Trip to Julian

Dominic took off work, and we drove over to Julian today.  I told the girls a few days ago that we were going to pick apples, and the anticipation has been building.  Eliza was even more excited when she brought home the class "panda" for the weekend, and realized we'd be able to take him with us.  I have been looking online for the last couple weeks to find us lots of fun stuff to do, in town too.  It was a beautiful day, and a nice drive.

Dom and the girls in the orchard at Calico Ranch.  This was the last weekend for any of the U-Pick farms, so most of the apples were up pretty high.  We had to sign a paper agreeing not to climb the trees before we could get started, but we still managed to reach some.

Each of the girls with their first apples.

They loved it!

Dom had to lift them both up really high to get the good ones.  The look on Eliza's face says it all!

She was so proud of herself!

I took most of the pictures, but stopped to take part in the fun for a bit too.

When we had taken lots of pictures and picked enough apples to please the girls, we headed back up to the parking lot.  The fruit stand had apples and pears cut up for tasting, and we were able to fill the rest of our bag there.

Posing for more pictures before grabbing our picnic lunch from the car.

We ate under a huge tree across from the fruit stand.  The girls were happy to taste some of our bounty - starting with one of the pears.

After lunch, we headed into the small town of Julian to walk around.

The Julian Hotel

Some of the buildings on Main Street

Our first stop was the Town Hall to pick up a card for the "History Hunt."  It is a way to take a walking tour of the town and see many of the historic buildings and landmarks.  We answered all the questions and turned it back in when we finished for a chance to win $50.  Eliza liked counting all of the steps at the cemetery for one of the questions.

We stopped in the Historical Society building and the girls were both delighted to try out all of the desks, one of which was an original from the building.  It was an old school that was moved from a small town nearby and restored.

The one room school house, complete with bell.

The girls liked the jail as well.  They had fun running around, then jumping out and surprising us.  Daddy hid behind the door and jumped out to surprise them this time too!

No trip to Julian would be complete without one of their famous pies.  There were long lines outside each of the various pie shops in town.  We went to the Julian Pie Company and bought a Boysenberry-Apple pie to take home.

The girls and I waited on the back patio for Daddy to get the pie.  Eliza and I enjoyed the swing, while Audrey preferred one of the tables.  With pie in hand, we went back to the car to go to a couple wineries just outside of town.

The town firehouse.

Eliza took this picture!

At the Blue Door Winery, Dom and I enjoyed a nice cold glass of Sangria.

Audrey and Eliza enjoyed playing around all of the apple crates.  They sang us some songs, played Duck, Duck, Goose and even a little Hide and Seek.

Audrey and I outside of the Menghini Winery, which was by far our favorite of the 3.

We got back on the road, and stopped to eat in Ramona.  Audrey and Eliza both fell asleep on the way home after dinner.  We were all tired, but had such a great day together!  Dom was happy to top it off with a USC victory against Notre Dame!