Love In The Wild West

They were extremely beautiful, but that was part of the problem. These horses were well groomed and sleek and slim, nothing like the rough and sturdy horses that would populate a real ranch. Each horse must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and although they were nice to look at they did not really contribute to the authenticity of the place. Lila had wanted to see real horses, horses that would actually be used on a ranch. These beauties would not last very long if they were put to work, they had probably not been used for labor a single day in their lives.

Lila tried her best not to be disappointed. After all, her best friend had done this for her. She had paid for a week long stay at the ranch so that they could enjoy themselves. She would not spoil the mood by nitpicking. Besides, there were probably a lot of things inside the ranch that would appeal to her, things that would make her realize that the stay was not going to be all that bad.

However, when she entered the ranch she realized that this was not to be.

“Welcome, welcome!” said a beautiful attendant that was standing at the entrance to the ranch waiting to greet the new customers. “Welcome to the Dennison Ranch and Resort! We are dedicated to giving you the most relaxing experience that money can buy, so if there is anything that I can do for you, anything at all, just give me a shout and I will be sure to get you whatever it is that you want! Now, if you would follow me, I will give you a tour of the place. Leave your bags there, if you have placed your name tags on them the way you were requested to do on the bus, our concierges will take your luggage up to your respective rooms and you can get whatever you need from them later. For now, however, follow me as I take you on a tour of our lovely resort!”

This was the second time that the attendant had referred to this place as a resort. Lila had nothing against resorts, they could be extremely relaxing and were a great way to unwind. However, she could not understand how something could be a ranch and a resort at the same time. Ranches involved hard work, stuff that would make you fit and would help you forget the stress of your normal life through the labor that you did. A resort, however, was designed to get you off of your feet, it was designed to make you feel like you had nothing to do. These were two very different ball games and Lila honestly had no clue how the two could coexist within the same premises.

She looked around and was feeling increasingly disappointed by the second. This place was very well made indeed, it was sleek and modern and had a lot of amenities. It was not, however, a ranch. Or rather, it was not a true ranch. There were hints here and there of the ranch ambiance that these people were trying to emulate, but Lila could see right through all of that. The main purpose of this place was to get people off of their feet, and although Lila would not mind being able to relax after her sh*tty job, she could not help but feel like she had been handed the short shrift. She had not been looking forward to a relaxing week at a spa or a resort, she had been looking forward to getting her hands dirty at a real ranch. Still, she decided that it was too early to make a judgment. She would have to see the rest of the ranch before she made her final decision.

They went to the various locations in the ranch and Lila started to feel like she was not going to enjoy her time here very much at all.

“This here is our swimming pool,” said the attendant, gesturing to an enormous pool of water. “It is an Olympic sized swimming pool with various lengths, so no matter what you are looking for you can find it in this pool. If you want to exercise and get fit, you can swim laps. If you are just looking to unwind and float, this pool can accommodate that as well. If you are just looking to splash around, well the shallow end will be just the thing you need to get your juices flowing! This pool is the very best that you can find in this part of the country, and thanks to the technology we have used in the creation of this pool you will never find the water hot at all. No, the water will always be nice and cool so that you can enjoy a cooling swim after a day in the heat and unwind the way you are supposed to!”

Lila could not help but wonder what a swimming pool was doing in a ranch. She decided not to rock the boat and go with it. Louise looked so excited to be here, and she was really enjoying looking at all of the things that this ranch, or resort rather, had to offer. Lila wanted to ask if there would be any cowboy related activities but she never really got the chance. Besides, with all of the things that she was seeing here, she really did not need an answer to that question. She was pretty sure that there were not going to be any cowboy related activities at all, there were just going to be relaxing activities.

“This is our gym,” said the attendant, gesturing towards a large room filled with weights and the like. “If you are looking to get fit on this vacation, look no further than here. You can enjoy the use of our state of the art machines and there will be a number of instructors here to help you out as well! If your stay with us will last a week or longer, you can have one of the instructors prescribe a course of exercises for you that will help you get into the shape of your life while you are staying here with us!”

Lila could not help but think about the fact that if this were a real ranch a gym would be entirely unnecessary. A real ranch would make them work hard, and through that hard work they would be able to get fit and healthy. Lila looked at Louise and saw that her friend was quite excited about all of the things that this place had to offer, so she bit her tongue. She did not want her friend to be disappointed, so she decided not to say anything about this place.

They were shown a casino that took up a sizable portion of the ranch, a bar that doubled as a nightclub where there were regular cowboy themed parties, as well as a number of restaurants that the ranch housed. Lila cringed at pretty much every single thing that the attendant described, especially the cowboy themed parties. Cowboys were rough riding hard workers, a cowboy themed party was a rather odd concept. It was clear to Lila that these people were just using the cowboy name to promote their ranch, attracting people here that liked the idea of cowboys rather than actual cowboys.