Julian, California

We were in Temecula for the weekend and on Saturday morning, we were all sitting around trying to figure out what to do for the day...when all of a sudden, I got the idea, "Lets go to Julian". We had never been there before, but we wanted to check it out. It was like 10am and we were all still in our pajamas. I was shocked when everyone, including my dad said okay. So we are scurried off to get showers, packed and out the door.

Lauren napped in the car on the way up there. It only took us about an hour to get there from my parent's house.

When we arrived, we immediately went searching for a restroom, Justin got on his phone and read restaurant reviews while we took turns using the facilities. We walked up and down Main Street trying to find a place to eat that we all agreed on. My dad wanted cheap, Justin wanted healthy, I wanted to sit down and not be packed in like sardines and my mom...well, she just wanted to eat.



We ended up settling on the Julian Grille. It met all of our criteria. We sat outside on the patio. The food was delicious, but the service left much to be desired. Lauren had a bottle while we waited for our food to arrive.

Grumpy, hungry men!

Waiting for our food, just trying to get a nice picture...



Delicious salads!

Mom and I both had the tuna salad sandwich (with a side of fries) and the boys had pulled pork sandwiches.



After lunch, we ran back to the car to put the high chair away and do a quick diaper change. Then we explored the Main Street. Honestly, it was not that great. I liked Oak Glen a lot better. (They are both "apple towns")








At the end of the day, we got in line to buy some apple desserts, but the line was taking forever and then we noticed that they had a second location down the road, which was on our way home. So we decided to go there instead. Unfortunately, we were there too early in the season, so all the famous pie places were not open.

On our way out, we stopped in at an old (and still active) mine. We were going to go on the tour, but decided not to go this time. We were all sort of tired and ready to get on the road. Well, AFTER we had our treats.

Justin, Mom and I shared an apple dumpling and apple boysenberry pie and Dad had apple rhubarb. Nothing was magical...but it was good.


Once we got on the road, Lauren had a complete meltdown, so we scrambled to get out her portable DVD player and give it a try. It worked like magic! My mom, who once was very opposed to letting Lauren watch TV, was sold. Lauren was happy, we were happy and it was a nice end to a really nice day.