Nature Nuggets Out West Near San Digeo

 

July 9-12 was a busy wedding weekend across the country near San Diego. My nephew David and his lovely lady Sophia tied the knot during a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Milagro Winery in Ramona, Calif. I will share a few wedding photos later in this post. 

This West Coast getaway was also a chance to enjoy some different scenery. And that included photographing Acorn Woodpeckers, a lifer bird for me. 

It wasn’t long after we settled into our resort room that I noticed a few of these birds up in palm trees around the property. It took a day for me to get some decent photographs. I thought and hoped this was a different type of woodpecker than what I see regularly in South Carolina (Red-bellied, Downy, Pileated, even Yellow-bellied Sapsucker).

Some bird websites describe the Acorn Woodpecker as "clown-faced." I don't think he likes that description! 

Here you see both a male Acorn Woodpecker with his red head and what I believe to be a female. 

In the palm trees there are many holes with what look to be small nuts or some other morsel that this bird really likes. 

Here you see the large claws of this bird and how she is pulling out an...acorn? Is that where the name originated? Based on some research I don’t think this fruit is acorn nuts because they come from oak trees. 

Another West Coast bird I was able to capture was the California or Western Scrub-Jay. 

I photographed this bird 11 years ago during a family trip to San Francisco. Click here to see my birds of Northern California post. 

This photo (right) I took at the resort pool. It was funny because as the Jay went into some shrubbery behind it, this rabbit hopped out from where the bird went in. 

It wasn’t long before the small bunny with the big ears returned to its hiding place in the shrubs. 

Here are two more Scrub-Jays observed in other places in and around the resort. 

Here are a couple shots of the Riviera Resort and Racquet Club where we and the wedding party and guests stayed. The units are very nice with full kitchens. This is a Diamond Resorts time share. 

Alesia and I played tennis a couple times at the racquet club which had some 18 tennis and pickleball courts. 

Here’s another critter I’d never seen before. This is a Ground Squirrel. We saw several at Carlsbad Beach, coming in and out of a large group of rocks. 

The Ground Squirrel has a slightly different look than the Brown Squirrels so common in my yard on the East Coast. 

It was cool seeing this critter and at the beach too. We also saw a few at a park near where we parked to walk to the beach. 

The state beach at Carlsbad was about 45 minutes from Ramona where we were staying. 

It was a bit of a trek to get from the road down to the sand. The weather was nice and Alesia and I enjoyed 90 minutes or so hanging out here. There were lots of people in wet suits surfing and boogie boarding. 

Here are some of my photos capturing the Southern California Pacific Coast vibe. 

It was fun to experience this Pacific Ocean beach. I brought home about ten stones we found on the beach. Didn’t see any shells like we have on our Atlantic Ocean beaches. 

After the beach we found a nearby In-N-Out Burger to have some lunch. 

We arrived at a good time because we were able to quickly order and find a table. It became very crowded soon after. These places seem to be very popular. The vibe here was very positive and the workers were polite and efficient. And I liked their uniforms too, especially the paper hats worn by the guys. 

This was the geography for the drive from the beach back to Ramona. Rugged  countryside with lots of huge boulders on the sides of mountains and hills.

Scenes like this were everywhere as we traveled the 45-minute drive east of San Diego. 

I enjoyed discovering the tall thin Cypress trees that seem to be popular as landscaping foliage. 

The Pepper trees are also very pretty. 

And don’t forget the Palm trees back at the beach and throughout the area.

 Here is a pretty view from Milagro Winery where the wedding and reception took place. 

The wedding ceremony spot was an intimate one with a large tree, an oak I believe, in the background. 

During the wedding ceremony, I actually saw an Acorn Woodpecker fly onto this tree! 

Alesia and I back at the hotel just before taking the shuttle to the winery.  Her new dress and my new pinkish tie were hits! 

Mr. and Mrs. David Besson! Her name is Sophia and she’s a lovely young woman. 

We were so happy and proud to be able to attend their West Coast wedding! They honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico and reside in Los Angeles. 

David’s proud parents Ann (my sister) and Paul. Also pictured is my brother Matt (left).

We had to hold on tight as we rode in the back of a golf cart to take us from the wedding ceremony to the reception venue. 

One other neat thing about the trip was flying first(or business) class for the long (3:45) Atlanta- San Diego flight. Alesia scored an upgrade and it was a sweet one. We got to sit in what Delta calls suites. That’s Alesia behind me. You see the top of her head below the red Delta Airlines triangle logo. 

The seat could be stretched out into a bed and the privacy and comfort were, well, first class. The pano photo below shows the spaciousness. I watched two movies including that strange one "Inception." 

At the San Diego airport there is a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis plane Charles Lindbergh flew solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. This airport used to be called Lindbergh Field but in 2003 it was changed to San Diego International Airport saying it was a better fit for a large commercial airport.

As we prepared to depart from the San Diego airport we met up with my sister Ann and her husband Paul for a final visit before going our separate ways. And no, no first-class seating for the return trip. But that was OK. 

What a memorable trip this was and best of luck and love to the newlyweds David and Sophia! 

Yep, at this time the airports and airlines still had strict rules requiring the wearing of masks.