Cattle Drive Vacations

When I tell my friends I just came back from a roundup and cattle drive the inevitable response includes jokes about playing Billy Crystal in the movie City Slickers. In actuality the similarity ends with horses and cows.

I was at Vista Verde Guest Ranch, northwest of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the last week in September for the final week of a month-long cattle drive. I live in Colorado and chose this particular week for three reasons. First, the weather is usually good, with colder nights that quickly turn into warm days. Second, the aspen tree leaves have turned golden and it’s just beautiful. Third, the majority of the 1,000-head herd has been brought in, so we were heading up into the high country to help roundup strays, that didn’t want to be found. We needed to bring cows down from the open range before the deep snow falls and they eventually starve.

While all levels of riders can participate in the drive, my group's experience made City Slickers seem like a walk in the park.

Keep clicking "next," or put your computer mouse on the numbers for descriptions of the other pictures and descriptions of how we were trained and brought cows home to the pasture during the cattle drive.

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Free Walking Tours in Paris, London, New York & Other Interesting Cities

I took a free walking tour in Paris last week and discovered it was just as good as some of the tours with paid private guides. You aren't the only one on the tour, of course, but it was fun to chat along the way with travelers from other countries who also wanted to learn more about Montmartre, where Renoir, Van Gogh and other painters lived and worked.

You'll find free walking tours in Paris, London, New York City, San Francisco and many other cities around the world. If you're happy with the tour, just tip the guide. The guides are locals who know a great deal about the area you want to explore, so they take a chance that you'll tip them well. I've found and listed several links to companies offering free walking tours.

Photo ? Lois Friedland

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This Adventure Travel Company is Giving Away 30 Free Trips

Intrepid Travel, an adventure travel company that specializes in off-the-beaten-path trips to Asia and other areas of the world, is offering a free trip to some lucky person every day in November.? Here's where to find out more Intrepid Travel, which fills a niche for travelers who want to spend less and see more of the local communities.

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Even Type A Personalities Lighten Up at Vista Verde Guest Ranch

Guests gather at twilight to watch the horses run past the main lodge on their way to the pasture for the night. Everyone needs a rest after a day of riding horses through Colorado's high country,or hiking, mountain biking and fly fishing. At Vista Verde Guest Ranch, staff from the wranglers to the chef who prepares gourmet meals has a single goal: pamper the guests.

Whether trail riding or going on a cattle drive, fly fishing in private streams, playing in the mountain-bike terrain park before going on single track trails, or hiking in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, even Type A's learn to let go and enjoy life in the high country during a week at Vista Verde Dude Ranch.

Photo: ? Lois Friedland

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Jacada Plans Luxury Adventure Travel to Latin America

Jacada Travel creates personalized, luxurious and adventurous vacations to many countries in Latin America. The trips are filled with imaginative experiences and adventures, such as heli-fishing in Argentina, riding a BMW motorcycle across part of Chile, plus stays in posh villas steps from the ocean.? The trips go to countries stretching from Belize and Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands, Chile and the Antarctica.

Photo: Photographer Celine Frers, Courtesy of Jacada Travel

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Balloon Ride Over Cappadocia One Reason Turkey is Reader's Favorite in Frommer's Poll

Drifting on a balloon over Cappadocia's mooonscape is one of the reasons readers of Frommer's guides choose Turkey as their "Top Destination in 2012.? The? chance to visit rock churches and underground cities, and hike or mountain bike through the dramatic terrain, are among the reasons Turkey is such a spectacular place to visit.

Photo: ?? Lois Friedland

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Want to Learn to Drive a Military Tank and Crush a Car?

Ever been curious how it would feel to drive a military tank? At Drive a Tank, civilians can learn to operate tanks, shoot blanks from a tank's cannon, and crush a car.? You do get a training and an instructor is in the tank with you at all times. Here's where to get the details about Drive a Tank.

Photo courtesy of Drive a Tank.

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