Julian, CA

We went out to the country to do some outdoor fall activities!! Julian is a little town east of San Diego, and was an old mining town. We stayed in a cabin, picked apples in the morning, went on a train ride up to some old mines, and ate apple pie! It was a great overnight trip. Mike's mom came with us, and we all had a great time together. It was the end of the apple season, and most of the orchards no longer had apples because of the Santa Ana winds, but one orchard still had quite a few. They were really small because the owner doesn't use pestisides or chemicals on the apples, so I couldn't make a pie with them, but they were tasty to snack on. I think Michael had at least 10 in the orchard! Marilyn got a deal on the apples that had already fallen on the ground, and she planned on making applesauce with them. The owner of the orchard was a really interesting man, originally from Ireland, and somehow made it out to Julian. He has lived in the teepee at the end of this road for over a year! Madelyn's apples! Lyla loved having an extra set of hands with grandma around, which meant that there was always someone around to hold her! We had breakfast at a local mexican place, and it was really pretty good! My first taste of Huevos Rancheros, and I've been craving them since! This is the place we stayed at. We were in Blue Bird 1 - a spacious 2 bedroom suite!!! The kids loved playing with Grandma! There are not many things to do in Julian, but one thing you can't miss is the pie. It was really quite tasty, in fact Mike keeps talking about the pumpkin pie that he didn't get enough of. Abby would not share her piece! Panning for gold up at Smith Ranch. We took a train ride up to the gold mines, and then the kids had fun trying to find gold! Hard hats on, ready to go! Abby and Grandma on the way up the hill.