Hi there - I hope you have all been lucky enough to grab some of that summer sunshine this week.
Here in Scottsdale we have were visited by another monsoon again this week. No high winds or dust storms this time but torrential rain and flash flooding in many local areas (thankfully not ours) due to the sheer amount of rain that fell over a short period and then of course all the water running down off the mountains into the valley. Several people who had ignored the 'stupid driver' law (yes that really is a thing ... 'Turn around don't drown') had to be rescued from their cars ... Yikes!
Anyway, back to the final part of our Tehachapi Tale. Where did we get to? Oh yes. That amazing feat of engineering that was the Tahachapi loop - what a riveting day out that turned out to be!
On the next day's sightseeing agenda was yet another of Karina's recommendations ... a self guided tour of the local wind farm (yes, it really was that desparate). However, despite following the directions to the letter, once again we could not for the life of us work out where we were supposed to go. This was becoming a bit of a theme. It was our own fault though - why we hadn't already learnt our lesson I don't know. Christopher Columbus would never have discovered America if Karina had been navigating! Mind you, it wasn't as though the gigantic wind turbines were hard to spot from pretty much anywhere in the vicinity and quite frankly once you had seen one ...
So finally we came to our last day in Tehachapi (the longest week EVER) before we headed off to Santa Barbara for the weekend. Today's resort-led excursion (for which read Karina leading the way in her jaloppi whilst we all followed behind in convey - a risky strategy if you ask me given her previous navigation track record) involved visiting three different ranches (thankfully all fairly close by) - a ranch for rescued race horses, an ostrich and an alpaca ranch.
First was the United Pegasus Foundation, a non profit organisation dedicated to rescuing & rehabilitating thoroughbred horses, saving hundreds of former racehorses from slaughter and giving them a humane and deserved retirement. All very admirable and I'm sure completely fascinating if you are into horses (a lot of famous names from the California race tracks apparently ... never heard of any of 'em but they all seemed to be slightly psychopathic) but not really my idea of a fun day out, especially in the 90 degree heat with no shade and flies ... lots of flies. Some of the other guests caught a hint of our accents as we meandered our way round. "What part of Australia are you from?"
Oh please ... still?!
After what felt like hours, but was probably about 40 minutes, trailing past scores of horses along endless dusty tracks (more orange feet) we got back in our cars and followed Karina to the next venue - Indian Point Ostrich ranch. This was slightly more entertaining, but only slightly. We saw a few large birds (and some of the feathered variety) and were introduced to Ralph - a large male ostrich who had been to LA and starred in a video with the group Megadeath!
As we finished the tour, given by a very friendly lady called Susie, we were shepherded into the gift shop (in the hope they could flog another few feather dusters and jars of hand cream) and as we chatted she asked
"Whereabouts in Australia are you all from?"
**sigh** "England actually"
"Oh! I went to England back on 1984. We landed at a tiny little airport, not a big one. Oh what was it called?!"
Mr B helpfully offered suggestions ... Stansted? No. Luton? No. This went on for several minutes whilst we all racked our brains to think which tiny airport she could mean. Suddenly she shouted triumphantly "Got it! Gatwick!" **face palm** It's only the 9th busiest airport in Europe love - hardly tiny! Good grief.
The last stop on the tour was the alpaca ranch. Cute, funny little things and my favorite of the day (although let's be honest there wasn't much to choose from). This one was called Valentine on account of the heart shaped mark on her nose ... awww
Just as we were getting ready to leave, one of the other visitors asked what that noise was in the distance
"Oh that'll be the target practice at the prison"
Sorry what? Prison? Oh yes. Turns out we were just a few miles from the California Correctional Institution - a supermax prison (which stands for super maximum security apparently). Oh nice. Yes, there it is - complete with guard towers (or gun turrets as I called them!) Well, I suppose at least they didn't have to worry about anyone escaping - they would be begging to be let back in within hours!
Ethan and I were all packed and ready to leave at the crack of dawn the next morning, whilst Mr B, seemingly immune to the boredom, fannied about packing the boot with the aid of a set square ... HURRY UP ALREADY!
Eventually we said so long, farewell and DEFINITELY goodbye to Tehachapi and set off in the direction of Santa Barbara to find the rest of civilization.
Three hours later we arrived to find not only civilisation, but 5*civilisation! Oh, thank you God!
The For the next two days we didn't leave the hotel (except for an early morning stroll on the beach) and made the most of every luxury on offer ... and boy had we earned it!
So in summary, we had a great family holiday ... as usual, lots of laughs (usually still at Mr B's expense!) and we enjoyed spending time together but think we might be giving Tehachapi a wide berth in future especIally as when we got back and I was chatting to our Landlord (a retired geologist) he told me that the San Andreas fault runs right through the middle of it! **gasps!**
Sadly the long summer holidays which seemed to stretch out before us for weeks on end just a mere moment ago are now almost at an end and its back to school this week. If you had told me a couple of years ago that we would have a Freshman in a US High School, I would have thought you were mad! The start of another exciting chapter ...
... AND it's only three weeks until Eldest arrived ... Woohoo!
Have a great week my friends and see you next time.
TTFN
Bev x
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