From Ranch Girl to City Girl

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Yes, You read that correctly! This week I finally got the chance to see the big city I’ve been wanting to go to for a while! Since Fallbrook is located near San Diego, this is a place that was on my bucket list for sure. The day in San Diego was definitely one of the highlights of my week.

The day started off by getting up early in the morning to make sure all the horses had their water for the day, since it was going to be a hot and sunny day. Then Crystal dropped me and Lara off at the trainstation in Oceanside to take the train to San Diego. I was amazed by how cheap the traintickets are over here! Only five dollars for an hour on the train to the big city! At home that would be almost twice as much. The train we took was called “The Coaster” since it drives along the coast from Oceanside to San Diego. Of course I called shotgun on the window seat so I could see the beautiful beaches and the sea.

When we arrived at Santa Fe, I felt like I was stepping into a whole different world. Since I had been living and working on the ranch, I felt like a typical Ranch Girl. It was so different for me to walk into the big city again. We started off by walking around by the pier and into downtown San Diego to get some coffee and a good lunch, where else to do this than Starbucks right?

After Lunch me and Lara decided we really wanted to go some place San Diego is known for, and of course as animal lovers we had to see the famous San Diego zoo. The San Diego zoo is rated as the best city zoo in the world! Wilst there, Lara and I thought it was a good idea to take the bus tour through the park, since it is such a big zoo. Unfortunately we could not really see the animals properly from our seats on the bus, even though we were on the roof of the bus and should have a good view of the whole park. Since we did not see any animals up close from the bus, we decided we needed some exercise anyways and just walked our way around the zoo. We saw so many different animals, from the elephant to the tasmanian devil. Unfortunately there were a few animals I would have loved to see which did not want to come out of their inside facilities. For example the pandas and the lions were not feeling like coming outside in the heat that day.

After seeing all of the famous San Diego Zoo, we decided to go back to downtown San Diego and do some shopping. At first I was amazed by the fact that there were seriously no souvenir shops or any clothing stores in the streets of downtown. After walking past many bars and restaurants I thought it would be best to just ask a local about where to find some clothing stores. He gave me some directions to the nearest mall, which appeared to be only two streets away! I forgot how Americans like to shop for all of their clothing at a mall instead of having a street full of clothing shops. I had been wandering around Macy’s, Forever 21 and Victoria’s secret. If only I was not on a budget… And of course my suitcase would explode if I put more stuff in there than there already is..

At the end of the day I still wanted to see some more tourist shops to maybe buy a sweater or a T-shirt with San Diego on it. A local woman gave me directions to a lovely place called Seaport village. A little village with food and souvenir shops neer the harbour of San Diego. It had a beautiful view on the bridge and the water. Since we were there around sunset, we could take some amazing pictures and we had dinner with a view. What an amazing day.

Now about the rest of my week! Besides my day in San Diego, there were some more highlights this week. For example the say where Kiersti was going to give a Dressage demonstration at the ridersfield in Fallbrook. It was really epic to see her do some dressage on her horse Welcome Sunny. During the demonstration, there was a woman who would talk about the way the horse was moving and about Kiersti. The main topic that was talked about was her reaching a very high level (A level) For teaching and riding. At the end of the demonstration she handed out some flowers to the people who had made this possile for her! Before Kiersti had to give her demonstration, there was another group of four girls who would demonstrate some dressage and showjumping at their own level whilst getting instructions from and instructor in the arena. There was one person by the audience who would talk about the girls who were riding and mainly about what kind of riders they were. For me as an equistrian, this is a very interesting topic to learn more about. I learned about the differences in riders, not only the American riders, but I could also compare the American riders to the ones I have seen many times back in Holland.

After the demonstration, Kiersti had the really really really good idea of getting some icecream on our way home. And again, typically American, there was an endless choice of flavours to choose from. I decided not to play it safe and go for two flavours I had not tried yet. Well, I did actually try a little bit before ordering. In America it is very usual to first try a falour of icecream before actually ordering it. 3000 flavours later, I finally decided that I wanted the caramel, chocolate fudge thing with the really difficult name and the oreo cookies and cream flavour. Wow. This was the best icecream I have had in the US so far. And trust me, I have had a lot of icecream since I have been here.

Now my third highlight this week. After seeing the movie Grease this is something I have been wanting to do for a long time. Drive-in cinema! We took the green truck out to the movies and of course stuffed it with blankets and pillows so the back would be nice and comfortable to sit in. We also brought this huge box on which we could tune in to the radiostation the movie was on. We watched a movie of which the name I cannot remember.. But it sure was funny! The movie was about a really silly guy being manipulated into robbing some sort of bank. Also, I was quite surprised about one particular thing that happend during the movie. When I looked at the car that was parked next to ours, I noticed that there was nobody in the front seat, even though the front of the car was facing the screen. Then I also noticed that this particular car was moving and that it was getting a little steamy in there. This car was literally parked next to our car. So much for “netflix and chill”. The Drive-in cinema was definitely the best “Drive-in” I have seen so far. And trust me, I have seen a lot of drive-ins since I have been here.

Next to all the fun things I have been able to do this week, it has also been incredibly busy on the ranch. As you have been able to read in my previous blogpost, a lot of the workers on this ranch have left to continue their adventures. Now this week it has been only me and Lara working on the ranch. Since there is still just as much to do as there was when we were still a big group, me and Lara have been super busy during the days we did not go somewhere like the city. There are also a few events coming up for the next couple of weeks so next to the basic chores like mucking the stables, training the horses and giving all the animals water, we now also have to complete the list of things that need to be done before the events.

Now a little bit of good news to end this week’s blogpost with! Several people I have met around the ranch, like the farrier or people who board their horses here, have asked me which town in America I was from. Whenever I told them I was from Holland they were amazed! They told me I have no Dutch accent whatsoever and that I’m doing really well when it comes to English!

I really hope you enjoyed this week’s blogpost and I will be writing the next one as soon as I can! See you next week!



Love, Anouk

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