San DIego – Page 5

Apple picking in Julian is the perfect family tradition to share with your kids! Make a weekend of it and get a room at one of the B&Bs up in Julian or simply make a day trip out of it.

I have been wanting to go apple picking in Julian for quite a while. I’ve always heard great things about it and when the end of summer hit I knew I needed to plan a weekend day of apple picking with the family.

We were planning on going on Saturday but work got in the way and Joseph had to go in and work on a large project until 4 pm. So we pushed our apple picking adventure to Sunday after church. We went to 8:30 mass at Joseph’s old high school and were surprised to find out that they were hosting an event for the parents/kids of the school shortly after mass so the priest skipped the homily to get us out faster. Now I wouldn’t say this in front of the little one but SCORE! This means we’d be on our way to Julian sooner.

So as soon as mass was over we headed on our way. Julian is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away from us so it’s not too far but just far enough to make an 18-month-old a little cranky. And of course, my son didn’t want to nap on the way up. He might miss a cow or a horse out the window (which he was in search of since his first spotting). When we got to Raven Hill Orchard he was ready to go!

As soon as he realized that we were picking his favorite fruit, he was completely on board. He consumed about three small apples in the time we were picking, and one on the way to Julian. I think his favorite thing to do was “wash” the apples on Daddy’s pants and then take a huge bite to see what each apple tasted like. He tried Jonathan apples, Gala apples, and Empire apples.

At Raven Hill, you pay $10 a bag and happily pick until your bag is completely full. We also ate along the way so really we got a snack and a bag of apples for $10. Totally worth the money.

Afterward, we headed to Julian for an apple pie (yes, I’m sure I’ll make one with the apples we picked but nothing beats a Mom’s apple pie!). And then made our way to Dudley’s Bakery for sandwiches and more goodies. Joseph was hoping for some good sugar cookies but was disappointed to find a very small selection of cookies in their bakery. Mostly pastries and bread were sold there.

BUT the sandwiches we got were MASSIVE and delicious so they definitely made up for the lack of cookie selection. And the little one was happy because he got chips, a grilled cheese sandwich, pickles AND a piece of Daddy’s chocolate chip cookie. By the time we got in the car he was passed out.

Such a great family day 🙂 I hope to make this a tradition… our next fall family day will be to pick out pumpkins and squash at Bates Nut Farm in October!