Birthmas in Julian 2017: Fa La La La Llama

As I mentioned in the last blog, on my birthday (December 23rd), Chris, Dad, Risa, and I packed up their Nissan Rogue and headed south to Julian, CA, where we'd be spending the holiday weekend.  When we were planning the trip, I happened to run across the website for one of the local B&Bs; although we'd already lined up lodging, the other item at this particular B&B intrigued me - they had a pack of llamas onsite, and they offered llama tours!  Mom and I did a llama hike when we visited Taos, NM a few years back, and it was awesome, so I jumped at the chance to do it again.  I spoke with the folks on the phone before we made the trip, and we planned our hike for the morning of Christmas Eve.

To whet your llama-related appetites.

That's Jet up there with Dad.

Jet's the furry one.

We knew the hike with the llamas would be about 4-5 miles round-trip, so before we headed to the Wikiup B&B to meet our livestock, we strolled into town (read: walked down the hill from the cottage) to eat breakfast.  Since neither Risa or I drink coffee, I'd done some menu perusing before we left home, to ensure wherever we ate breakfast could make us a chai tea latte.  In this case, Granny's Kitchen was perfect!  We enjoyed some breakfast burritos and caffeinated drinks (it was in another cute little house, like dinner the night before), and we marveled at the size of the apple pie you could purchase from Granny's - one single slice was 16 ounces, while the entire pie was 8 full pounds.  Damn, that's a lot of pie.

A pound of pie!

It was still a bit too early to head to the B&B, so we wandered around downtown Julian for a bit, taking some shots and enjoying the crisp morning.

We also purchased another gallon of milk

from the gas station.  

I was afraid we'd run out with hot cocoa,

breakfast casserole, and the like.

Did we use this gallon of milk?

No, we did not.

Trying to make friends with the cat

outside the bird store.

Failing at that.

Eventually, it was back to the cottage to pack up the car and head to see the llamas!  As we were getting ready to go, Dad and Risa happened to mention how warm it was, and when they took off their outer layers, we were amazed to see their outstanding "Fa La La La Llama" shirts - even better, they'd brought some for us, too, so we quickly changed and headed out.  Coordinated outfits for the win!

Cottage selfie!

The Wikiup B&B is only a few miles outside of Julian proper, so we got there before Lee, our llama guide, was 100% ready for us.  To kill time, we chatted with Lynn, his other half, and their B&B guests, who were currently enjoying what looked like a delicious breakfast.  If you need a B&B in the area, check it out.  Eventually, it was llama time!

Eee!  So excited!

They've really gone in on the whole llama theme here.

We accompanied Lee down to the pen where the llamas were currently being held, and we watched as he placed halters on all of them and led them out, one by one.

"Wait a minute...I know what happens next..."

Chris with Scotty,

his llama for the day

Casper and Jet

Jet used to be a show llama.

Yes, that's a thing, apparently.

Once everyone was in halters (well, the three llamas), Lee gave us a short briefing on the llamas and on how to handle them; he also packed Scotty up with the baggage for the day (mainly, our lunches and extra water bottles), and we headed out.  

We found a port o loo,

so we had a quick bathroom break along the way.

Lee told us to keep an eye

on how much our llamas would attempt

to stop and snack along the way,

and he wasn't kidding.

Casper is enjoying his break here.

Our destination for the hike was the old gold mine in the area, which is a local tourist attraction.  Our route there mainly took us on neighborhood streets, but we eventually veered off those and climbed up an actual trail to the mine, coming in from the back side of things.  On the way, we passed a few cows hanging out in their pasture, and Scotty in particular enjoyed making friends.

"Hello, tall, skinny cow!"

"Hello, short, wide llama!"

"Why are they taking so many pictures of us?"

Scotty and Chris, heading to the mine

The back side of the mine shaft.

We made it to the mine without incident, and we were in time to join a tour that had just started.  We handed the llamas back to Lee and figured we'd see them again in a short period of time.

"Working in a [gold] mine/

going down, down, down..."

These tunnels are no joke.

One of the gold veins in the rock.

The tour eventually ended (it was interesting, but it was a bit longer than it needed to be, and our guide, while extremely informative, droned on for waaaaaay toooooo loooong), and we were invited to pan for gold.

Chris and Dad found gold, Risa reported she never did, and I gave up a few moments in due to being overly hangry (hungry, plus super angry about being hungry).  I headed back to Lee and the llamas, where he'd set up our lunch for the day - delicious sandwiches from a shop in town.  After our meal, we packed up the llamas again and started our journey back to the B&B.

As you would be correct in imagining, five people with three llamas on neighborhood roads causes a fair amount of curious commotion, and we ended up stopping (or slowing) at least every 15-20 minutes to explain what we were up to.  Lee would chat with the people asking questions or say hi to neighbors, and then we'd continue on again.  The llamas didn't mind - they'd normally find some snacks while they waited.

Me with Casper.

He was the stubborn llama of our bunch, 

and while he did set his feet a few times, 

I eventually could coax him along with me.

Lee said he was way better with me

than he normally is,

so that must be something to behold.

Around 2:30 or so, we made it back to the B&B (the llamas were moving quite a bit faster on the way home, understandably), and we thanked Lee for the memorable trip.  We grabbed a few shots before we headed out of the whole crew:

Amazingly, all humans and llamas

seem to be looking in the direction of the camera here.

On our way back to the B&B, we stopped for a quick drink at the Nickel Beer Company, just 3/4 of a mile outside downtown Julian.  We were greeted in quite the boisterous manner by the existing patrons of the establishment, many of whom were deep in their cups at this point in time, celebrating the holiday.  Although we didn't get shots of the space itself, here's the beer list, which was rather comprehensive, and overall, pretty good.

After drinking time, it was time to head back to the cottage and get cleaned up.  We knew we'd be tired from the hike, so we planned to spend the rest of the evening at the cottage, including having our official Christmas dinner.  

Relaxing on the couch before dinner,

watching A Christmas Story

while wearing my awesome leggings

As you saw in the pictures from the first blog, the table was all decked out for Christmas, including Christmas crackers.  After enjoying a delicious dinner (smoked turkey from Handy's, a place local to us in Long Beach, green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes au gratin, and plenty of wine), we turned to the crackers - I faced off against Chris, while Dad and Risa competed.  As it turned out, the gentlemen won all three matchups each (in hindsight, we should have done tournament-style play - then Risa or I would have won SOMETHING eventually), and they proudly showed off their crowns and prizes.

Chris excels at charades

Since they had so many crowns each, they let us borrow some of them for pictures:

Hooray for flannel pants and

novelty-themed holiday wear!

After the excitement with the crackers, we headed to bed, ready to see what treats Santa might bring us the next morning!  Coming up next on the blog, it's Christmas!

Later!

Amy