The Little Ranch

Tomorrow Benji graduates from Canyon School and then we jump into the car and head north to the Little Ranch.

The ranch isn't really little--it is a sprawling 140 acre piece of property with a well-appointed cabin and a river running through it--but it is owned by the Littles, friends of friends who are allowing us to rent for a weekend.

Seventeen miles south of Yosemite the place is so magical the first time I went I could not believe that a property that beautiful, isolated and undeveloped existed outside a National Park or a beer commercial. We drove through the cattle gate and never left the grounds for four days.

The land was owned for decades by a retired postal worker from San Francisco--back when you could buy 140 acres with a river running through it on a postman's pension. He loved the land, and when the Littles promised they would not develop it, ever, he sold it.

We will swim in water holes, make ice cream, sit under the stars, take naps in hammocks, ride horses, drink tequila, tell scary stories and pan for gold.

Have a great weekend and be back soon!