San Diego and an old mining town

Main Street, Julian, CA

Well, we finally made it to San Diego.  We arrived around 3 on Monday afternoon.  Weather was clear, not windy, but still had a late winter chill in the air.  We still needed to where a long sleeve flannel or microfiber shirt.  Tuesday we decided to get out of town as was a bright and sunny day with temps in the upper 50's.  so we headed for the mountains east of San Diego, and more specifically, an old mining town.  From the Google wikipedia pages: 

After the American Civil War, Julian experienced a gold rush. In 1869, A.E. "Fred" Coleman, a former slave, was crossing over what is now known as Coleman Creek, just west of Julian. Seeing a glint of gold in the stream bed, he climbed down from his horse to investigate. Having had previous experience in the gold fields, he retrieved his frying pan and began panning the sands of the creek. Learning of the find, others tried to trace the gold to its source. On February 22, 1870, the first "lode", or hard rock, mining claim was filed in the Julian area. Since February 22 was President George Washington's birthday, the mine was named the Washington mine. Soon hundreds of anxious men and families were rushing to Julian to stake their claims. Julian became a tent city overnight. In April 1870, the area's first saw mill was set up and Julian began to take on a more permanent structure.

One of the things that makes Julian famous, at least from a visitor's perspective, is the Julian Apples and the pies that are made by several local artisans.  Julian Pie Company is probably the "anchor" for the apple pie, but we chose to patronize "Mom's Pie House", right on Main Street.  There was a line out the door when we left, so we must have started something :-)...Nancy had Pecan with vanilla ice cream, and I had Flaky Apple Pie with cinamon ice cream.  They warm the pie.  Yummy!

On the outskirts of Julian, looking east at the western-most part of the Anza-Borrega Desert Park

On the way there we passed through Lake Cuyamaca State Park recreation area. We saw several notices posted at various recreation areas that warned visitors of the mountain lions in the area.  We elected to not take any hikes in this area, as it is late winter/early spring and I'm sure these big cats are on the prowl looking for a warm meal.  And it wasn't about to be me or Nancy.  :-)

An old iron workhorse of yesteryear; I was a little surprised this old boy was just sitting out in this field as back in the midwest, this would be a real collector's item.  I would think the old boy could be fixed up and made presentable by someone...oh well

Looking back west over the Santa Monica mountains towards Escondido; As you can see, it was chilly up here around the 4000 foot level. They had about a foot of snow up here last week. 

Well it is now Wednesday morning and I think we'll head over to La Jolla, Mt Soledad, San Diego Harbor and eventually wind up the day by visiting the Gas Lamp District of downtown San Diego.  Perhaps we'll have a late lunch or early dinner somewhere in the District.  Tomorrow is moving day and I think we'll head over to the Borrega Springs area and see what's going over there, and maybe we can miss some of the cold temps and rain expected here in San Diego Friday and Saturday.  Until then, Joe & Nancy