The Rock Ranch

On July 22, 2013, the four of us headed to The Rock Ranch.  Scott had visited The Rock Ranch on a field trip and came home raving about it, saying it was one of his all time favorite field trip destinations.  We decided to try it out as a family field trip.  We all had a blast!

One of the first things we did was play on the big, inflatable pillow.  Elijah and I jumped, bounced, tumbled and fell to our hearts' content while Keira happily played at the gigantic sand table right outside the giant pillow's fence. That was one element that impressed Scott and I the most about Rock Ranch -- it was obviously well planned out.  They clustered the activities so that many different ages and ability levels could play in the same basic vicinity.

The part of Rock Ranch that both kids were most excited about was Tiny Town.  Daddy had explained how his students had run amok down the little street where everything was built on a child's scale.  The buildings are half as tall and half as deep as typical buliding and include: a jail, a firehouse, a hotel, a school house, a court and a church.  As expected it was a highlight of the day.  First, the kids poked around all the buildings including the jail.

Then, they decided to create a story where judge Eli sent me to jail (I think it was for a traffic violation?)

Another aspect of The Rock Ranch that Scott and I were impressed by was how low tech all the attractions are.  While other amusement parks feature motorized or electronic attractions, The Rock Ranch is powered by your family's will power and motivation.  The only way to power their cars and tractors on the track is to peddle.  Likewise, you have to scoop your own sand with a hand powered digger.

After exerting ourselves in the sun, we headed to the low-paced  little farm to feed the animals, got some refreshment for our sweaty ice cream lovers then headed for a breezy respite from the sun on the little train.  What a fabulous fun-filled family day!