Pies of Julian

Opa & Oma were visiting us last week so we took them on a grand tour of the area. One day we headed up for the mountains to the town of Julian, briefly a gold rush town, but now the local economy seems to depend on pies.

The main street is the central lure in town with its old wooden buildings housing gift shops, pie parlors and restaurants (with their own speciality pies). The elevation allows Julian to harvest a plentiful crop in apples which are the main ingredient in the town's pies. Though I didn't see it advertised, there must be a heated Apple Pie competition each year with probably all sorts of scandals involved from bribed judges, stolen recipes and sabotaged apples.

We sampled a couple - as one must. The Boysenberry-Apple (flaky not crumbly) from Mom's Pies got the family vote.

Outside the town's limits we saw some of the first signs of singed earth and scorched trees from the Fall's brush fires.