Heaven on Earth

When I was a little girl my Grandpa Hebdon ran a ranch up in McCall, Idaho.  We would go up in the summer and winter months and it was a kids paradise.  4 wheelers and horses to ride, animals to feed and lots of land to run and get dirty on.  A river not far away we could tube down and play in.  A rope swing in the barn provided hours of entertainment.  I shot my very first gun up at the ranch and also learned how to make Grandma's homemade rolls up there.  I have tons of awesome memories and some sad ones too.  (I once literally ran over my brother with a 4 wheeler.  Hit him into the ditch and dislocated his shoulder).  When I heard we were going up there for vacation I knew I had to at least drive by the ranch and show my hubs and kids some of the things I got to do as a young kid.  My grandpa died when I was 11 at the age of 62.  It was sad and unexpected and I often think how different our lives would have been if he was still around.

I was excited to find the ranch but not prepared for how emotional it would make me.  When we first pulled up I wasn't sure it was the right place. It has been over 20 years afterall.  You could tell the place has been abandoned and that no one is currently living there so we walked around the whole property.  The little house in the picture above was where my grandparents lived while the "big house" was being built.  It used to be white back in the day.  It's TINY!!!  Like the size of my garage.  We were all very excited when the big house was finished.  

 This picture above is a new garage that wasn't there when I was a kid.  The trailer wasn't there either.  

This is the "BIG HOUSE".  I could tell it's been a long time from how big the trees are in the front.  We planted them and they were tiny the last time I was up there.  The rock chimney is an addition and they made the garage into a room (it was behind the chimney).  I walked up to the house and looked through the window and it was like one of those moments in the movies where even though everything is old and dusty and gross it suddenly becomes new again and you flashback to a memory.  The furniture inside the house is EXACTLY the same.  I looked in and tears started forming.  I could almost see my grandma in the kitchen making rolls and half expected to see my grandpa ride up on a horse.  

This barn had a rope swing in it that we would swing on and land in the hay.  There was also a loft in the top that we spent hours playing up there.  

It's hard to tell from this picture but there is a white lookout tower on top of that mountain.  We would ride horses all the way up there and look out at the valley.  It would be an all day trip with a packed lunch and time you would get to spend just with grandpa.  

This stable is new.  It wasn't there when I was a kid.

It was fun to take my little family up to this special place and share my stories with them.  

My grandpa always called this place his heaven on earth.  

It really was!!!  The bank owns the property now and if I had 4.9 million dollars I would buy it in a heartbeat (it's over 1200 acres of land).  The place is rundown, but it seemed kind of fitting to me.  No one could take care of this place like my grandpa.  

It really was my favorite memory of the whole trip.  I framed some pictures and just gave them to my grandma for her 80th birthday.  We talked and talked about memories on the ranch.  It was awesome.  I feel bad for my younger siblings and cousins who were too young to remember these fun times or my grandpa.  I know I'm really blessed to have been a part of this place for a short time and to have memories with people who are no longer with us here on this earth.