Friday, February 2, 2007
Stagecoach Trails, Julian, CA - Jan 31-Feb 1
Most Passport America parks have a limit on the number of days you can stay. This park has the unique requirement that you must stay at least 2 nights. Thus, we could stay one night for $22, or two nights for $22. Our reservation with Pat & Dennis started Feb 1, so we called ahead and were told that arriving a day later would not present a problem.This park is surrounded by the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and is mainly geared for campers with horses, with large pull-through spots and lots of corrals. The address is Julian, but that little town is about 10 miles away and 3000 feet higher. You wouldn't want to take your trailer there!
Julian was founded just after the Civil War by a pair of cousins and ex-Confederate soldiers seeking their fortunes in the largely unsettled West. They were still there when Fred Coleman, a black cattleman, found a few flecks of gold in a creek in 1869, starting a brief gold rush. Many of the brick & wood buildings constructed in the 1870s still survive.
Julian is most famous for its apples - Julian apples took 1st Prize in competitions at the Chicago and San Francisco World's Fairs, as well as top awards at the LA County Fair for 22 years - and more specifically for its apple pies. Julian pies are sold all over Southern California and are shipped all around the world. We each had a slice at a market in Santa Ysabel and they truly are that good. We followed our yummy dessert with dinner of pizza in Wynola.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 12:54 PM 
