OK, I COULD have waited until 3/14 to post this latest Road Trippin' Epic, but...why wait?
We took the Yellow Submarine up to Juian, CA in the mountains just east of Oceanside and the BEST apple pie available: MOM'S in Julian. Accept no substitues.
Constant reader will remember several years ago when I led a gaggle of Intrepid Road Warriors on the Drive to the Black Lagoon (2 nights in beautiful downtown Indio--by way of Oak Glen and Big Bear--thence to the Salton Sea and up to Julian) where we all agreed that Mom's was THE best pie. Not that the pie in Oak Glen was in any way bad, mind you...it's just that Mom's was Better.
Anywho, we thought a trip back to Julian was in order, and now that I've (finally, I hope) sorted the cooling issues on the DS, I wanted to give it a challange. Granted, the weather was pretty cool. Well, OK, down-right COLD, but any win is a good win.
So, off we set and just to add a bit of spice, I saw on www.socalcarculture.com that there was a cars and coffee in Chino Hills, right on the way, just off CA71! BONUS!
The fun thing about "foreign" C/Cs (as opposed to the one you maybe attend regularly) is you get to meet different Car Guys and see new stuff. AND, with a Bright Yellow DS Wagon, you get the chance to show off a bit. Well, to be honest, a lot! Face it, most of these C/Cs are small and the same bunch of guys show up each time, so whatever you bring will be new and different and attract a lot of attention. It's fun! This one was at a rather tired little shopping center with a mom/pop donut place and NOT at the GotBucks Coffee across the street. Nice to see 'em supporting the small local guy. Here's the specific info and some pix: http://www.socalcarculture.com/Images/CruiseNight_Sunday_C&CChinoHills.pdf
After drinking decent coffee/hot chocolate, we mounted up to head to Julian.
Normally, I don't tout the Interstates, but at this time of year, and after all the rains, the hillsides along the I-15 around Fallbrook are SPECTACULAR! Carpets of yellow wild mustard, purple lupins, and of course POPPIES MY PRETTIES! POPPIES.
Which created a problem. People are stupid. Just when you think they've reached a new low, they say "Here, Hold My Beer!" There must have been a dozen+ cars parked on the shoulder of the Interstate (which has a 70mph speed limit there) to take pictures and romp through the flowers so that they get all smashed (the flowers not the people, although, stopping on the side of the highway to do this could...) and ruin it for everyone else. As we cruised along on the way back, Hey Presto, there was a CHP Weigh Station! heeheehee. In we went and talked to them. They just shook their heads and said they keep chasing them away and would send a car out. I'm betting they just chase 'em off and don't bother to write tickets because that would take away their time from babysitting fellow CalTrans workers (you DO know that the CHP is part of CalTrans, not the Justice Department?).
Anyway, back to the drive. Once you get off the freeway, and past the Pehanga casino, the road is great. Up hill and down vale, across wonderful high meadows, and more flowers. As we got higher, SNOW! Yes, Julian and its environs got slammed and a lot of snow was still around.
The town of Julian has become a real tourist mecca and Sunday was a poor choice to go there. The place was jammed and there was no parking. We bailed on the town and headed back. Just outside of town, however, are several attractions. A couple of neat looking antiques stores, and the Julian Hard Cider Company.
If you hadn't figured it out, Julian has always been a center for apple growning in SoCal. We stopped and tasted a "flight" of their offerings. Two were excellent (the Harvest Cider and the Apple Pie Cider). The others? Not to my taste, but Marianne liked the Tiki Cider ("notes" of pineapple) and was interested in the "Pearanormal Cider" (pear, apple, and to me, an odd spearmint aftertaste). The other two were cherry and blackberry. Sounds like they could be good, but no. Remember Ludens Cough Drops (or Smith Bros.)? Yeah, the cherry tasted just like that. The berry? More cold syrup. But who knows, maybe you'll like 'em. There's no accounting for taste.
The place is in an old apple shed and there are several shops and what smelled like a good Mexican food stall. There's also a craft beer tasting place next door.
The main attraction was the satillite outlet for Mom's Apple Pies. Rather than fight the crowds in Julian itself, if all you want is a slice of heaven or a whole pie to take home, this is the place for it. They offer a variety of pies and around Thanksgiving and Christmas, they are flooded with orders for apple, pumpkin, and even rhubarb pies.
All in all, it was a great day out, but if you're interested, go on a weekday to look around town. There's a lot of other great backroads in the area and (of course) they are covered in Road Trippin'.
Here's some pix Marianne took whilst we rocketed along, and the video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xXMt3nH1w
