Here it is.  Finally.  The long anticipated post detailing my glorious solo trip to the land of cows.  I know you’ve all been so desperate to hear it.

About a month ago (I know, I’m ridiculously slow at getting to this) I went to visit my sister, who just had her first baby.

In the ever-exciting state of Oregon.

It was my first time there.  Sadly it was exactly as I expected.

If you’d like to see a visual of my worst nightmare, check this out….

That’s right.  No sun anywhere. 

Maybe if I hadn’t spent the last 27.5 years in the dessert this wouldn’t be an issue.  But I find that when the sun is not shining I kind of feel the need to crawl in a hole and hide until it’s back.

Luckily I had a good distraction.

Princess Darling was so happy to see me!

I think she basically loves anyone with two arms, because that means less time that she isn’t being held.

Which was fine with me.

Of course as a newborn, little P.D. spent a good amount of time sleeping, so we had to entertain ourselves in other ways.

I’ve been an obsessive follower of the Pioneer Woman for about a year now, so of course it was so  thrilling that I was getting to spend time on an actual cattle ranch.

Our first outing was to watch the bulls get checked for some sort of disease.  They were really into it.

One note: all those fabulous cow pictures PW shares….yeah, you just don’t get the full effect until you’re there in person. The smell really takes it to a whole new level.

Here’s me and my sister, keeping our distance from the angry bulls.

Anyway, this was when I decided to be brave and make the most of my PW adventure.

Didn’t you know I’m total cowgirl?  Oh wait.  That’s right, I’m not.

But it was fun to pretend for a little while.

After that grand time, I got to see “town”.

This would be the store/post office/bar.  Pretty efficient, right. ?

It took me a minute to figure out that this deranged looking animal was actually a dog.

Pretty scary.

The decor inside was super impressive.

There were at least a dozen of these lining all the walls.

Though town was thrilling, for obvious reasons we didn’t hang out there too long.

So what is a restless auntie to do with a new mommy and baby who are asleep more than awake?

This was my project:

Of course we all know they picked the right person for this job.

It only took me one afternoon. (amazing what can be accomplished without three crazies interrupting you)

Isn’t it a sweet little room?  I was so happy to have something productive to focus on.  Took my mind off of the increasing vitamin D deficiency.

Minus the weather, I loved the feel of the ranch life.  But honestly, I don’t know if I could handle being in the middle of nowhere like that indefinitely.  My sister’s sister-in-law also lives on the ranch and it takes 15 minutes to drive to her house.  I just don’t know if that’s for me.

But it is pretty.

I’m told it’s much more impressive in the summer when everthing’s not dead.

And I love the little farmhouse.

And of course, if you’re bored…you can always go looking at cows.

Because you know they’re so exciting.

Or you could just park yourself in front of the tv and hold a baby.

You know that’s guaranteed to satisfy!

Until you have to leave and go home anyway…then it’s just depressing.

I’m glad I got to spend this time.  I know she’ll be completely different the next time I see her.