veryuniquetraveler
Aug 2022
Overall, it was a letdown all around. I seemed to be the only person on the wagon who wanted to see the scenery, which was impossible when sitting anywhere except on the end. On the way back, a couple of people sat up front with the driver. I wish I could have, as we couldn't see much of anything. Would have been better if it were completely open air. I know they are trying to make as much money as possible, but it was too cramped on our tour. We could barely squeeze in the wagon. They need to limit the amount of people per wagon to at least 12. They had brought out 2 wagons which I think was the original intention for the tour, but sent one back, as some people didn't show up.
Upon arrival at the dining cabin we all had to scrunch together at the same table as other tours were coming in. Meal included wine, which wasn't too bad. They seemed a little shocked by how much we drank ( they only gave you about half of a regular sized glass each time though ). It would have been nicer if we could have been outside under a covered shelter though. We didn't get to see any scenery to speak of for the entirety of the trip. By the end of the evening, it was getting pretty dark in the cabin, but they had no lights to turn on. They needed candles or kerosene lamps. It just would have been better all around if we could have eaten outside on picnic tables.
After reading the other reviews, I was a little afraid of what to expect. Meals started out with cornbread and 3 kinds of salads - pasta, potato, and coleslaw. None of them had any salt or seasoning in the them and they all tasted very bland. Several people were raving about how good the potato salad was, but I found it barely edible, and wished I hadn't taken any. I make mine with hard boiled eggs and a splash of mustard. Pasta salad had no olives and coleslaw had no carrots. None of it had any seasoning at all. It just tasted blah. None of the food was up to my high quality standard of cooking. Next came a vegetarian chili that didn't look appetizing at all. Someone said it was very spicy. They also had corn on the cob, which surprisingly was better than expected. Fresh grown at home gets 5 stars, most of what you ever get in a restaurant would get 2 stars, I'd give this one 4 stars. Only thing was they didn't properly clean the silks off and you had to try to scrape them off yourself. There were 3 meat dishes. We took our fill. Only served one plate of salmon and I took several pieces of it. Plate went around the table and still had about 3 pieces left on it. They served 2 plates each of chicken and BBQ ribs. There were still a few pieces left of those also so we had seconds. The ribs were the best part of the meal, they were tender and moist and actually had some flavor. Someone asked if they were beef or pork. At their age if they didn't know the difference well.......... The chicken was OK. It had some kind of sauce on it, again it was bland. Salmon was OK, a little undercooked for me. It also lacked flavor. It needed to be served with lemon wedges. I smeared some butter on top of mine and added salt which greatly improved the flavor. They just didn't seem to know how to properly season any of it. Everything would have been better if it were only cooked with some salt and spices.
They picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel. We were supposed to stop and pick up several other people at another hotel but they weren't waiting out front and driver went inside and checked the lobby and called them and they didn't show up, so if they had been there there may not have been enough food for the amount of people. It didn't seem like some of the people on our tour ate very much even though they said they were starving. I suppose younger people would tend to eat more than older people in general. We had plenty to eat, but had several more people had shown up that may not have been the case. They did give you a generous helping of berry cobbler. I could only eat about half of it. Again, needed just a little spice and a tad more sugar in the batter and whipped cream on top.
Cook brought the food around and he was wearing gloves. Gal from the wagon brought all the drinks and she did not put on gloves, so we felt that was a little unsanitary. They took your cup back for refills instead of giving you a fresh cup each time too, which I really didn't care for.
We didn't get hardly any narration about the horses only heard the guide's life story basically. We shared the trails we were riding on with all their ATV tours, so it was noisy on the way back instead of a peaceful quiet horse ride.