October 31, 2014 Happy Birthday David! This was a terrific idea to celebrate in Julian, CA. Drove up on Halloween with beautiful weather. By the time we reached Julian it was  quite nice but cooler. Bought our famous Julian Apple Pie and headed to the cabin we rented along with Nancy & David called Artist Loft on Strawberry Hill owned by Chuck and Nan. They experienced the fire that went through there a few years back so their house and all 3 of their cabins are new but look rustic. Most of it was rebuilt from reclaimed material from around California. The frame work is made with 10 x10 beams and the floor is 8″ reclaimed planks.  Spent the evening listening to music from Frank Sinatra, dancing and a couple glasses of wine.  Chuck recommended Jeremy’s On The Hill for dinner. Really good but if you order the brussel sprouts order the sauce on the side, it was way too salty. But everything else was excellent. $$-$$$. We woke on 11-1 to find fog, rain and 49 degrees. Thought we could wait it out and had Belgian Waffles and eggs.  Being the troopers we are we headed to town and shopped a couple stores. One of my favorites is the Birdwatcher store located behind the bank. Bought a bird clock that has a different bird on each hour and makes the song of each every hour. Love it! Also bought 3 cute little birdies to put on my windowsill in the kitchen. Nancy got a whirly-gig for her yard. Also stopped and had apple pie, cinnamon ice cream, and coffee at the Julian Pie Company.  If it hadn’t been so cold I would have loved to check out the town cemetery and other historical sites but will have to wait for the next time, it was just too cold. Back at the cabin we played some games and more music. Dinner was excellent at Romano’s Italian Restaurant located across the street from the Birdwatcher store. Very crowded but good food. The last day is always the hardest and we always find a way to procrastinate and this was no exception. Chuck and Nan are quite the talkers and so we stayed as long as we could listening to some of their very interesting stories. Stopped at Julian Pie Company to pick up our Thanksgiving Apple Pies. Hope they last that long. Someday we’ll have to go back to see all the stuff we missed.