We’ve noticed an increase in the number of Google searches for “Rancho Ortega Blog” or some variation of our name. Since we only see the searches that result in a page view on our site, we can only imagine that there are many more searches that lead elsewhere. This post isn’t about the purpose or the content of our blog. We introduced ourselves here, and discussed our first hundred posts here. But rather, we wanted to explain why we picked “Rancho Ortega” for our name, and to make it clear what we are not.
First, why did we name our blog “Rancho Ortega”? We wanted to create an internet homestead for ourselves, and we thought a “rancho” would be appropriate for the area and subject matter. Indeed, South Orange County was once largely covered by early Spanish land grants, including the venerable Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores. We did some historic research and came across names such as Rancho Trabuco and Rancho Capistrano. We also brainstormed imaginary names. There were a few names that we liked, but none more so than Rancho Ortega. We liked it because Ortega Highway is the historical and physical backbone of the area — it starts at the Mission, connects San Juan Capistrano to Ladera Ranch to Rancho Mission Viejo before disappearing through cattle country and into the mountains. It seemingly traversed everything that we wanted to talk about on this blog. Imagine our surprise when we checked and the domain name was available! We grabbed it.
Second, what we are not. According to a sign on the shoulder of Ortega Highway on the east edge of town, there is apparently a historic place called “Rancho Ortega.” It is supposed to be one half mile up Toyon Drive, but we’ve twice tried to find the actual property with no luck. Whether it exists or not, we are not the historic Rancho Ortega. There are numerous shopping centers with some variation of the words “Rancho” and “Ortega.” There is Rancho Ortega Plaza at the corner of Ortega and Rancho Viejo Road, and there is the Ortega Ranch complex across from Rancho Madrina on Rancho Viejo Road. No doubt there are others. We are not affiliated with any commercial shopping center or property. Further, this blog is not affiliated with any company, business, developer or trademark using a name related to Ranch and Ortega. And finally, it should go without saying that we are not affiliated in any way with Rancho Mission Viejo — we are seeing some Google searches for “Rancho Mission Viejo blog” and we want to make it clear that we are not part of Rancho Mission Viejo Company and we do not claim to speak for them.
As always, thanks for reading!
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