Seniors Jena Corea and Dominic Petrillo go horseback riding
In the midst of college applications and SATs, most seniors can feel up to their noses in work, but seniors Jena Corea and Dominic Petrillo found time on a Sunday afternoon to take a relaxing ride on horseback through the countryside of Parkfield, CA.
Corea and Petrillo, blind to where they were being taken, shouted guess after guess of their destination.
“I bet we are going to the pumpkin patch”, said Corea, “or just the middle of nowhere.”
“I don’t know, but this is really far out”, said Petrillo who, after arriving in Parkfield, 50 miles away from Paso Robles, guessed the correct activity. “I think we are going horseback riding.”
They arrived at the V6 Ranch and were promptly taken to the Blue Oak Camp, where roughly 80 horses were kept. After meticulously choosing the horse most suitable for them, they prepared to saddle up.
Before they could get on the horses, however, they had to get comfortable around them. As they walked their horses, Malibu and Shelzy, up and down the trail with horse noses pressed against their backs, they sent anxious smiles to one another, excited for the ride around the ranch.
As soon as Corea and Petrillo were on the horses, it was all smiles and laughter between the two as they discussed their homemade Halloween costumes and college plans. The two daters trotted through the riverbanks and up steep slopes to the top of a small mountain that contained a picturesque view of the countryside painted with green trees, brown fields, and white, fluffy clouds.
“This is the best blind date I’ve ever been on”, said Corea, who trotted up to Petrillo and nudged his horse with hers. This sentiment was shared by Petrillo. Then the daters rode back to the V6 ranch and headed to have a late lunch at the Parkfield Cafe. On the drive back to the cafe, however, they happened to cross paths with a giant tarantula and as Corea hung back, Petrillo took some close up photos.
After the spider shenanigans, the two walked into the cafe and sat, similar to their previous positions on the horses, on stools adorned with horse saddles and shared in the award winning burgers and a vanilla milk shakes.
After lunch, the daters climbed through a child-sized tree house outside the cafe and posed for pictures at the top. The journey back to Paso held much more laughs instead of “are we there yet”s and astonishment of the day’s adventure.