. I’ve been trying to find something to verify that, but my Google-fu has not served me well as of this writing.

After dropping Teresa off at the stable, I went to the shooting range. I used to shoot pistols and rifles when I was a kid. Target shooting though is different than shooting moving targets. I knew to lead the target though and I was able to hit just under half, or so the range officer said.