We stayed at Stallion Springs Resort. The resort itself is very plain but spacious. There's nothing to say or add, unless you golf, which we don’t so I couldn’t comment on it. We made an appointment to visit the Mourning Cloak Ranch &…Read More

We stayed at Stallion Springs Resort. The resort itself is very plain but spacious. There's nothing to say or add, unless you golf, which we don’t so I couldn’t comment on it.

We made an appointment to visit the Mourning Cloak Ranch & Botanical Garden. It was a nice size of "hiking" for the little feet. They enjoyed feeding the fish in the pond and riding on a miniature horse named Scoopi-Do. Owner, Ed gave us a toured of the antique carriage collections stored inside a beautifully built barn. We spent quite a while with Ed as he gave us a very interesting narrative of his collection. He enjoyed watching my son’s contagious laughs so much that be brought out his miniature horse, Scoopi-Do, a very shy mini-horse. There was a lovely out house that’s so calming and relaxing that sort of makes you not want to leave the outhouse.

The Tahachapi train loop that people so highly recommended turned out to be a disappointment for us as we waited for close to 30 minutes by the little turn-out point of the road side on a very windy day. Everyone left without seeing the train that afternoon.

My kids enjoyed watching the train running in the ceiling at Apple Shed. We enjoyed the food and picked up some very unique gifts. I can't say that the people were all that friendly there.

We make an attempt to hike around the resort but the weather turned really cold and windy. We ended up strolled to Papa's Italian Restaurant for lunch. The food was great, but the cheese burgers were a flop. I had the best hot pastrami sandwich no doubt. After we got back, we certainly enjoyed our spa bath in our unit.

We made an appointment to visit the Alpaca Ranch the next day. Ilene and Gene are the owners of this ranch. As this is not a business but more of a fun and educational purpose for the retired teacher, Ilene, you do not have to pay anything for the visit. The owners gave them such cute haircuts that they all looked like the Three Stooges. My kids had a blast feeding the them leaves and alpaca food. Ilene gave us a very educational introduction to alpacas. She’s such a sweet lady whom I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with.

Ostrich Farm... while it was educational I can't say it was great. However, my son and this other girl her age had a contest rolling down the ostrich eggs. They had such a great time while the adults cheering for them. Believe it or not, this is the highlight of the ostrich farm visit! So yes, without kids, it would be simply educational.

Apple picking!! We were recommended by a couple of people that Knaus Ranch is the best. And, it was fun. Although the weather was cold and windy, my kids still had such blast picking apples, because they picked 95% of the apples we brought home. Yes, my 3-1/2 year-old son and my almost 2 year-old daughter picked the 30 lbs of apples for us. The trees were so low and they simply reached up or out and there they were, apples!! We made the trip shorter than we liked because of the strong winds blasting at us. By the way, the apples were just delicious. There were quite a few species we picked but it was the tail end of the season, so they were quite limited.

This trip turned out to be such relaxing and fund expedition. We particularly enjoyed breathing in lots and lots of fresh air which we don’t get in San Diego anymore. Most people there we encountered were very friendly. Just lovely!!