This post encapsulates the remainder of our fun drive on Monday. We delighted in so much: art; gorgeous scenery; the promise of amazing dessert; the juiciest of oranges; and diverse history lessons. Who knew one road trip could be so rewarding?

When we departed on this adventure, we had no idea we were destined for pie but heck, we were so close. For those who don't know, the little mountain town of Julian is known for its crusted treats and it beckoned us.
Pie goddess Liz Smothers opened the Julian Pie Company in 1986. It all started when she and a neighbor began peeling apples for a local pie shop, where she was soon employed to bake and sell pies. Recognizing her expertise, two other pie shops hired her to bake for them. While Liz enjoyed the activity of baking for the pie shops, she had a desire to be creative on her own, and to not merely bake for someone else.

With the assistance of a friend, and emphasis on quality-control and clean, neat surroundings, the Julian Pie Company began.
And it is so much more than just apple pie. Steve picked this scrumptious creation which is a blend of apples, raspberries, boysenberries and strawberries... oh my.

Our next purchase was more healthy but just as delicious. We snagged a bag of these navels when we went to Borrego last month. Every one of them was make-a-mess juicy. And how can you beat 10 pounds for $4? So worth the drive!
Now on CA-76 for our loop road home, we came across a huge tract of land, littered with discarded structures and buildings. I am always intrigued with "what came before us" and had to know more.
This was the site of Pete Verboom's dairy, built in 1966. The 100-acre farm, straddling the San Luis Rey River, was his home and workplace. A dairy here? Wild. Turns out, there once were over 100 dairies in the San Diego area. Pete's was one of the last to go.

In 2000, he sold for several reasons: restrictions over the protected least Bell's vireo bird; the traffic generated by Indian casinos along this corridor; Caltrans having an easement right through his milking barns (the plan 20 years ago was to straighten out and widen the road); and a controversial landfill was to be built near by.

Pete sold his dream dairy to the Gregory Canyon Landfill who were going to use his land as a buffer.
So why are these 100 acres and their houses still rotting slowly into the fertile ground, neither farm nor housing development? Why no straightened Highway 76? No landfill? For starters, this is part of a 100-year flood plain. Then there’s the locals. They have fought to stop their bucolic settlement around the Pala Mission from becoming urbanized and they defeated the landfill, too. So this valley stays in a state of suspended animation, in some ways less developed than when Pete Verboom lived here.
Our 120 mile adventure was incredibly rewarding and there certainly is no better cure for what ails us than new experiences and horizons (oh and pie).