Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A Trip to Julian

Went on a fun weekend trip last weekend to Julian. We stopped off in Temecula on the way for a little wine-tasting. Temecula actually has a few pretty good wineries these days! The main goal of this trip, besides fun, was to visit the California Wolf Center in Julian. I have become extremely fascinated with these creatures; to me, they are amazing. I am a purist when it comes to wolves. I think they should be wild. I do not believe in domesticating them, just as I don't believe in domesticating big cats or other wild animals. There is nothing like watching wolves in the wild, but since I can't do that all the time (at least for the moment), the Wolf Center was the next best thing. The California Wolf Center is an education, conservation and research center. While the Alaskan wolves at their facility will not be reintroduced into the wild, they are hoping that their Mexican Gray wolves could be. 
 Mexican Gray Wolf
Oopsie. Us getting stuck in the mud on the way to the wolf center. Thankfully, we were not the first to have this happen and a really nice lady from the wolf center came and dug us out! Next time, we will follow directions and wait at the gate for someone to come pick us up. At least it was a beautiful day and we had good coffee and yummy egg sandwiches to see us through :)!
Haha...really?
 Sleeping Alaskan Wolves
 Stretching Alaskan Wolf
 Woodpecker near Warner Springs
 Crow in a tree.
 This was a squirrel that we were trying to discourage away from going near the wolf pens.
 Santa Ysabel Mission near Julian
 Poppies!
 Wildflowers!
 Cabernet grapes at Ponte vineyards.
 Beautiful hills on our drive out of Julian.

All in all, a really fun trip with a very good friend. I think that's it for trips now until the end of May. I am counting the days until my vacation!

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