Sarah Thomas can no longer call herself a city slicker.
Thomas, a Ball State sophomore and long-time suburbanite, spent her summer vacation working on a 550-acre dude ranch in the small mountain town of Shawnee, Colorado.
"It was a place totally unlike where I grew up in Noblesville," Thomas said. "I just really wanted to try something different and do something that was out of my element."
Upon her arrival at the family-owned North Fork Guest Ranch in May, Thomas said she wondered what she had gotten herself into after taking a closer look at her surroundings.
"The ranch was in the middle of nowhere and the walls of the cabin were covered with animals the owner had killed on the property," she said. "I mean, here in the city you worry about being mugged. Out there, you suddenly find yourself worried about being eaten."
Thomas was also unprepared for the elements in Colorado, arriving several days before a snowstorm let loose several inches of late spring snow.
"I had brought a couple of sweaters and a winter coat, but my parents had to send so much winter stuff out to me in the mail," she said.
While at the ranch, Thomas drew on her past experience as a waitress to serve as a member of the housekeeping and wait staff. She rose every morning at 6 a.m., waitressed until 2 p.m. and then helped with evening activities. She often was asked to take care of the owners' two young children, and on Sunday nights she joined the rest of the staff for evening campfires.
"We even had this old cowboy who came along to sing songs," she said.
Prior to coming to the ranch, Thomas said she had no clue how many people had applied for her job.
"There were 23 of us who were hired to work as waitresses, cooks, maintenance staff and wranglers, but we showed up and they handed over this stack of like, 300 applications," she said. "It was crazy to think I was one of the ones who had been picked."
Thomas had another reason for wanting to spend her summer at the ranch -- a wish to fulfill for her mom.
"When my mom was in college, she was hired to work for a dude ranch and then she came down with mono," she said. "So in a way, this experience was something I wanted to do for her."
Thomas tracked down the dude ranch last December, after a random Internet search for "summer jobs -- dude ranch" brought the North Fork Guest Ranch to her attention.
"I applied for the job in December and talked quite a bit with the owners over the phone before I got the job in February," she said. "I think they wanted to test me out and make sure this was something I really wanted to do."
Finding out she had such an interest in the outdoors came as a surprise to Thomas, a self-proclaimed shop-aholic. The 19-year-old said she was used to dressing up in skirts and accessorizing with jewelry, not dressing down in dust-covered jeans.
"I used to shop as much as possible," she explained. "Then I got out there, and had like, no place to go."
Thomas said one of the most memorable experiences of her job was the chance to meet the beneficiary of a legendary hotdog throne (franchise).
"The heir to the Oscar Meyer Wiener fortune brought with him this group of 38 people to the ranch," she said. "He was going through a hard time, and so were some of the businessmen he brought with him, so he wanted everyone there to relax and "feel the magic" of the ranch."
At a weekly cost of $1,700 per adult, Thomas said the wealthy businessman ended the group's vacation with a $70,000 bill. Not wanting to forget the staff, he then left them a $10,000 tip.
"They told us it was one of the best tips they had ever gotten there," she said.
Thomas said she was offered the chance to return to the ranch next year, but wants to try something different for her next summer job.
"Don't get me wrong, this was definitely the best summer ever," she said. "I got to ride horses, go fishing for the first time and take walks at night under the best starry sky I've ever seen.
"I just think, next summer, I might end up on an island somewhere instead."
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