Dude Ranch

"I always wanted to be a cowgirl," admits Anne Burmark of Fox Island, Washington. "Instead I was a deposition court reporter." Burmark regularly joins 25 others at the the Hideout Lodge and Guest Ranch in Shell, Wyoming. At this century-old dude ranch, she learns horsemanship and spends time herding 150 of the 3000 resident cattle. "You're doing real work," she says. Run by Peter De Cabooter, a former Belgian executive, and his wife (think of the 1960s TV show "Green Acres"), the lodge lets you work by day and feast on gourmet food by night. "This is for the cowboy who doesn't want to rough it," says De Cabooter.