This morning we headed to the Mexican border where there is a big outlet store. The border is so close there, you can see it from the shops. We didn't cross it though but went shopping instead. I think I spent a bit too much money but still I'm happy with what I bought.
Afterwards we said goodbye to San Diego and drove to the Mount Palomar to see the observatory there. Actually it was the biggest telescope in the world for quite a while but it isn't anymore. It was quite interesting to see it though only a small part of it is open to the public. Outside we saw rattlesnake warning signs again, quite scary but it seems that they're rather rare (phew!). The lady at the gift shop said that no one coming to the observatory had ever been bitten.
At the observatory it had already got considerable hotter than in San Diego (where it was quite hot already!). Whenever we made a fotostop we had to leave the engine of our car running so that the air condition wouldn't stop cooling the car, otherwise it would've been unbearable. The landscape was amazing, quite like I imagined the Wild West. We saw no cowboys though but lots of cattle.
Thanks to my friend Lauren we stopped in Julian, a cute small town which is famous for its apple pie. We were lucky, just in time before the bakery closed we managed to buy a pie which was delicious.
On our way to the place for the night we made a quick stop at Lake Henshaw which is really beautiful, it was peaceful and quiet there and we enjoyed the sunset. The walk to the lake was a bit scary though, we had to keep the rattlesnakes in mind... Thankfully we saw no rattlesnake but right in the street when we wanted to get out of the car for a picture there was an actual tarantula! I've never encountered one before and I could've were well done without ever seeing one. It was really big, about the size of a hand.
We made it to the ranch (with a small animal bumping into our car, we couldn't see what it was. Nothing happened to us and the car, not sure about the animal...) where we had rented a room and went to bed rather quickly. We both had a bit of a headache from the heat but apart from that it was an exciting day. We stayed in a converted barn which was lovely (but as it was on a ranch there were lots of bugs, mosquitos, etc.). The night was good though, no disturbances. Our host had offered that we could have a look at the "animal processing" they were doing in the morning. We politely declined the offer...
The wilderness begins
Mount Palomar Observatory
Scary...
...but at least now we know what to do in case of an emergency.
Watertank on Mount Palomar
View from the mountains
Lake Henshaw
Patriotism in Julian
The famous apple pie
Main street in Julian
Our stop at Lake Henshaw
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