The first place we stopped by was the hat shaping station. We missed out on shaping our hats earlier the first day (because our plane was delayed and we arrived late), so we wanted to get that done first. There were so many styles to choose from, it took us a while to decide on which one we wanted to get :P Kevin ended up getting a Tim McGraw/Garth Brooks kind style, with a wide brim and curved in a little by the sides. I went with the more feminine look, something like how Shania Twain would wear her cowboy hat (curved in more on both sides...just like the hat in the middle of the photo).
There was also a folk band performing throughout the whole duration of the Town Party. They were good! The photo that I took of them turned out blurry, so I stole Silvia's photo from her album (I hope she doesn't mind :P).
After getting our hats shaped, we headed to the branding station to try our hand at branding! We had to put on some thick leather gloves and the ranch staff taught us how to do it. We had a choice of two brands, either the Double U or the usual Crazy Mountain ranch brand. The best part is, we got to keep the leather pieces that we brand!!
The next station that we stopped by was the cattle roping station. We were taught the correct way to rope cattle, with an overhead lasso. I must say I totally suck at this, I guess I was not born to be a cowgirl :P Kevin however did a very good job. I guess all those years of working with ropes as a sailor helped out. Check out the short vid of Kevin showing us how it's done!
We headed over to the Horse Shoe Pits to take part in the Horse Shoe competition. We tried our best but I guess our best wasn't good enough to win anything!! They also had a pool competition going on at the Saloon but there were just too many people, so we didn't bother joining.
Time for some entertainment! There was this amazing magician performing all kinds of magic tricks at the Town Party. He is really good, especially with those close up magic tricks. He also walked around the tables during dinner to perform more tricks.
A party wouldn't be a party without food or drinks, right? Check out the lovely buffet spread of fruits on skewers, pretzels on skewers and BBQ jumbo shrimp on skewers. The shrimp was exceptionally yummy, nice and juicy...just off the grill.
There were also all kinds of wine, beer, soda and some special home brew. You should totally try the local Montana beer or the home brew.
After we were done eating, a lone cowboy rode into town, on his trusty brown horse. This was when we got to meet Cowboy Cal for the first time.
He did a great job in bringing us back to the 1890s, back when cowboys sat around the campfire, exchanging stories with each other. He also showed us some amazing whip and rope tricks while telling us his stories.
When Cowboy Cal was done with his stories and after he rode off into the sunset, we all gathered at the Crystal Palace Hotel for our group photograph. We would get them all framed up as souvenirs on the 3rd night, just before we leave for home. With that, it marked the end of the Town Party and the beginning of dinner at the Livery!! Time to party the night away!
* Click here to be directed back to the Crazy Mountain Ranch Homepage. You can check out other ranch related posts as well as look at photos from the ranch during our Summer 2009 trip!
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