Back at the Coast

May 14, 2013

This morning I get up early for a final walk around the property and take a few more photos of the scenic surroundings here at Bubbling Wells Ranch. 

 

An early morning view of our beautiful guest house.

The back yard is an oasis of water, grass, desert plants, trees and art.

A cool spot to retreat from the desert heat, complete with bullfrogs.

Then Lynne and I pack up the car, wash the sheets and towels, and say our grateful farewells to Audrey and Courtney. 

Farewell to Bubbling Wells Ranch. (Can you tell I love this place??)

We plan to stop for breakfast at a nearby diner, The Sidewinder, which turns out to be a good call—excellent pancakes!

Doesn't Lynne look like a celeb going into the Sidewinder?

Our drive back to the coast is smooth and uneventful; we listen to tunes and chat about this and that, watching the scenery change. We get back to Lynne’s a little after 1:00 pm. She has to teach her science writing class tonight and needs to prepare for it, so she heads for her computer. Jack is working on his book, so I set up my computer at their dining room table and work on my book editing too.

Marc bought some white corn for supper, and he makes turkey burgers with Italian seasoning on the grill. Then we watch a slide show of photos from his and Lynne’s recent trip to Patagonia—some spectacular shots of hikes they took, places they stayed, and wildlife they saw. Patagonia is way down at the bottom of South America, partly in Chile and partly in Argentina. It has tall, spiky granite mountains, like skyscrapers, as well as geysers, glaciers, condors and penguins. It also has amazing trout fishing, so Jack is very interested…

I begin the job of getting our clothes and other stuff together; tomorrow we are having lunch with Bud, Jack’s fishing buddy, so he and Jack can start planning their upcoming fishing trip (they're supposed to leave on Friday morning for a week-long trip to fish in the Golden Trout Wilderness area, about 6 hours north of here--this is Jack's turn to take a vacation from our vacation). Jack and I are moving to the house of our friends Cindy and Tom, in Oceanside, which is up the coast a ways, near the huge Marine Corps base of Camp Pendleton. I plan to stay most of the time with Cindy and Tom while Jack and Bud are on their trip.

Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture, Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal, greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed grosbeak, black-chinned  hummingbird, Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker, white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia, hooded oriole, verdin, crow, Anna’s hummingbird, dark-eyed junco, white-throated swift, Steller’s jay, mallard, common egret, brown pelican

State count: 11 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California]