Sarturday morning, February 25, we decided to see another side of San Diego County. After driving east and up through the Volcan Mountains, we came to the town of Julian, at about 4,000 feet elevation.
The mountain hamlet, Julian, has a western feel, but is probably most famous for it's apple pies.
The "Rong Branch" restaurant had the right look, but, as we discovered later, the "(W)Rong" menu.
"Main street" Julian.
This scorpion and grasshopper were much more than life-size, and were Gail's personal favorites...
they ate us!
We called this cat "Penelope" after one of Gail's two cats.
Hello!
Anyone see a hare go by?
Bum be dum, I'm a happy tortoise.
A "prickly pair".
Hurry up, kids!
Playtime for pachyderms.
Jurrasic Park comes to San Diego County.
Dinosaur happy dance!
Ahhh...
This friar had beads made of stones wrapped in iron.
Gail went 4-wheelin' with the locals,
but the most magnificent work was this mythical serpent that stretched under the road and beyond. Notice the red truck!
His detailed head was terrifying!
Wow!
At the visitor center, we saw this replica of a prehistoric tortoise fossil found in Anza-Borrego.
Our main destination of the day was to hike up Palm Canyon to the oasis.
The rocks were beautiful and sometimes perched ready to fall.
The ocotillo cactus were just starting to bloom. Thousands of people drive out here in the spring if it is a good flower year. This year was not, due to the lack of rainfall.
No shortage of rocks here.
A beautiful barrel cactus seemingly growing out of the rocks. A waist high barrel cactus can be 200 years old!
A young barrel cactus with pretty red coloring.
Gail spotted this weird formation high up on a cliff. Know what it might be?
Upon inspection with binoculars, we realized it was a beehive, about 4 feet in height. It appeared that rocks had fallen away from the front to reveal the hive which was still active with bees.
After awhile, the palms of the oasis came into sight.
The dry stream bed now was flowing with water.
This California tree frog was croaking to his buddies.
A desert oasis is a surprising and beautiful place!
Palm trees provide cover for birds, bats, ring-tail cats, snakes, and rodents. The dead palm fronds covered the palm trunks in thick blankets.
Yellow brittlebush flowers.
The sounds and sights of the oasis. Notice the large palm log that is impossibly wedged in huge boulders apparently by a flash flood.
Pretty fountain grass.
Chuparosa flowers.
The palms were tightly clustered and bigger than we expected.
Those are people on the huge boulders to the right of the palms.
Happy hikers!
On the dark drive back to Carlsbad, we stopped at the Barbecue Pit in Julian for a real red-neck dining experience. (Unfortunately, the Rong Branch did not have a beer for our parched palates.)
We had a kickin' day of discovery and hope to get back soon to hike some less traveled trails before it gets too hot. The average high in the summer is 107 degrees!
