Julian and Palomar Mtn.

Saturday we took a little road trip over to the mountain town of Julian. It's approximately 60 miles east of our house. On our drive there we took a little detour to Palomar Mountain to check out their observatory and 200 inch telescope. From the bottom to the top of Palomar Mountain was 12 miles, but it took us a good 45 minutes because the road was so windy. Going up and back we saw tons of motorcyclists flying on the road. A lot of the bikers were wearing the full body suits like the BMX guys do, hard core! The observatory at the top of the mountain was neat. We didn't get to see the telescope up close b/c it was closed for research, but we got to tour the museum and look at the telescope from a distance. It's humongous, apparently it's been used for a ton of astronomic discoveries and is still used every night for research. Before we headed out we ate a snack at the picnic area near the observatory and Manburger climbed this huge tree. Isn't he cute?
After that little side stop we drove on to Julian. When we got there it was already packed. Our first stop was the famous "Mom's" where we had lunch and some apple pie. Yummy! That's mainly what Julian is famous for these days...apple pie and apple orchards. It's pretty much a touristy town with lots of knick-knack stores, apple pie restaurants, and...bikers. Not really, but we sure did see a lot of bikers up there. Seems to be a popular spot to ride to. We only stayed for about 2 hours, that's really all you need to see it, unless you really like all the crafty stuff and herbal scented stuff. As for Manburger and I, a quick browse was enough, plus it was getting down right hot. I can't imagine who would travel up there in the summer, yuck!
One neat thing that was going on there was a May Fest to raise money for some local organizations. They had an ompah band playing in a parking lot there and were selling brats and hotdogs with sauerkraut, beans, and potato salad. Manburger got a plate right before we left and we sat and enjoyed the band for a bit. After that it was time to head back to our apartment in paradise. After taking a nap, Manburger and I thoroughly enjoyed a nice cool walk on the beach and looked for shells. Although it was nice to see Julian and the mountains, I definitely like living near the beach a lot more.