let's wander // a day trip to julian

Last month, a couple of friends and I decided to take the hour-long drive to the charming nearby town of Julian for (possibly) apple-picking, wine, and just to take in the sights. And this is how I know that I'm an adult in my early 30's, because 23-year-old me would not have squealed with the amount of glee that I did upon partaking of this trip. They had me at "day trip." Who needs sports bars? Give me apples and wine!

The drive there was freaking beautiful. Lots of twisty roads and wonderful lookout points such as this one. We stopped and photobombed the place, as one does.

Naturally, we took a vino break. Blue Door Winery was small and friendly and unpretentious, which I appreciate since I can barely discern a syrah from a merlot. But the wine was yummy, and there was a friendly dog running around underfoot happily eating all our crackers.

Not pictured: gorging on some of Julian's famous apple pie at Apple Alley Bakery. I had the apple crumb with whip cream and I regret not buying a whole pie on the way out.

So we knew we were about a month late to do any actual apple-picking, but we hoped we could at least walk through one of the nearby apple orchards and frolic around. Yes, I may be an adult, but I still like to frolic. So at the suggestion of our friendly Blue Door Winery guy, we stopped at Calico Ranch, but alas, they were closed. So the best we could do was park on the dirt road surrounding the property, and do more photo-taking and lament the poor apples on the ground that nobody wanted. It was still awfully pretty though.

I'm coming back for you next year, Julian. Get your apples ready.