Well, going through these photos has made me realise HOW MUCH I’ve done while travelling in the USA. Alas, it has only been three months since my last journal update. I’m sitting down writing this on a Wednesday knowing full well how much I need to get done for Friday. I usually get the process started about a week in advance but I am so enjoying being more disconnected here on the ranch.

I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to read these. It’s mostly a record and creative outlet for me, but I love sharing my experiences with friends and family. Crafting these every second week and keeping myself accountable can be really hard at times, especially editing the photos and writing both the posts themselves and the emails. It takes time but I love it. So it’s nice knowing that they’re being read!

Picking up where I left off…

I finished up just after spending four days at Mt Hood in Oregon (best powder day EVER). I’d just secured my job here at the ranch, but that’s a story and a half that I’ll get into in a second.

That was February. It’s now June, so there is about three months to catch up on!

End of Season Shenanigans

The end of the season at Brundage was incredible. SO bittersweet, but oh man it’s got to be the best place I’ve ever worked. The snow was awesome and I’ve got a winter full of memories that I’ll be telling my kids in twenty years.

I taught myself to snowboard this season, and dude – surfing powder is insanely fun. I understand all the hype now. I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to now have two skills. Though I’m still a skiier, I can definitely appreciate them both for different reasons.

The kindness of the St Clair family -who I was able to travel with to Hawaii- meant that I got to ride on a snowmobile for the first time! I wish we had the kind of snow to do it more in New Zealand. I guess I’ll just be moving to the mountains when I get back!

The last week of the season was so warm too, which meant goggle tans and bib sunburns. Boarding in a bib did give an extra incentive not to fall on my snowboard though, which I needed.

The only annoying thing about the end of the season had to be the spring snow conditions. Getting shot forward at Mach chicken in the shadows, before inverting your knees hitting the sticky snow in the sun was gnarly.

Fall Line Racing Team

This has got to be one of the coolest things to ever sprout out of my brain. Rickey and I spent two weeks designing and crafting this absolute weapon of a car out of cardboard, duct tape, paint and string for Brundage’s Cardboard Derby.

Inspired by Red Bull (we wanted to channel Max Verstappen’s winning streak) the outcome couldn’t have been better. We had the whole shop in on it. Logan was the team manager, complete with gaming headset, bandana and racing jacket. Nicole and Spence were the pit crew, with mechanic’s shirts, drills from the tune shop and pit vipers. The rest of the team made signs and were the cheerleaders.

Unforgettable. Even though we almost took Chris the ski patrollers legs from underneath him and came close to kissing a tree.

Hawaii

You can read ALL about my Hawaii trip here, but this was a two week chunk of my time between finishing up at Brundage and Michael arriving in the states. Such a wonderful time with a beautiful family, I miss them all so much! The sun was so lovely, and I can’t wait for those kind of temperatures to hit here in Idaho.

My post on Hawaii is here!

Michael’s Trip to the USA

Having Michael, my best friend from NZ here was so awesome. Ultimate crossover episode, especially travelling with McKeely too. I’m so grateful that he could come over, as I had such a small amount of time free, and he had a lot of work commitments before coming over.

We spent the first week in McCall exploring around. We went snowboarding (for his first time seeing snow, he crushed it -carving and everything), and we celebrated my 21st with my local friends.

One of the days was the day that the Riggins Rodeo was on. Now, this rodeo had a reputation and a half for being an absolutely nuts event, but I’m so glad that we went. It was awesome to watch the different events and take some photos. Cultural experience for both Michael and I too.

One thing that I wasn’t expecting was to be able to cross the Northern Lights off my list so soon. I thought I’d need to be in Iceland for that to become reality. How lucky to be able to experience it with Jeff, Kari and Michael in McCall on one of our last nights. We’d taken the ute out to the end of the road, put a whole bunch of blankets in the back and taken the camera out. We were so close to heading off to bed when the sky exploded into light. I’d never been directly under them before, which was such a special experience.

We spent the next week touring through Montana and Glacier National Park. I wrote about this last fortnight, so I won’t go into too much detail. You can read that via the link above or clicking the graphic below.

Arriving at Red Horse Mountain Ranch in Idaho

What a whirlwind the last three weeks here have been. It already feels like so long since I arrived. The day after we dropped off Michael and drove towards the ranch was so stressful. I got a call from my manager here saying that my paperwork hadn’t been approved, even though I’d put it through in March. I’d previously contacted both my representatives in NZ and the USA, and both had told me that I was good to go.

Upon arriving, I had to swap into the hospitality department in order to keep my job, so no wrangling for me. At first this was really hard to get my head around. I’d spent three months dreaming of being able to work with horses, and the Spirit obsessed kid in me was losing it over being able 1) to work at a ranch, 2) in America, 3) western-style.

It took a few days, but I’m still able to enjoy the horses in my off time, and I’ve never had serving experience before, so it’s great to be able to learn something new. I’m so grateful to be able to stay and enjoy this insanely beautiful part of the country around some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It’s so easy in today’s age to form opinions about people without meeting them, and something I really appreciate about travelling is the opportunity meet such a range of different people from different walks of life. If you’d told me a year ago that I would be learning to line dance with my friends on a dock at sunset in a remote town in Idaho, I would have laughed. At the cowboy hat and all.

Did I mention the food too? Oh my goodness. Might not have to punch that extra hole in my belt after all.

I’m spending the next three-ish months here at Red Horse, and can’t wait for the super warm weather. It’s not quite swimming material yet, but soon enough, hopefully.

Booking my flights to Iceland and Germany is very much on the cards for the next few weeks – so I’m pretty excited to get those plans solidified. How is this life mine?

I am incredibly grateful for each and every one of you, whomever you are reading this. Stay exploring, spread kindness and appreciate where you are.

Big hugs from northern Idaho!

Emma xx

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