Colorado Chronicles : Dude Ranches

As I was using my Google-Fu to get stuff for this post, I came across the website for Colorado Dude Ranch Association. Click the link and they will inform you way better than I can about the feeling of freedom and the appreciation of the beauty of  Mother Nature one gets when visiting a Dude Ranch.
I can think few places I'd rather be than 9 or 10 thousand feet up in the Rockies, on horseback looking for a secluded, hidden even, trout pond. After a  hard day's fishin', frying up the catch then sitting around a campfire telling stories until it was sack time.
Colorado boasts an impressive resume of Dude (or Guest, if you prefer) Ranches. From Grandby to Loveland to Yampa, a Colorado Rocky Mountain High is to be had at many locations throughout the state. Y'all come, podnuh. Or something like that.

The Official State Vacation Guide for Colorado is FREE  here.

Maine Minutiae: Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks have been a part of Maine history since the 1600's, when English explorers began harvesting the trees on Monhegan Island. The first sawmill in Maine was a water-powered job built in Berwick in 1634. Four hundred years later, the loggers of today, formerly known as lumberjacks ( I like "lumberjacks" better), continue this tradition, with some loggers even getting their own TV Shows. The most famous of these TV Lumberjacks are the American Loggers, the seven Pelletier brothers and four of their sons. The show is filmed in Northeastern Maine. I wonder what the men of the 1600's would think about such a thing? I am sure that as you flipped through channels on your cable or satellite system, you've happened upon some of the logging games programs on one of the ESPN channels. Timber Tina's Great Lumberjack Show
has been featured on ESPN, The Discovery Channel and ABC Sports plus several other networks.
The most famous lumberjack of all is Paul Bunyan. The statue of Bunyan on the right is in Bangor, one of the many cities to claim the mythological Ax Man as a Native Son.
The next time you sit on a park bench, see a baseball bat or use a toothpick (remember 90% of them come from Maine), you can thank the men from the 1600's, the Pelletier brothers and Paul Bunyan for it.

VisitMaine.com is the place to order your FREE Maine Travel Guide.

Texas Tidbits : Lake Texoma

Lake Texoma. 89,000 acres of some of the best fishin' anywhere. If you're on the lookout for largemouth, white, striped or smallmouth bass, there are some real wall-hangers awaiting you at Texoma. Let's not forget crappie, catfish and the 70 other species of fish that inhabit these waters. Allow me to put you some knowledge with the water body records for the Big T. Fish fry, anyone? At laketexoma.com, we find this: "The lake area includes two wildlife refuges, two state parks, fifty four U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-managed parks, twenty-six resorts, hundreds of campgrounds and a variety of excellent golf courses". What the hell am I doing in Maine? (just kiddin', honey.....kinda) If you've got a boat, a secluded fishin'/camping trip is as close as one of the many islands located throughout the lake. The fishing license regulations at Lake Texoma are a little goofy, but as Wikipedia tells us " Historically, Texas and Oklahoma have not had a reciprocal fishing license agreement, which has posed a problem for anglers. Recent boundary resolutions have given Oklahoma jurisdiction over most of the fishing in Lake Texoma. An Oklahoma fishing license allows fishing most of the lake, up to within 400 yards (370 m) of Denison Dam. To fish the entire lake, a Lake Texoma fishing license is also available." Be sure to check with Texas or Oklahoma wildlife officers to get the right info for you. As at any major lake in Texas, the weekends at Texoma are, shall we say, busy? Although with 89,000 acres of fishin' available, you could probably find some place to hang out without too much of a crowd.