2020!! Oh, the power of a pandemic. A big impact on us was our shrinking summer vacation. We started out with plans for 6 weeks and 6,000 mile road trip across much of the country. Then it shifted to 2 weeks and 1,000 miles, staying in California. Finally, it went to 3 days and 200 miles within San Diego County. Those of you who have been following our blog know that we generally have some very grand adventures. This year the pandemic has shrunk our scale of what we could do. Therefore, welcome to our less than grand, yet fun adventure.
We have tried to make the best of the time we had. Fortunately, we live in San Diego county which has a wide variety of experiences, from the ocean to the mountains. Since we live near the ocean, we decided to go to the mountains. We chose an AirBnB on the top of a mountain (North Peak, 5993 feet, 1985 m), surrounded by 40 acres (16 hectares) of woods. We thought that would both give us a wonderful alpine setting and sufficient distance from others to be safe.
We drove the winding roads into the mountains to the town of Julian. Originally a gold mining town, it is now a tourist destination with quaint shops and restaurants. The pandemic has really put a cloud over the town’s whole economy. For us, our only stop in town was to buy an apple pie at the Julian Apple Pie Company. They are always so delicious!
Then we were on out of town, heading south along the mountains. Our next stop was at Lake Cuyamaca. The lake is a popular fishing lake that is stocked with trout each year. We found a picnic table with a good view of the lake and enjoyed our lunch, which we had brought from home.
After lunch we took a brief walk along the lake shore, watching the anglers, families, and Canadian Geese. The mountains were around us, including the one where we would be staying.
We were ready to find our AirBnB. We drove the switchbacks through a residential area with many houses, and then the houses thinned as we got close to the top of the mountain. The directions to get there were good, but very complicated, including two different gates that we put the codes into. There were several turnoffs that made us question whether we were still on the right mountain road. But, all the codes worked, we persevered, and arrived at our charming cottage on the mountain. It was not a rustic cabin, but a lovely place with all of the set ups for a great two-night stay, including a full kitchen.
The house was actually the guest house for the main house just over the ridge from us. It had a lovely view to the East, meaning we were looking down from about 5800 feet (1750 m) to the desert floor at sea level. We could look north to see Mount San Jacinto (10,834 feet, 3302 m) and south to the Laguna Mountains (6378 feet, 1944 m). We loved sitting out on the balcony looking at this beautiful view.
We took the advantage of being on vacation and took a nap. Then, we walked to the very top of the mountain where we could see some lovely views including the mountain, Stonewall Peak, that we would hike the next day. Other than the pie, we brought our own food from home, so we fixed ourselves a lovely dinner.
We could see that the sun was going down and wanted to walk to the other side of the ridge to look West. Our host was able to give us good directions on just the right spot to see the sun set. It was quite a lovely sunset from this elevation. We were pleased to watch the colors change on the rocks and in the sky.
As the sky darkened, we began to watch the stars begin to appear, including the Milky Way. We watched the crescent moon slowly setting. It was great to be away from most of the light pollution of the city.
We settle in to let it get even darker because we were hoping to see the Neowise Comet. We had been hearing about it for the past week. We had heard that we would need binoculars to see it so we brought some along. It was exciting when we began to discern the comet from the last of the fading sunset. It continued to get more and more distinct. It was too dark for a photograph but a special time to watch it. Then, we walked back through the woods, using our flashlight, to find our cozy house waiting for us. And we ate pie. It was a lovely way to end the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment