Last weekend I volunteered as a bartender for the Las Estrellas del Valle Women’s Trail Ride. I think this was my fifth or sixth year doing it. The money raised during the weekend goes towards the Salinas Valley Memorial Foundation (Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System is the largest hospital in Salinas).
Each year the SVM Foundation puts on a Trail Ride for both men and women. The Men’s Trail Ride was two weekends ago. At the Men’s Trail Ride, only men are allowed to attend, and for the Women’s Trail Ride only women are allowed to attend (with the exception of the cook and the two paramedics who are all men). Those who pay to attend the Trail Ride pay a pretty penny, but they can ride their horses throughout the huge ranch that the Trail Ride is held at (it’s a different ranch each year), have excellent meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and to-die-for desserts), an open bar, great entertainment, and the list goes on and on. During the weekend there is a silent auction as well as a live auction and these are what raises the most money for the Foundation.
When the men attend the Trail Ride they pretty much ride, eat, drink and gamble. When the women attend the Trail Ride, boy do they let their hair down and have a good time. Friday night there’s always a DJ and it’s such a hoot to see these women have a great time and really enjoy themselves. The majority of them are such hard workers and it’s nice that they can enjoy a weekend with a bunch of girlfriends. I may be biased, but I’d have to say that the women have waaay more fun at the Trail Ride than the men do ;). However, it’s not like the men are going to dance to a DJ, right? Ha!
Anyways, my mom, our friend Margie, our other friend Anne (who has been in charge of the bar at the Trail Ride for 20 years) and myself all volunteer each year to bartend for the ladies. I’ll tell you what! It is one hard job. Kevin was a bartender for 6+ years throughout college, but once I started volunteering for this Trail Ride as a bartender, I have a whole new respect for what it takes to do that job! We constantly have to make sure the bar is stocked, everything is on ice, people are getting served, and this is for both lunch and dinner for three days straight. So needless to say, we are SO TIRED come Sunday afternoon. This year was Anne’s last year so she’s handing over the reins to Margie, and Margie will be managing the bar and we’re going to change some things up next year, so it should be pretty exciting.
Since this year was the 20th anniversary of the Women’s Trail Ride, I worked a lot over the past couple months to come up with some ideas about decorating the bar. Usually we don’t decorate it, but it turned out really cute, and I think we’re going to decorate it each year, from now on.
Here is a side-view picture of the bar at night. That banner near the back says “Ropin’ in 20 Years!” I designed it using this awesome website. I’ll definitely be using this company again!
Here’s the front of the bar during the day. The bar is named “Rusty’s Bar” because Rusty used to be one of the women bartenders (before I started) and she passed away from breast cancer a few years ago. So the bar has been named after her because she loved the Women’s Trail Ride and was such a strong supporter of the Foundation for so long.
The bar may not look that nice to the unknowing eye, but it’s a huge improvement from past years. The Trail Ride is literally held at a ranch and they put up a gigantic tent and that’s where everyone eats and where the bar is. People attending (and us included) camp on the ranch; either in tents (no thank you!) or in trailers or motor homes.
Here was our “home” for four days. Trust me, it’s a luxury compared to how some women rough-it!
Margie and Mom
Me, Margie and Mom
Anne, Margie and Mom
Here is all four of us with our princess crowns on. They even lit up! Everyone loved them.
The women checking in at registration on the first day.
The silent auction area.
A beautiful saddle up for auction.
A cute purse up for auction.
Speeches and skits about the 20 year anniversary!
Me and Anne
Each year we try to come up with something different for what we wear. In years past we would design a shirt and wear that Friday night. Last year Margie designed some sweatshirts, and those were wonderful because they kept us warm, but they didn’t last well through a wash afterwards. This year we decided to use aprons so we wouldn’t get so dirty. So I was in charge of designing them and I blinged them out with my trusty Bedazzler! I *heart* the Bedazzler btw. It’s my most favorite toy right now.
Here is the apron (laying on my couch). It’s hard to see from far away but I Bedazzled around the edge of the apron, ironed on our names, and Michael’s had these super cute rhinestone patches that were exactly what the aprons needed. Next year we’re going to try and get the logo for the Las Estrellas del Valle Women’s Trail Ride and have it embroidered on the middle of the apron; we didn’t have time to do that this year.
A close-up of the name (it looks orange here but the letters were bright pink and looked monogrammed).
A close-up of one of the rhinestone patches.
A close-up of the other rhinestone patch. I figured it didn’t hurt to have a little Jesus with us ;) Lord knows it wasn’t exactly the holiest of weekends with all the drinking and dancing that went on! ;) ha!
Here are a couple beautiful views of the ranch.
The weekend was great and I’m already thinking up ideas about next year’s Trail Ride!
