Sunday, September 14, 2008

Julian California



A friend from work told me about this place called Julian, tucked in the mountains between here and San Diego (kinda) and fun for a day visit. She didn't tell me that you have to drive through hell, literally, to get to it. I packed up Niko and set out innocently enough. I knew it was 2 1/2 hours. Too long really.  But hey, what else do I have to do? Nothing! 
This is the most desert of deserts I have ever driven through. I think Survivor Man should go and film a show there. Maybe though, it's too dangerous. No way out once you start. I even felt like I was in a Verizon Wireless commercial. You know, the dead zone ones, that are kinda creepy in their own way.  The funny thing is, I really didn't have a cell phone signal, and began to wonder if I should switch to Verizon. Then I realized not even they would have service there. It's the dead zone of the planet. I'm certain of it. I was praying that the car would keep running, and pushing bad visions of Niko and I trying to walk out of the desert, me sometimes riding on his back, out of my mind. But look, here we are in the car both smiling! We are almost there and we feel as if we have conquered all bad things. But what about the drive home? We are in denial over that still!
Why the white dresses? This store was almost 100% imports from Peru. I love their beautiful hand knit items. I was in Chile and bought a sweater from a little ol' Peruvian lady. So I spent a lot of time in that store. It was just so much fun.

Of course, I also found a European bakery. How would I ever miss something so tempting. In a land full of apple pie (and I am not a fan of apple pie) I found eclairs!!! YES! And it was hard to choose between quiche, tiramisu, and other chocolate delights. 


This picture of an old blind man does no justice to how awesome he really was. This guy had talent! And you could hear him up and down the street singing his patriotic songs. This pic is actually a video I took of him, but I couldn't figure out how to post it. I need to get my friend Jana to show me that one day!

4 comments:

Emily Christine said...

This looks like this was a fun trip! What a cute place! I was totally having that feeling the second time we went to San Diego and we were leaking, I didn't want to say it but I thought we were going to die out there. LOL! I'm glad you got out of Yuma and got home safely!!

As much as things didn't work out in Yuma for me, I had a lot of fun! I miss going to the river with you and Nikko! Can't wait for you to be home!!! ♥ ya!!

Jana and BJ said...

Hi Joni! What a crazy adventure. You are going to look back on these days and be so impressed with yourself!

To post a video, click on the video clip icon instead of the picture icon. It's right next to it. The only problem is that it takes a few minutes to load and sometimes doesn't work for me.

Temple View Lodge said...

Don't ya just love adventures like that, scary and fun at the same time. Sounds like things are going good. I love this blog thing so I can see how your life is going. I don't have to keep asking Laura how you are or what you've been doing. Miss you. Have a great day Joni!!

Brehtt said...

You crack me up. I have kind of been absent from the bloggosphere for a couple of weeks, not sure why. Anyway, I was thinking yesterday that you have less than 2 months left, yeah!!!!!