Winter Wonderland
In this mountain town, San Diegans can get a real taste of winter. Sort of.
photos and story by Heather Quinn

Small town charm: The view down Julian's main street, with it's historic buildings and shops.

Every time my relatives visit from the Midwest they try to justify their residence in America's Heartland by putting down my favorite state, California. Their main complaint is that California supposedly doesn't have real seasons.

"No," I tell them, "we have fire season, flood season and scorching heat season." But that doesn't do much to convince them.

But they may have a point.

In most of Southern California, with temperatures so far hovering around the mid-70s since December, it’s hard to imagine what winter actually feels like. Perhaps out of some sense of ancestral memory of the motherland, I start ordering lattes instead of frappuccinos come October, and I’m sweating in my sweaters from December onwards, but that’s not really winter.

My family left Wisconsin when I was five years old. I have vague, claustrophobic memories of getting stuck in snow drifts several feet over my head and of an unbroken palette of drab whites, grays and browns well into March. That’s winter.

First generation transplants from the colder parts of the country share a kind of collective subconscious, a mutual sense of guilt over the easy life we live in California. For that reason, every year around this time I head to Julian to redeem myself.

The old mining town of Julian is an ideal road-trip destination year-round for a change of scenery, but come winter, the town transforms into the kind of winter-wonderland that you see in the movies. Every year it attracts crowds of tourists and local San Diegans with its famous apple pies, cider and its cozy, small town feel.

Roadside attraction : Pam's Place right off the 79 on the way to Julian sells varieties of beef jerky, local produce, and hand made jams.

While San Diego is in the midst of a January heat wave, Julian averages temperatures in the 50s and 60s, so visitors should bring a coat and warm themselves up with some of the famous hot apple cider upon arrival. It’s worth taking some time on the drive up to check out the spectacular scenery through the mountains and around Lake Cuyamaca. Also, make sure to stop at Pam’s Place, a roadside stand selling “ass-kickin” beef jerky, local produce, homemade jams, and rustic, handcrafted gifts.

Once in town, an essential stop is Mom's Pies restaurant. Mom's famous apple pies are made fresh from apples grown in the many orchards that surround the city, making for a one-of-a-kind, fresh-tasting treat. During the fall season, they may make more than 1,000 pies a day from scratch, according to their website at www.momspiesjulian.com. This time of year expect a line out the door, but it's worth the wait. In addition to pies and hot cider, Mom's serves soup, sandwiches and ice cream.

Julian is also a window shopper's paradise. Main Street features a collection of gift and specialty stores housed in historic buildings. Visitors can get a head start on their holiday shopping or can simply browse - there's enough to see to occupy an entire afternoon.

Aside from food and shopping, Julian offers history lessons for those so inclined. Founded after the Civil War, the town really started booming when gold was discovered in the area in 1869, according to www.julianca.com.

After the gold rush died down, settlers stayed and took up farming, especially apples, which grew particularly well in the area, according to the Web site.

Today, with an impressive number of well-preserved historical sites, Julian looks like something out of a history book. An example is the Pioneer Cemetery, which includes some of the town's earliest settlers. Although a seemingly morbid destination, the cemetery is actually a pleasant place for a stroll this time of year. The history of the graveyard is interesting enough on its own, but the beauty of the oak trees that populate the site and drop acorns on the graves of Julian's past residents is also striking.

Nestled in the Cuyamaca Mountains, Julian has distinct seasons with changing leaves and brisk, clean air. The drive is pleasant. To get there, take Interstate 8 east to Highway 79. As the highway climbs north through the mountains the trees get thicker, their beautiful yellow leaves setting the mood perfectly. The road is curvy, so drivers should take caution, especially this time of year, when a thin layer of snow may make for slippery conditions.

For me, the main attraction this time of year is the chance to see snow. The forecast for next week calls for more warm weather, but some time in the next couple of months, the snow will come, and San Diegans will flock to the mountains in droves, somehow producing sleds and toboggans and bundled up in their warmest winter clothes. It may get as low as the 30s, which isn’t that much warmer than my hometown in Wisconsin, and with my fingers and toes numb I’ll contemplate hypothermia and congratulate myself on not going soft in the California sunshine.