22-SAN DIEGO, Part 2

One of our favorite day trips when we lived in San Diego, was to run about an hour up the mountains to the little town of Julian.

Julian is known for a couple things. One, a number of small shops that are fun to wander through while in an old frontier town setting…

…and two, Mom’s Apple Pies. You just can’t go to Julian without getting at least a slice of Mom’s Apple Pie. So of course, after a bit of wandering, we found ourselves with a nice warm slice in front of both of us. It was just as good as it used to be. In this case, not only CAN you go back, but we DID and it was delicious!

Downtown Julian was the same…nothing had changed and we were glad. There were still all the old store fronts…

…and the old Julian Hotel was still there and operating as usual.

I was very pleased to find that on this February day it was Spring in Julian. Seventy degrees with Iris blooming along with…

Jonquils and Narcissus. Back at home we have snow. They keep saying it has been warmer than usual here since the first of the year. Now that’s my kind of weather!!

Julian began in the early 1800’s as a gold mining town. When the gold ran out the main commodity became apples (and tourists).

One of the things we stumbled onto for the first time ever, was the old Julian Jail. We have no idea how we missed it in all the past years that we have been coming here. It doesn't look like a very friendly place but was obviously adequate for drunken miners back in the day.

We also found, for the first time, the Julian Pioneer Museum. It houses an amazing array of artifacts depicting the history of Julian. Prior to the founding of Julian, native American villages were scattered throughout the area. The Native American display is impressive.

The core of the Julian Pioneer Museum building was built by Joseph Treshil in1888 to house his blacksmith shop. Later, it became a brewery. Then, in 1899, it again became a blacksmith shop. The 1.5 foot thick walls, made from native Julian rock, surround the central display area.

As usual, I could not take pictures in the museum. They have a very basic web site and I could only get this one picture from it, but found it was quite interesting.

More than 35 years ago Don had a business acquaintance,  named Barney Murphy. He lived just a few miles outside of Julian.

In this instance we found that we could go back. The house was basically the same. Behind the house, on the same 20 acres, was a valley with several head of cattle. Nearby was the house where Barney’s parents had once lived.

Don, some 30 years ago, before he and I met, was at their house for lunch. Suddenly, Barney’s wife, Mary, known as Pee Wee, jumped up from the table, grabbed a gun that was leaning against the wall and ran out the back door.

BLAM!! BLAM!!

Then Barney grabbed a gun and ran out, jumped into his truck and tore down the road. Don was left sitting at the table alone wondering what in the world had just happened?!? 

It seems that they had seen dogs going after their cattle and weren't going to stand for that…and they didn’t. It was a scene right out of the old west.

It was easy enough to find their house. It was right where we remembered it. However, no one was home.

We then went down the road looking for “Tom’s Chicken Shack,” an old Julian landmark complete with a big white chicken on the roof. It had been replaced with the upscale restaurant, Jeremy's On The Hill, where we we had a tasty, though somewhat pricy, lunch. The big white chicken was no where to be found.

After lunch we went back up the hill again to Barney’s. This time Barney’s son, John, was home. He was just a little kid the last time we saw him and now was 33 years old. He told us that his parents had been in Arizona and were not yet back. We left a card with him hoping Barney would call when he returned. Apparently he didn’t remember us like we remembered him and we haven’t hear from him.

While heading back down the mountain toward our RV park, we passed the Oasis Camel Dairy. Yes, CAMEL Dairy. Unfortunately, too quickly to get a picture of the camels standing way back in the pasture. Strange as it seems, these people raise camels and make soap from their milk. Well, after all, it is California. One really shouldn’t be surprised at anything.

Then our final stop on the way down was at Dudley’s Bakery in Santa Ysabel. Now Santa Ysabel is simply a wide spot in the road, not really a town, but Dudley’s is a well known bakery. The bread can be found in various stores throughout San Diego. Dudley’s has been there for as long as we have been going to Julian. We bought some of the best ever Sheepherder’s bread and took it back to the RV.

This proves that in some cases, You Can Go Back.

Next, beach time in San Diego.