"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Friends are people who know you really well and like you anyway."
~Greg Tamblyn
One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to select a few "long-distance" friends and arrange a Harley Ride to visit them. I had an early plan to do a Harley ride to Julian and San Diego in February. Julian is a charming mountain getaway, just an hour east of San Diego, in the beautiful Cuyamaca mountains. It's beginning is rooted in the 1870s gold rush, and is now known for shopping in stores housed in historic buildings, its apple pies, and its calendar of popular events such as parades, car shows, and the annual Apple Days Festival. Since Julian is so close to San Diego I thought a visit to Bob & Laurie, and their kids, Owen Xavier and Scarlett Katherine, would be in order.
As the planning for this trip proceeded it turned out that Jon & Maridee would be in San Diego visiting Bob & Laurie in early March. It had been a very long time since we had visited with Jon & Maridee, so after verifying that we would not be imposing on their time with the kids, Bonnie and I decided to go by car, make a stop in Julian, and then go to San Diego to visit not only Bob & Laurie and their kids, but also Jon & Maridee. As early March approached, unfortunately Jon & Maridee both came down with colds and cancelled their trip. Bonnie & I had momentum and decided to continue with our plans.
Julian:
We left home about 9:30 am on Saturday, March 3rd and drove to Julian - about a 2 1/2 hour drive Southeast of Monrovia. Once you leave the I-15 freeway, the 53-mile drive from Temecula to Julian is quite interesting. The upscale Pechanga Resort & Casino is just outside Temecula, and then it's a short distance to the small town of Pala, which is about at sea level (404 feet elevation). Turning on to Hwy 76 you begin climbing as you pass Wilderness Gardens and open farm land and fruit orchards in Pauma Valley. You pass by the turnoff to Palomar Mountain, pass Lake Henshaw, and periodically see very rocky mountainside terrain. Eventually you switch to Hwy 79, go through Santa Ysabel and up to Julian at an elevation of 4,226 feet elevation. As it turned out, it was good that I switched from a Harley ride to the car. It was cold, about 50 degrees when we left Monrovia and 40 degrees when arrived in Julian, and raining lightly in Monrovia but raining harder with fog as we closed in on Julian.
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Due to the weather, heavy traffic and long lines at the restaurants, it was almost impossible, and certainly undesirable, to find a parking place and walk to the shops and a restaurant for lunch. So we wimped out and drove 7 miles down the hill to Santa Ysabel for lunch. We ate at the Apple Country Restaurant and bought an "Original Apple Pie" from the Julian Pie Company to take to San Diego for an after-dinner desert.
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After lunch, we had an enjoyable drive to San Diego as the weather cleared and the temperature raised somewhat.
San Diego:
We arrived in San Diego around 2:30 pm, checked into the Best Western motel that Jon & Maridee had recommended, and read for a while before going to an early dinner at Bob & Laurie's home. Their home is in a nice, hilly neighborhood about 3 miles west of La Mesa, and about 11 miles east of Mission Bay and Old Town San Diego. Bob says he still has work to do in their back yard, but I really liked it. The first photo below is the neat, comfortable deck just out their back door; second, at a lower level, is the gardening house and Laurie's chicken coop; and third is Bob's tool shed and home office. A really nice layout!
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The first order of business was to meet the new babe Scarlett. What a cutie!
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Next we had to get re-acquainted with Owen, who just turned 3 years old in February. It didn't take long for him to warm to Bonnie, who was "Grandma Bonnie" before we left.
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Bob & Laurie prepared a lovely dinner, and along with a glass of wine and some apple pie desert, we had a great "catch-up" visit. Below are the proud new parents (Scarlett was born last November).
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Below Owen is opening a gift we took for him (Scarlett was not ignored, but I didn't get a photo of her opening her gift). Also, Owen is posing with Ginger, the 5th member of the Fulkerson family.
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Sunday morning we met all the Fulkersons (except Ginger) at the Sunshine Pancake House for brunch. It was fun seeing the kids again (including the "adult kids") and doing some additional visiting. In the photos below Owen was very proud of his San Diego cap and Scarlett apparently was ready to take a nap.
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Bonnie & I lived in Solana Beach for a couple of years during the late 90s, and since we were so close, we decided to drive by our old neighborhood to see how it may have changed before getting on the I-5 freeway for the trek back to Monrovia. We owned a nice condo at the Seascape Sur Complex - the main gate is the first photo below; our unit was at the front of the complex, on the bluff overlooking the ocean; the 3rd photo shows the stairs going down to the beach, looking south; the last photo is looking north and shows the flat, hard-sand beach, wonderful for running barefoot along the water.
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We arrived back in Monrovia around 2:30 pm with the accumulated mileage for the trip totaling 315 miles. It was a great trip and we had a ball visiting with Bob & Laurie, getting better acquainted with Owen, and getting to know Scarlett. Grandma & Grandpa Fulkerson are going to be very jealous.
Prior Visit with Bob & Laurie:
Bob & Laurie spent an evening at our home in August 2016 (post-Owen but pre-Scarlett).
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