Orangeland to Temecula – 24 April 2022
After a week at Orangeland we were keen to move on again. Our next stop was Rogers Ranch, a farm in the middle of the Temecula wine country. This city was quite fascinating. It was predominantly horse ranches and wine country. We did pass a couple of cattle farms with longhorn steers with the most enormous horns I have ever seen. Some of the cattle had very thin, long horns and others were really thick. I read that on average the horns on these Steers can grow to four feet but on some as long as eight feet. I wish I had got a photo of one.
Our hostess at Rogers Ranch met us at the gate to the farm, provided us with some tourist literature and some oranges, and ushered us to a spot at the bottom of their property under a tree. We were the only ones there. The farm itself was just desert with a few trees as they were in the process of redeveloping it from a horse ranch to an olive farm. However, across the road you could see all the way up the valley across wine farms and their endless vineyards. It was a beautiful view.
As we were heading into hotter weather, we decided to stop at Pet smart and buy Jax a set of all terrain shoes. We didn’t want him to struggle with burning paws. It was quite hilarious watching him walk with them on the first time as he would lift each of his paws up in the air in turn, before putting them down. Luckily he soon got used to it.
After a spot of shopping we visited Old Temecula – a historic site which is full of restaurants and shops. I wanted to try cocktails at the recommended 1909 restaurant which was also dog friendly. It was a great place to visit – very busy with several bikers in town. I chose a Teeny Weenie Watermelon Bikini cocktail with fish tacos and Derek had one of the local IPAs with a burger. Both were really good. Jax enjoyed his own 1909 doggie burger with rice. This restaurant, like others in the area, generated a water mist from the sides of the building which helped to keep us cool.
The following morning we were told that we might see hot air balloons flying above the farm. Sure enough at 6.30am I heard them coming and rushed out to photograph them. What a sight. There were about 7 of them in bright colours floating above the vineyards. As well, the farms around us were getting an early start and spraying their vineyards. Needless to say we were able to make an early start to Joshua Tree.
I hope to come back to Temecula at some point. They seem to have quite a few cool activities like motorbike rides with sidecars through the vineyards and of course the hot air balloon rides.
