Today, we made our annual pilgrimage to Julian, CA, about 50 miles north east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains. Julian is a historic town with a population of about 1800. The original settlers arrived sometime around 1850. Gold was discovered in 1869 and for a short time there was a gold rush. The gold didn’t last long and was replaced by timber as a main source of income. In recent years, Julian has become a main tourist attraction for people visiting Southern California.

Some of the buildings date back to the 19th century and none of the buildings in “downtown” Julian are newer than 1931. Our favorite place in Julian is the Miner’s Diner which features and old fashioned soda fountain, the kind found in drug stores all around the country back in the 1940’s and 50’s. It is one of the only remaining soda fountains in the U.S where you can get a genuine ice cream soda. (The food is great, as well.)

Other places we always visit is Mom’s Pies which sells the best apple, cherry, peach and other pies in Southern California. There is also the Julian Cider Mill if you like fresh apple cider and all kinds of candies, jams, honeys, and other goodies. My favorite is lemon marmalade – something you can’t find anywhere else.

After our sojourn to Julian, we returned to our “home away from home” to enjoy a relaxing evening, visiting, reading and catching up on the blog.