Michael Walker wasn’t impressed when his mom announced that the family was going to a place called Paradise, where there was no TV or electronic games.
“Sounds more like hell than Paradise,” the teen declared.
“We are surrounded by a million acres of Bighorn National Forest. There is a lot of room to play,” Clay Miller said.
“If there isn’t good Wi-Fi or cell service,” noted Lisa Walbridge, here with her husband and two kids from Seattle, then her office can’t disrupt her vacation. She and her husband are already thinking of which friends might want to join them next time.
And with no one glued to their phones, Clay Miller said, “You see such chemistry between the families.”
That includes former staff who return with their families and former guests who now are staff, such as college student Lilly Bryant, whose older sisters have also worked here and whose family will come as guests later this summer.
“I’ve grown up here,” she said. “I have such good memories here.”
“It’s hard to get everyone together at the same time,” Martha Walker said.
Family reunions can be problematic in the best of times—different interests, budgets, and agendas. Paradise, although expensive (starting at about $3,000 per adult for six nights) seems to have figured out a winning formula: a focus on the outdoors, authenticity, excellent food (including homemade breakfast pastries daily, an adults-only dinner, and chuck wagon dinner) and plenty for all ages to do. It is already booked for this summer, including several family reunions. (The Walkers booked more than a year out.)
“I’ve been all over the world, and this is my favorite place,” Caylee LeFan, the youngest Walker sibling and mother of three daughters, said. “I don’t worry about the kids here. ... You can’t let them roam free like this at home.”
Nor do the kids ever get bored, no matter what their ages, her older sister, Cherilyn Rice, said. There are overnights for kids, tweens, and teens; horseback riding and lessons; a kids’ rodeo; face painting; a kids’ talent show; special kids’ dinners; cowboy entertainment; and more.
Unlike most ranches, Paradise, more than 100 years old, has day care and children’s programs for babies and preschoolers. “I’ve made reservations for babies who aren’t even born yet,” Leah Miller said.
“That makes a big difference to me,” Marie Castilleja, one of the Walker granddaughters and mom to 3- and 5-year-old daughters, said. “They love the kids’ stuff, and it gives me time to go on a morning ride.”
The Kilmers focus on keeping families together for activities, and unlike other ranches, offer a three-night program. They are also open in the winter as a bed and breakfast.
With the hugely popular “Yellowstone” TV series coming to an end, ranches are riding a wave of popularity. They are mostly booked for this summer, with guests booking for next year when they leave. (There are specific adult weeks.) Everyone, ranch owners say, wants to disconnect from technology and better connect with each other. That includes the group of friends we met from mid-Atlantic states who take an annual ranch vacation together, sisters from Minnesota celebrating a 70th birthday, and grandparents who want to get their grandkids outdoors and off their devices.
Kevin Walsh brought his two granddaughters, ages 11 and 9, to Paradise from Ohio.
“They’ve never experienced anything like this,” he said. “They have never seen mountains.”
By the second day, all of the kids had made friends,” Walsh said. “It’s nice to see that happen. Every single kid was outside playing, no cellphones.” He said he can relax at the pool while the kids are at the kids’ activities.
The adults connect, too, sharing a drink, a meal, a horseback ride, as we did with 85-year-old wrangler Tom George at Vee Bar Ranch, perhaps learning to swing dance together, or listening to a local musician around a fire pit, as we did at Medicine Bow.
Typically, there are morning and afternoon rides, as well as other options, including hikes, fishing, and river tubing, although when we visited in mid-June, the rivers were running too high. There are also all-day rides with a picnic lunch, lessons, the chance to help pen cattle or ride through a field of wildflowers with the mountains as the backdrop.
“For all of us to be together at the same place at the same time is amazing,” Caylee LeFan said.
Her mom, Martha Walker, added: “We are able to treat them all, but we are really treating ourselves. ... it’s the joy of watching them all enjoy themselves.”
And when it comes to family reunions, you can’t do better than that.
