ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK
PAUMA VALLEY
Our dear friends live on a wonderful parsonage in Pauma Valley. Not only is their house great, but they also have plenty of grass to run around on, and the church’s playground is basically in their backyard. We made plans to attend the church’s Good Friday service and sleep in our van on their property. After lunch on Saturday, we got ready to head home, but decided on the spur of the moment to take a roundabout way back.
JULIAN
From Pauma Valley we drove 45 minutes to the town of Julian. Julian is an old gold mining town east of San Diego in the Cuyamaca Mountains. At over 4,000 feet is has four distinct seasons and has become famous for its apples and fruit pies. Over the years it’s grown into a charming mountain town with lots of quaint shops, restaurants and Airbnbs.
As we drove in the rain to Julian, the rain turned to snow. Both girls were asleep in their carseats and missed seeing it fall. We stopped long enough to grab a slice of berry pie from Julian Pie Company. You can’t come to Julian without getting a slice of pie á la mode from this famous pie company. The girls kept on sleeping in their car seats while Kyle and I enjoyed the pie sitting in the parking lot watching the snow.
ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK
From Julian we headed to Anza-Borrego to see the wildflowers we knew would be in bloom this time of year.
Driving to Anza-Borrego the storm clouds created beautiful shadows across the mountains. We also saw four rainbows at various times in the afternoon.
THE SLOT
Our first stop in the park was at the Slot in Borrego Springs. This is a 2.2 mile loop trail through a narrow slot canyon. This is a popular hiking trail in Anza-Borrego (parking often fills up by 9am). There were several others cars in the trailhead parking lot, but even with it being high season we think arriving later in the day and the rain earlier had caused the crowds to dissipate.
We didn’t do the entire loop as we were mindful of the forming rain clouds and did not want to be out in a slot canyon in the rain. This is definitely a hike we want to come back and do again in the spring.
VISITOR CENTER
We managed to make it to the Visitor Center just before they closed. There is a walking trail next to the visitor center that the girls enjoyed—especially with all the flowers.
First of four rainbows we saw in the afternoon.
HENDERSON CANYON ROAD
From the Visitor Center we drove on Henderson Canyon Road to look at the wildflowers.
Another rainbow
After exploring the wildflower fields, we stopped in Palm Springs for dinner and then made it home by bedtime. Time to get ready for Easter the next morning!
HIGHLIGHTS:
The beautiful and snowy drive into Julian
Yummy pie while the girls got a peaceful nap
How this last minute roundabout way home ended up being such a fun afternoon/evening
Running around the wildflowers off Henderson Canyon Road
LOWLIGHTS:
Indy was not into the Slot Canyon like Monet…had to really encourage her to keep going
Not enough time to fully explore the Slot