SIMPLE PLEASURES
A convertible with the top down. Long winding country roads. The wind whipping your hair into a frenzy. Rolling pasturelands on gently undulating hills. Music from Gangster. Great company. Loads of laughter. That about sums up my trip to Julian.
Julian is a quaint little town set in the hills of San Diego. It is story book perfect. Signs direct you to give way to horse drawn carriages and to watch out for horses at crossroads. One can actually find sheep, horses and cows out in the open. A scene that is extremely rare in the US.
There were four of us. Three girls and one guy. I don’t know how “M” contrived to bring about that situation. He did have this long-suffering expression of being stuck with three women, but secretly, I think he enjoyed it all. To his credit, he let us browse all the little stores to our hearts’ content, even pointing out a few interesting ones to us.
On our way to Julian, we saw horses grazing in a field. A perfect photo op. Out we jumped. “M” went first nonchalantly leaning on one of the poles that supported the fence. The two girls, K and A, went next, standing a safe distance from the snorting horses. I decided to copy M’s pose. I put my elbow on one of the posts and ZAAAAAAAAAAP!! I jumped back in alarm; I had felt an electric current run through my arm! “M” then says, “Oh you felt it too?” Couldn’t the idiot have warned me? Next we saw a long winding road and we obviously had to get pictures of that too. “M” decided to fling out his arms and caught me neatly at the edge of my left eye. I know I shouldn’t have called him an idiot. It is a good thing my husband isn’t in the US right now or he would have been facing charges of martial abuse since I went to work on Monday with a shiner.
We stopped again to photograph a gaunt tree and had to make a mad dash back to our car since we saw a patrol car stop right in front of our car. Later we found out the policeman had not stopped for us!!
We finally got to Julian and it was like being transported to another century. Of course, the hordes of bikers on their Harley-Davidsons struck a discordant note. Yeah, if I was a man, am sure I would have felt differently about it.
The stores all sold handmade things. Everything from pot-pourri to jewellery made of the locally available stone was on display. Perfect for a Saturday afternoon browse. The girls also went wine-tasting. It really was a pity that I had never tried anything alcoholic in my life. Does cough syrup count?. I would have loved to try the different wines too. But then, I didn’t want poor “M” to have to carry me back to the car.
The diner we went to for lunch was so historic it had only one washroom. Our tokens were cards from a deck. And you went hungry if the waitress called out “Queen of Hearts” and you weren’t listening. Lovely system. Wonder when someone is going to bring that one to India. There were other groups of our fellow countrymen. And as usual everyone was busy ignoring everyone else.
Late afternoon and we had to try the specialty of the area. The apple pies. And since M planned to eat a whole pie and I wanted to get one for my roommates we went to the express lane. Five minutes later and the express lane was the longest line there, actually stretching on to the road. We savored the warm, wonderful smelling apple pies and once sated, made our way home.
A nice lazy Saturday, right up my alley!!!
Julian is a quaint little town set in the hills of San Diego. It is story book perfect. Signs direct you to give way to horse drawn carriages and to watch out for horses at crossroads. One can actually find sheep, horses and cows out in the open. A scene that is extremely rare in the US.
There were four of us. Three girls and one guy. I don’t know how “M” contrived to bring about that situation. He did have this long-suffering expression of being stuck with three women, but secretly, I think he enjoyed it all. To his credit, he let us browse all the little stores to our hearts’ content, even pointing out a few interesting ones to us.
On our way to Julian, we saw horses grazing in a field. A perfect photo op. Out we jumped. “M” went first nonchalantly leaning on one of the poles that supported the fence. The two girls, K and A, went next, standing a safe distance from the snorting horses. I decided to copy M’s pose. I put my elbow on one of the posts and ZAAAAAAAAAAP!! I jumped back in alarm; I had felt an electric current run through my arm! “M” then says, “Oh you felt it too?” Couldn’t the idiot have warned me? Next we saw a long winding road and we obviously had to get pictures of that too. “M” decided to fling out his arms and caught me neatly at the edge of my left eye. I know I shouldn’t have called him an idiot. It is a good thing my husband isn’t in the US right now or he would have been facing charges of martial abuse since I went to work on Monday with a shiner.
We stopped again to photograph a gaunt tree and had to make a mad dash back to our car since we saw a patrol car stop right in front of our car. Later we found out the policeman had not stopped for us!!
We finally got to Julian and it was like being transported to another century. Of course, the hordes of bikers on their Harley-Davidsons struck a discordant note. Yeah, if I was a man, am sure I would have felt differently about it.
The stores all sold handmade things. Everything from pot-pourri to jewellery made of the locally available stone was on display. Perfect for a Saturday afternoon browse. The girls also went wine-tasting. It really was a pity that I had never tried anything alcoholic in my life. Does cough syrup count?. I would have loved to try the different wines too. But then, I didn’t want poor “M” to have to carry me back to the car.
The diner we went to for lunch was so historic it had only one washroom. Our tokens were cards from a deck. And you went hungry if the waitress called out “Queen of Hearts” and you weren’t listening. Lovely system. Wonder when someone is going to bring that one to India. There were other groups of our fellow countrymen. And as usual everyone was busy ignoring everyone else.
Late afternoon and we had to try the specialty of the area. The apple pies. And since M planned to eat a whole pie and I wanted to get one for my roommates we went to the express lane. Five minutes later and the express lane was the longest line there, actually stretching on to the road. We savored the warm, wonderful smelling apple pies and once sated, made our way home.
A nice lazy Saturday, right up my alley!!!
posted by newatthis at 4:18 PM
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