The Ranch Closes Shop

3/2019

(Please excuse the lack of any serious revision or editing. My Wife has just returned from a week of packing and I’d life to spend some time with her. The intermittent eye moistness isn’t helping things either.)

:’(

-Tomorrow (3/15), the Big Valley Ranch closes up shop. Harold and Tina bought the place, roughly 2000 acres back in the mid-60s. Back then, before the opening of the North Cascades Highway, land was mighty cheap.

-It remained a vacation place till the early 80s when they decided to move back there full time with their two daughters: Wendi and Holly. The move was tough for Wendi but it was the best thing that ever happened to an impoverished yet plucky young man about Wendi’s age, who lived in the town next over. The best thing. So many of my life’s high points happened here.

-I got to go to prom. Harold even loaned me an old suit. I was sick as a dog but Wendi explained that we WOULD be going. And so we did.

-Much (much) later, Wendi and I got married at the Ranch. The gazebo under which we said our vows now sits in our backyard.

-Things took their natural course and Xander came along. The Ranch seemed Designed by God to be every boy’s dream: cows, horses, 4-wheeler, swimming in the river, streams, fishing and kayaking in the 3 ponds, a big house and best of all, doting grandparents. He and his slightly older cousin Hunter practically grew up there.

-My son gained a lot of life lessons there:

His 1st birthday party was there.

“Helping” out G’Pa Harold with Ranch duties.

He broke his first bone: the right wrist, falling out of an apple tree when he was about 5 years old.

This last summer, at 15, he broke the same wrist; this time riding the quad.

Again, last summer, he also got his first driving lesson using the Ranch truck. It was a good long while before lesson #2.

-About a decade ago, the Heaths decided to build an old person’s home across the road. Unlike the old Ranch House, their new home had no stairs and a wonderful guest wing. Which we used. A lot. The whole family did. Harold and Tina were insanely welcoming to friends and family. Many summers, the Ranch hosted family reunions.

-I’ll admit that I pestered my friends to make the 5 hour drive. It was hard to describe the Ranch without actually seeing it. Those that acquiesced admitted that it was a special place. Naturally, when their children came along, that was all the more reason to visit.

-A few years back, we said goodbye to Harold. After that, even the much diminished Ranch (down to 200ish acres by then) seemed too much for Tina to manage. The logical (if painful) decision was made to sell it. And after a long time on the market, it finally sold last December. The generous buyers, the S Family, allowed Tina to stay till the 15th of March.

-It’s not easy to move but Tina had lots of help. Wendi made 5 trips in the last two months; even finagling TWO different Silverdale Js to come with but there were many Vs and relatives who pitched in. Ranch hand (and so much more) A deserves some sort of medal for all his assistance. Tina is much loved and will be supported in her new life. She currently has a condo in…uh… downtown Winthrop and will eventually decide whether to build a house on her one acre plot on the other side of downtown Winthrop. We’ll see.

-In the meantime, I am thankful for the wonderful memories the Big Valley Ranch provided to me, my family, and friends. And further, I wish all the best for the S Family as their Valley Life starts. They have wonderful things ahead of them.

And thank you to all who shared this wonderful piece of the Methow Valley with us.

Take Care.