a day in the country

We spent our Sunday out in the country, visiting Chris' cousin Matt and his family. It's always so nice to be outside of the city...for a little while, you can put your troubles behind you, take in some deep, clean breaths, and marvel at the beauty before you. No technology, no work...just being alive.

Matt is in charge of a deer ranch...they breed deer for hunters to hunt...the ranch is quite large, and Matt has just taken on this job. The people that own the ranch are rarely there, so he was able to show us their house as well. We hopped on a jeep-like vehicle with seats up above, and went on a tour of the ranch.



Here's Aspen in one of the top seats. She had a blast! She brought home two turkey feathers and one deer antler. Great stuff!



Here she is, looking for wildlife...



This is Matt...he was in his element, zooming around on the 4-wheeler, showing us this land that he is so proud to be working on. He is a man that loves what he does! They just moved from city life near Austin, to live all alone on this ranch out in the middle of nowhere...a huge change...



This is the house of the ranch owners...it was so beautiful. I loved it from the outside. The inside decorating wasn't as impressive, but this house alone was worth seeing...



The spiral staircase leading to the upper balcony...and a glimpse through the columns of the gorgeous view...



The house sits on top of a huge hill, and this is the view from up top...



Aspen and Chris in the vehicle, waiting to zoom back down the hill to their house down below...



On the trip down, Matt had to show us the biggest spider he had ever seen. Yep...we were all in agreement on that one! This thing was at least 5 inches long. HUGE! And look at that odd zigzag web...



As we drove off their ranch, I was in awe of the beautiful sunset laying before us...nothing to stand in its way...just the pure beauty of nature enveloping us.

We had a great visit...it was so nice to finally meet Matt's wife LaDon and his son Caleb. They fed us well, with the most delicious smoked brisket I've ever had...it was a nice day spent with family...a nice change of pace from our normal weekends. A little time away from reality...