Thursday, January 21, 2016

San Diego, CA - It's All About the Pie

Julian, CA - It’s all about the apple pies.

Hey, it’s time for a road trip. We like to take a short road trip every time we spend some time in a single place, especially if we’ve been there before, like San Diego. Last time we were here, we headed out to Santa Catalina Island where I worked at a Girl Scout camp for two summers. This year, we chose Julian, a tiny town in the mountains above San Diego. They are known for their apple pies but we also thought we might be able to hike in the area. See, it’s not all about the pies.

On January 7, I wrote about the rain which we had here in San Diego which brought snow to the mountains above SD. I mentioned that the Sunrise Highway to Mount Laguna was ‘full’ - bumper to bumper for at least the 26 miles with people wanting to play in the snow. Today, we talked with the owner of a lodge on the highway who said that the biggest problem was: bathrooms, especially for all the kids in the cars stuck on the road. Not many public bathrooms in Julian and only outdoor pit toilets in picnic areas bathrooms. Imagine all the cars with kids: ‘But, Mommie, Mommie, I’ve got to go to the bathroom.’ Stuck in traffic for hours this way.

It’s been a cooler, cloudier, wetter winter in San Diego this January but this week we’ll have an actual heat wave - it’s going to be higher than usual in temperatures this week. And, what do we do, we decide to take a road trip up into the mountains above San Diego to check out Julian, a small town. You might guess that we’d seek the snow during the warmest week in San Diego.

The wind chill was pretty high - we think that the ‘feels like’ temperature must have been in the 40’s. I had on long underwear under my hiking pants, an Under Armour long sleeve shirt, a hiking shirt, a 2-layer nylon jacket over these, gloves and an ear warmer. Gary was similarly dressed. At one point we took off some of our layers but, as we began our climb down from the crest of the mountains, we put these layers back on and hiked back to the car. Yeah, yeah, I know we’ve got it good here in southern California. So good that we have to go looking for snow, it doesn’t come to us.

Our first choice for a hike was on a tree-less mountain with 30 degree wind chills. Not for me. Plan B was to hike around a meadow with a treed wind block - much better choice. The trail was pretty muddy since there was lots of snow 2 weeks ago and not all of it has melted. Obviously, no matter how hard I tried to keep my hiking books clean (how dumb is that?) I must have been carrying at least 5 lbs of mud in the grooves in the sole. No wonder I’m tired. And a nice hike - until I said: ‘I don’t think we should be hiking south - the trail goes west.’ Yep, we had missed the turnoff - 1/2 mile back. The sign certainly isn’t hidden. Ah, well.
20160125-IMG_0340-2016-01-21-18-56.jpg
Shucks. We backtracked, noted the obvious signage and took the right turn this time. Met only 3 others on the trail: on a cold Monday, we didn’t expect many.

But, we also found some snow. Difficult to find snow down here in San Diego. Not much and only in the mountains on the sides of the hills where the sun doesn’t shine. I tried to make a snowball but this was pretty crusty.
20160125-IMG_8418-2016-01-21-18-56.jpg
8 miles later we’re back at the car, heading to Julian stopping at several pull-outs to check the views.
20160125-IMG_0326-2016-01-21-18-56.jpg
Got to the hotel, checked in and brought in our luggage. Then, I checked the TV. As you know, we usually are not able to get cable TV and have had to listen to lots of the political debates on our Sirius this year. Tonight there is a town hall at Drake University in Des Moines, IA on CNN tonight. Well - we’ll be in a hotel in Julian, CA and all hotels have cable, right? Hmmm. That is partially correct - we DO have cable but just not CNN. We can watch QVC, FAMILY, FOX SPORTS, WEATHER, COMEDY CENTRAL - you name it, we can watch it - just not CNN and we are not interested enough to sit in our car listening to the town hall on our Jeep Sirius. We’re not that dedicated. BUT - my brother just sent us an e-mail: Iowa State vs Kansas basketball game is on ESPN and I can watch that this evening. How cool is that?

We then headed out to see Julian. It’s a small town with loads of cafes and gift shoppes. The main street with the shops on it is about 3 blocks long.
20160126-IMG_0377-2016-01-21-18-56.jpg
Not much else. We checked out the menu for the cafe we wanted to eat in and noted that it was 3:30 and they still had their lunch menu out. Look at this: a 1/2-pounder, fries, cole slaw, 2 drinks with refills AND a piece of pie ala mode for $15.95. Whoo-ee. Let’s share the whole thing and, if we need another piece of pie, we can order it. Delicious, and perfect with only one piece of pie. Hmmm, I’ve got both forks - what the odds that Big Gar will get a bite of this pie?
20160125-IMG_8421-2016-01-21-18-56.jpg
We finished, walked the 2 blocks of the main part of the town, got back to the hotel and hunkered in to watch the ISU game. Nice shower, warm room, soft bed and - thin pillows - just what I like. I sleep on my stomach and the pillows that are stuffed 1’ high crink my neck.

There are very few people in the hotel tonight, this is not their season. I wonder how they’ll set up breakfast for less than 10 people.

‘Life would be more fun if Noah had taken the time to swat a few mosquitoes on his Ark.’
                                                Anonymous

No comments:

Post a Comment