Oceanside Big Year (3rd Day)

#14- Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Okay, number fourteen is all I have.  

But I will take it!

The rest are just bonuses, repeats, and great photo ops.

Oceanside Big Year (2nd day)

Continuing on my new mission... birding!

Yes, I need homework.

#11- Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)

#12- Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

#13- Brandt's Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus)

Okay, these are repeats.  But you have to love the Snowy Egret, and catty bird fights.  

Apparently Western Gulls and Snowy Egrets do not get along...

Birding is kind of my (new) thing.

And Eric's...

Oceanside Big Year

My friend, Denise, is having a Tahoe Big Year with her birder friends so I thought, why can't I have an Oceanside Big Year?  

A Big Year is a personal challenge to see how many birds you can identify in a single calendar year.

I first learned about a Big Year from the movie The Big Year with Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson.  What a hilarious documentary...

With the help of my new New Stokes Field Guide to Birds Western Region, a willing boyfriend, and some tenacity we are in business!

When Denise was here in December we spotted an osprey, and as luck would have it, we found the same one in the same spot, but this time it was battling a pesky crow.

#1- American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

#2- Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

#3- Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)

#4- Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

#5- California Gull (Larus californicus)

#6- Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri)

#7- Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)

#8- Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedosa)

#9- Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

#10- Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

I think.  

Now I just need someone to check my work...

Valle de Guadalupe

 

This is my sixth visit to Valle de Guadalupe, along the Ruta del Vino.  Every time I come here I immediately start to look forward to the next visit.  

From Oceanside it takes approximately two and a half hours to arrive at the first vineyard.  It is a long day but it is so worth it.  It is such a different experience in comparison to wine tasting in Temecula, which is much, much closer.

I have been enough times now to know exactly what I want and what I don't want.  I don't want to feel like I am wine tasting in LA or Temecula, or France or Italy.  I want to feel like I am wine tasting in Mexico.  Not the negative stereotypical Mexico, but the Mexico that I know and love.   

Welcoming and mellow, and proud of their product.

This is exactly what we found.  Which was easy considering I have been to both of the wineries that we visited today on previous trips. 

We started at Viñedos Malagón.

The last time I was here was with Kimmie and Nuno back in 2013. (Time sure does fly...)

This ranch has been in existence for over a hundred years, when Russian settlers began farming this land.  

Eric and I both enjoyed a large glass of red wine ($5 each), one glass of Equua and the other the Reserva.  Both are mostly Grenache "old vine" grapes, and are aged in oak barrels. 

My friends, Vanessa and Jennifer, went with the wine tasting ($12 each) which included two whites, a rose, and a red.  This is the second time that Vanessa has come wine tasting with me in Ensenada, and I have a feeling it won't be the last.  (I am a pretty dang good tour guide.)  

We were the only patrons on this early Friday afternoon (or was it actually beforenoon?) so it was extra relaxing.

The small Russian house is open to the public, and located right behind the new tasting room.  When Kimmie and I were here years ago the wine tastings were offered inside the house.  They did an excellent job with the expansion.  

God I love wine tasting in Mexico.  

Next we headed to Château Camou, a favorite of Eric's and mine the last time we were here together.

We were really excited about the little taco shop in the courtyard but they are only open on the weekends during summer.  Next time!

Château Camou has excellent wines and even better sommeliers.  

Valle de Guadalupe has a sommelier certificate program, which takes three years to complete (THREE YEARS!!).

We all decided to do the wine tasting (four tastings for $12, two whites and two reds).  

I do not typically drink white but I actually bought a bottle of this little gem.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love wine tasting here?

We wanted some good "economical" food so we were sent to the Adobe Food Truck.  Which was definitely the right choice.  The food was amazing and for less than $20 Eric and I ordered two sandwiches, agua fresca (strawberry and mango) and an appetizer.  

Although the food was ordered and created in a food truck, the seating was nice and looked more like a restaurant than anything else.

Our last stop was pretty spontaneous.  We saw a building in the hills and wanted to explore it.  We stopped into Cuarzo restaurant for libations and directions.

Okay, maybe we will be back to eat some other time.

We played around here for probably an hour.  It was really more of a construction site than anything else, but sticking with our theme of tranquility and isolation, it was the perfect way to end our wine tasting tour.

La Ruta del Vino is incredible.