Remember when I went to Lassen and Mount Shasta I was saying, this is the last place in California I wanted to visit? Well apparently, I was wrong! My friend had told me about this place called Julian, CA, an historic town that was part of the Gold Rush era and is known for their world famous apple pie. From where I live, it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive southeast and from San Diego, more than an hour east.
I decided to go for a weekend. I usually stay at an Airbnb, but after searching for an hour, the cheapest I could find was $150 at The Julian Inn. I also got a rental car from Budget for $133 (I got a Kia Soul).
I was planning on waking up at 5am and getting on the road before 6am. The apple orchard I wanted to go apple picking at was open that weekend and I wanted to beat the crowd…or so I thought…
Saturday, Sept. 12
I was on the road by 5:45am, not without a Venti Starbucks, of course!
The wildfires are still raging throughout California, Oregon and Washington, pushing all of the smoke and ash south. The worst spot was between Glendale and Irwindale in Los Angeles County before I had to hop off onto another freeway to go south. You can see the sun trying to find its way through the smoke and greet us. It was a creepy sight with it being this reddish, orange dot in the sky.
So I have to apologize, because there was so much smoke, a lot of my photos from this trip are not that clear, I tried!
Because of the wildfires, all of the National Forests were also closed. There were many signs on the freeways warning people not to visit them.
My first stop heading towards Julian on the back roads was Lake Henshaw, which is 5 miles long and holds catfish and carp.
Twenty minutes later, I was at Volcan Valley Apple Farm, where they were having their annual U-Pick Days! It opened right at 9am and OMG you guys, it was already getting packed. I am so happy I got there when I did!
There are 10 acres full of apples with each row labeled. I paid $30 for 2 bags to fill up 3 different kind of apple varietals: Jonathan, Golden and Empire. The man told me to pick the reddest or greenest ones because those are the ones that would taste the freshest, tartest and/or sweetest. Thirty minutes later, I had 2 full bags of apples. I plan on using the Golden ones to make Apple Crisp.
Next I hopped over downtown to the Julian Pie Company. I had watched a video and read that their Dutch Apple ($9.81) was their most popular seller, so I decided to try it out. I added melted Tillamook Cheddar Cheese and boy, did it really bring out the flavor! It is that sweet n savory thing that I love. I also ordered a bottle of milk to wash everything down.
After I chowed down on some pie, I went around downtown to do some shopping. Downtown Julian is very quaint and cute, with lots of historic buildings dating back to the 1800s. It is a very touristy town, so it gets packed very fast! I was so happy I found parking early. I ended up buying some Pumpkin and Apple Butter along with an Apple Cider Vinegar drink from The Julian Cider Mill.
There are really only two breweries in town, Julian Beer Company and Nickel Beer Company, so I decided to head over to Nickel only because there was a long line stalking the Julian Beer Company waiting for it to open. Nickel is just slightly out of the downtown area, plus I wanted to try a pint of their Apple Pie Ale. I had to order food with my beer, so I ordered a beer brat ($10.75). I have to be honest with you guys, the beer was amazing with a ton of apple pie spices, but the brat was very dry.
Next I headed 45 minutes east and to a town called Borrego Springs, which lies in between the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a desert park in the Colorado desert. Borrego means “sheep” in Spanish and the park is 600,000 acres. It was also named after Spanish Explorer Juan Bautista de Anza.
I wanted to go to Borrego Springs because I wanted to view the Sky Art Sculptures, which are literally in the middle of the desert.
So I get there and went through a gate and got photos of an eagle, horses, elephant and mammoth sculptures. Then the sheriff came.
“You guys can’t be here, you’re trespassing!” he said.
WHAT?!
It turns out that the entrance I went through wasn’t blocked off and there were other blocked off sections up ahead. I am guessing it is due to COVID-19. There were actually more sculptures of a dragon and scorpion that I wanted to see further up the road, but it never happened.
Next I drove more than an hour east to the Salton Sea, one of the world’s largest inland seas and lowest spots on earth at -227 below sea level, 43 ft deep and 343 sq-miles. It is located right on the San Andreas Fault Line and is known for having series of mini earthquakes. You can also catch Tilapia, which is my favorite fish!
Okay I am not going to lie to you guys: the Salton Sea stinks to high heaven, mainly due to the runoff that is full of pesticides and dead fish. It is worth seeing though, because it is eerie and and twisted. The whole area is full of run down houses…which is how I ended up at Bombay Beach.
When I was doing my research, I read that Bombay Beach was a neighborhood full of artwork on the beach. Great, I thought! But when I got there…it’s literally like an abandoned town. Many of the homes and trailers are gutted and were turned into graffiti artwork. I wish I could’ve gone a little further south to see the rest of the area, but I was running low on time. I read that less than 200 residents live there now.
On the beach, there were random artifacts. My favorite picture I took was the last one with the swing set in the middle of the water. I have seen Instagram photos of people swimming out to get classic shots, but there was no way in hell I was getting in that water! BTW, I had to drive my rental onto the “beach” part, which was more like a street. There was a small section where I did get out and walk on sand.
On my way back to check into my inn in Julian, which BTW was a 2 hour drive from Bombay Beach because I was on the other side of the Salton Sea, I had to take a shot of this palm tree farm. It is the healthiest palm tree farm I have ever seen in California…and in the desert out of all places!
There is also the International Banana Museum, which is home to more than 25,000 banana-related items. Unfortunately, it was closed due to COVID-19, but I managed to snap a photo of the banana sculpture.
There were also some cool rocks that had graffiti on them off the main highway.
Back in Julian, I checked into The Julian Inn. I forgot to take a photo of my room, sorry guys! But I can say that the room was nice, although it could’ve been updated a bit, and then bed and pillows were very comfy.
I freshened up and went to a restaurant called Jeremy’s on the Hill. I was very impressed with their menu selection looking at it online! I ordered myself a Julian Mimosa, Chicken Cordon Bleu and for dessert I had a Julian Apple Pie desert wine ($53). I highly recommend coming here for dinner, plus there is live entertainment.
Afterwards I went back to the inn and got to bed at 8:30pm, that’s how tired I was. I had a very long yet productive day!
Sunday, Sept. 13
I checked out of the inn by 8am and headed over to Julian Cafe for some breakfast. I ordered a cup of coffee and The Straight Shooters Breakfast, which consisted of an egg white omelette stuffed with bell peppers, mushrooms and onions and served with a side of sliced tomatoes, cottage cheese and wheat toast ($18.21). I hate to say this but it wasn’t that great, and the toast was so hard, OMG! I would say the cottage cheese, tomatoes and coffee were the best part.
My last stop downtown was at Mom’s Pie House for my last slice of apple pie called the Apple Flakey, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ($6.20). This was probably my favorite pie out of the two I had while I was visiting Julian, probably because it wasn’t too sweet. I was the first person in line that morning, ha ha! Mom’s Pie House even had indoor seating! I had to fill out a COVID-19 contact form because I was eating indoors.
I loved the Raggedy Ann dolls on the shelves, it reminded me of the ones I had when I was a kid. You can also check out my Instagram page and watch the lady mix the apples in the batter through the window!
Next I made my way south west to Lake Cuyamaca to get some scenic shots of people enjoying the lake. It’s about a 15 minute drive south outside of Julian.
On the way back towards town, I stopped at a Vista Point called Desert View Park to get a shot of the valley areas.
My last stop before I headed home was at Calico Cidery just outside of downtown on the main highway to head home. I ordered myself a sampler that considered of Dry (consisting of different apples and crab apples), Joey (apple, pear, quince off dry co-ferment), Pine (day, semi-tart, slight hop like taste aged with Coulter pine branches) and Qunceperry (light, bright and sour). The Joey was by far my favorite!
Something I didn’t get to experience was the Eagle Mining Co., which is a gold mine tour in town. I didn’t have sturdy enough shoes to do the tour, but if you guys plan on going, let me know how it is! 🙂
And that’s it! I made my way back to my home and got in around 3:15pm. I really enjoyed my trip to Julian and hope to return sometime in the future.
Cheers!
