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Day Trippin’ to Julian

11.30.11

Day tripping to Julian, a historic gold mining town, is just a two-hour drive, but seems like a world away from Orange County. The charming mountain town is surrounded by apple orchards, and in the fall you pick apples with your kids (September-October), taste famed Julian apple pies or cider, go horseback riding, hiking, or just walk the streets and check out the local art galleries, antique stores, and stay for lunch or dinner.

On a recent trip to Julian we discovered our favorite spots that we think you will love too. (On your way down consider a drive through Escondido, and stop by Peterson's Donut Corner, an old school in stitution that serves huge, delicious donuts all day, every day.

Nearby, there are also some of the best thrift shops in SoCal.

In Julian visit the newly opened Blue Door Winery tasting room. The boutique winery’s tasting room is set in a renovated barn and it’s the pride and joy of winemaker Marc Hashagen and his fiancée Kameron Robbins.

They will pour you tastings of their limited production wines, including merlot, Sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, Barbera, syrah, and Chardonnay (we recommend the '09 Barbera); and then visit the darling Candy Apple Pastry Company to pick up some of the town’s best made from scratch pastries, and delicious coffees from San Diego Tea & Spice.

Miner’s Diner boasts an old-fashioned soda fountain (even serving hard-to-find phosphates drinks) along with breakfast and lunch (try the burgers and deep-fried onion ring) and kids will love the candy cave. The Julian Hard Cider Miners’ Saloon is famous handcrafted hard cider, which is gluten free too.

Vinyl albums, cool vintage and new apparel and boots can be found at the Old Well, not at all a tourist spot, but a great
find for indie types. (Aptly named for the 100-year-old well inside the tiny shop.) A visit to Julian wouldn’t be complete without taking home one of its famous apple pies available at bakeries all over town.

The Dutch Apple pie at Julian Pie Company is a favorite (the bakers at Julian Pie Company were baking 10,000 pies a day to keep up with Thanksgiving order). They also offer a regular apple, sugar-free apple, pumpkin, peach and many more flavors. Why not try a piece too? Order a slice of warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream—pure heaven.

To get to Julian from Orange County take 5 or 15 South to 76 East to 79, turn right to 78/79 (Santa Ysabel) turn left to Julian, OR take 5 or 15 South to 78 East to Julian.

COLIN COWIE LAUNCHES DESTINATION WEDDINGS!

11.29.11

By Sheryll Alexander

DestinationWeddings.com has partnered with Oprah’s special events planner Colin Cowie to certify just 175 destination wedding specialists worldwide. Trained to please by planning the most stylish and customized destination weddings, these Cowie-certified planners are now rocking the one-of-a-kind wedding at Mexico’s Le Blanc Spa Resort, Palace Resorts and all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Punta Cana, as well as the Hard Rock Hotel Mexico Collections.

Cowie, who has planned extravagant events for Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez, is best known for inspiring, personal and stunning event designs.

“These resorts have been favorites of our couples and the Colin Cowie wedding designs -- added to our exclusive complimentary amenities -- is a winning combination. All of us at DestinationWeddings.com are looking forward to presenting the designs to our engaged couples.,” says DestinationWeddings.com CEO Ed Cotton.

DestinationWeddings.com claims its company is the largest producer of destination weddings in the world, having helped to plan more than 13,000 successful destination weddings and travel for more than 500,000 attending guests.For more information, visit [url=http://www.destinationweddings.com]http://www.destinationweddings.com[/url]

Sheryll Alexander runs a news media agency based in Costa Mesa, California. Follow her! @sheryllalexande

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