My dad once gave me some advice. “Son” he said. “Never play cards with a man named Doc. Never eat at a place called ‘Mom’s’ and never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.” Sage advice from a merchant sailor. Like most things my dad told me, I chose to go against his better judgement and ate at a place called “Mom’s”. But more on that later. Allow me to give you the lay of the land.
I don’t know what Tom Joad was bitching about. I went to Julian, California in San Diego County and it looks like people have a blast picking apples.
Actually, we were a little late for the apple-picking season. One of the draws to this historic town is that it has an idea climate for growing apples. These days, folks from the flatlands ride up in the early fall and pay for the privilege of picking a few bushels.
But I digress. Like I said, we were a little late in the season for that. So what is there to do? The downtown is several blocks long and lined with stores that specialize in chotchkies of all variety. On a cold fall morning, it’s striking place to wander along and window shop. The town was founded in the 1870’s and has a plethora of historic buildings.
So back to eating at a place called “Mom’s”. The other big industry in Julian is the apple pie industry. I’m sure that if you ask people about the place, they’ll all have their opinions about the place to eat. We rolled the dice on Mom’s because it had the biggest line.
And pies they had. Pies of all variety. Pot pies, apple pies, cherry-apple pies. You can even choose between crusts. I think that we found the exception to the “Don’t eat at ‘Mom’s’ rule”.
So after our pies, we wandered. What is there to do? Well, we got duped into seeing the Julian re-enactors. More on that later. If you find your way here, give this one a miss.
Another thing my dad hipped me to was walking in old cemeteries. When I was a kid, he used to take me through hikes in the one out on South Bass Island. Julian has a really beautiful one seated up on top of a hill at the end of downtown.
Julian makes for a nice day-trip on a fall afternoon.